In terms of the chemical industry, China has held the record for more than ten years: according to figures published at regular intervals by the German Chemical Industry Association , the country has recorded the largest share of world chemical sales since 2009. The most recent figures are from 2018 – even then, sales were almost 1.6 trillion euros. In parallel with the ever-increasing sales, the volume of transport to move chemicals and other hazardous goods across the country has also been rising for years.
Safety precautions during transport, on the other hand, have barely kept pace over a long period of time. Since the end of 2012, the regulation called GB 28644.2-2012 regulated the transportation, introduced by AQSIQ, the Chinese National Quality Supervision Administration: they were considered “limited quantities” or “exempted quantities” with a few exceptions. For example, in terms of packaging, labeling and documentation of dangerous goods, Chinese freight forwarding companies could easily circumvent complicated regulations in this way.
On December 1, 2018, the Chinese Ministry of Transport (MOT) introduced a new standard for the road transport of dangerous goods with the law “JT/T 617”. The law is comparable to the “European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road”, or ADR for short. However, the Chinese law was by no means binding on companies involved in the transport of dangerous goods.
On January 1, 2020, this has changed: Now the companies are obliged to comply with the law “JT/T 617”. The regulations are explicitly aimed at all people involved in the transport of dangerous goods: not only the carrier itself, but also the consignor, the loader, the consignee and the person responsible for the load, right through to the driver. They all have to go through a briefing before the goods are allowed to travel. In addition to the transport itself, clear rules now apply to the loading and unloading of dangerous goods, to the respective transport vehicles, supervision and inspections, and legal liability. Included is a
labeling obligation
for the respective dangerous goods. The effects of the law are also having a direct impact on our company: For example, we are receiving more inquiries from China and have already been supplying Chinese companies with our products for the transport of dangerous goods since the end of 2019. We are very pleased about this – because for us it means the opportunity to make the roads safer internationally as well, and in this way to protect people and the environment even better from hazardous substances.
