On 11 Feb 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MoARA), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the Ministry of Commerce (MoFCOM), the State Administration of Market Regulation and the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration (NFSRA) jointly issued the “National Strategic Plan for Agricultural Revitalization through Quality Enhancement (2018-2022)”, which was compiled under the National Strategic Plan for Rural Development (2018-2022), aimed at boosting the agricultural efficiency and competitiveness and transforming China from an advanced agricultural country. The document acknowledged the recent achievements in agricultural development, but China's agriculture needs to embrace the crucial opportunities of rural development and consumption upgrading. Series of quantitative goals to be achieved by 2022, including quality of agricultural products, industrial structure, output efficiency, quality of farmers and international competitive strength. 4 developmental directions were pointed out and 7 massive agricultural projects will be implemented.

On 30 Jan 2019, the National Health Commission published 6 voluntary hygienic standards for biocidal products, which will take effect on 1 Jul 2019. Among them, the “WS/T 650-2019 Evaluating Method for Efficacy of Antibacterial and Bacteriostasis” was firstly issued. The standard specifies 13 testing methods, procedures the application scope and criteria for commonly used items with antimicrobial claim including hand cleaner, sprays, gels, wet wipe, facial mask, sanitary towel, diaper, towel, underwear, socks, fabric, plastics, floorboards and tiles, etc. These antimicrobial products are mostly categorized as the Category II disinfection products but comparatively in a regulatory grey zone because most of them are not yet included into the pre-marketing assessment. Considering the complicacy of product type and feature, WS/T 650-2019 can be an evident progress and these commonly used antimicrobial products are likely to be brought into supervision after NHC made adequate clarification on product definition/scope, necessity of risk/safety assessment and relevant evaluation guidelines.

On 2 Jan 2019, China NATESC (National Agricultural Technology Extension and Service Center) made a pests forecast on 2019, which was concluded after a thorough expert consultation in December 2018. Based on the pest population, plant distribution, cropping pattern and climate trends, total affected area could reach 300 million hectares in 2019.

On 25 Dec 2018, MoARA released the Announcement 118 on testing facilities for pesticide registration. Compare to the lab list announced on Oct 25, 10 labs were newly added, most of which were approved to generate pesticide efficacy and product chemistry data.

In 2018, the Chinese fertilizer industry has experienced price hike and weak demand led by stringent regulations on environmental and quality promotion, polarizing market. As the end of 2018 approaches, we summarized 10 most influencing policies chronologically and offered a brief analysis on their effects.

On 24 Dec 2018, China ICAMA released the full version of GB2763-2018.1(Maximum Residue Limits for 43 Pesticides in Foods) and other 8 testing methods, which were earlier announced by NHC, MoARA and SAMR on 22 Jun 2018. As a supplement to the national MRL regulation, GB2763-2018.1 will be concurrently enforced with the GB2763-2016.

Recently, MoARA officials answered questions on the latest “Special Measures (Negative List) for the Access of Foreign Investment (2018)”, which dramatically loosened market entry restrictions on overseas seed companies. MoARA described the simplification of administrative procedures associated with production and marketing approvals and also the reinforcement of intellectual property protection on patent varieties.

subject to hygienic approval at provincial level, aimed at optimizing administrative procedures and helping reduce the burden of enterprises manufacturing water dispensers, water purifiers, water disinfectors, water distribution device and treatment units, as well as pipes, pipe fittings, coating materials, chemical treatment agents and disinfectants used for drinking water purpose.

China promulgated a new pesticide regulation last year which significantly increased the regulatory compliance obligations of stakeholders in regards to generation of efficacy and safety data. New requirements include the issuance of a positive list of labs accredited to generate required data, elevated technical criteria and the introduction of risk assessment.

In this article REACH24H’s Agrochemical department will offer a distillate of years of experience helping our clients register pesticides in China and share and troubleshoot the most frequently asked questions and problems encountered complying with China’s new pesticide regulatory system.