On October 15, 2010, the "Measures for the Environmental Management of New Chemical Substances," also known as Ministry of Environmental Protection Order No. 7, officially came into effect. This regulation stipulates that for any polymer not listed in the "Inventory of Existing Chemical Substances in China," any entity producing or importing it must complete the registration process. Foreign manufacturers must appoint a company registered in China as their agent to handle the registration. It is important to note that even if all the monomers in a polymer are listed in the "Inventory," but the polymer itself is not listed, the polymer still requires registration.
7The special provisions for new polymers in the order can be simply summarized as simplified declaration for special circumstances and regular declaration:
1.Simplified declaration requirements for special cases involving polymers (no tonnage limit):
* The polymer itself is not in the "List", but the weight percentage of one or more new chemical substances of the polymer monomer/reactant is less than or equal to 2%;
* The polymer itself is not in the List, but all monomers or reactants of the polymer are in the List;
* Low-attention polymers;
2.Standard application requirements for polymers:
* For polymers with an annual production or import volume of less than one ton that are not listed in the "List", if you choose to file a regular declaration, after going through a five-step identification process, you should provide relevant information according to the minimum data requirements for regular declaration.
* Polymers with an annual production or import volume exceeding one ton but not meeting the simplified declaration conditions must be declared in accordance with the regular declaration. The data requirements for the declaration depend on the tonnage of the polymer.
Source: Taiwan Trade Development Council (TCT) website (November 2, 2011)
