The Hazardous Chemicals Control Bill will be introduced into the Legislative Council on May 24 to regulate the import/export, manufacture and use of non-pesticide hazardous chemicals that have potentially harmful or adverse effects on human health or the environment.

The Environmental Protection Department said the bill, to be gazetted on May 12, allows flexibility of regulating other non-pesticide hazardous chemicals in the future.

The new legislation will enable Hong Kong to comply with the Stockholm Convention and the Rotterdam Convention of which China is already a contracting party.

Under the bill, the department will set up and implement an activity-based permit system. Each permitted activity - such as import, export, manufacture or use - will be specified in a permit which is valid for 12 months.

Chemicals to be regulated

The chemicals regulated under the bill include Type 1 chemicals (two non-pesticide industrial chemicals regulated under the Stockholm Convention) and Type 2 chemicals (10 non-pesticide industrial chemicals regulated under the Rotterdam Convention). 

The import/export, manufacture and use of any of these chemicals are not allowed unless specified conditions are met.

An import/export licence will also be required under the consignment-based licensing system under the Import & Export Ordinance for the import/export of the chemicals, which was similar to existing arrangements for hazardous pesticides regulated under the Pesticides Ordinance and the Import & Export Ordinance.

Exemptions

In light of comments from carriers about their difficulty in complying with the licensing requirements relating to transit and air transshipment cargo, the bill provides that carriers need not apply for these licences under the Import & Export Ordinance.