Fire Protection Law of the People's Republic of China (2021 Amendment) effect from Apr.29 2021

The Fire Protection Law of the People's Republic of China (2021 Amendment) has been revised and adopted at the 28th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China on April 29, 2021, and came into effect at the same time.

Compared with the previous version of the Fire Protection Law of the People's Republic of China  (2019 Amendment), the main changes are as follows:

1. Units can choose two kinds of examination and approval methods before putting into use or operating in public gathering places.

One is the notification and commitment system, which means that after the unit makes the commitment as required, the fire rescue agency will approve the documents and then verify them; If the unit does not choose the way of notification and commitment, after submitting the application documents, the fire rescue agency shall carry out the inspection within the specified time limit, and give permission according to the  inspection result. The revision of this article is mainly based on the requirements of the State Council for the release, management and service, which provides optional convenience for units. (Reference: Article 15 of the law). 

2. The qualification examination and approval of fire technical service institutions was cancelled and changed to meet the specific practicing requirements.

The expression of quality certification of fire protection products was cancelled, and "fire protection facilities testing and fire safety monitoring" was changed to "fire protection facilities maintenance testing and fire safety assessment", and the requirements of qualification approval were cancelled, and the requirements were changed to meet the specific practicing requirements. The revision of this article is based on the change of the positioning and service content of the release management service and fire technical service organization. (Reference: Article 34 of the law)

3. The punishment is added for failing to pass the verification after the public gathering place is informed of the promised permission.

While providing services to public gathering places, the law enforcement is also stricter. Those found to be inconsistent with their promises will be punished (closed down, fined RMB30000-300000); At the same time, it shall be ordered to make corrections within a stipulated time limit. If it fails to make corrections within the time limit, the permission shall be revoked. (Reference: Article 58 of the law)

4. The punishment for the fire technical service institutions not meeting the practicing requirements has been increased, and the punishment for the fire technical service institutions not carrying out technical services according to the standards has been increased.

Because of the cancellation of the qualification examination and approval of fire technical service institutions, those who do not meet the specific practicing requirements will be ordered to correct and fined; At the same time, the punishment for failing to serve according to the standard has been increased (order to correct, impose a fine of less than RMB 50,000 on the fire technical service organization, and impose a fine of less than RMB 10,000 on the responsible person). In addition, it is also made clear that the fire technical service institutions shall be supervised by the "fire rescue institutions". If the fire technical service institutions issue false documents and cause heavy losses, the punishment of "revoking the business license and banning the relevant responsible persons for life" is added. (Reference: Article 69 of the law)

FOR ENQUIRIES：

Ms Calla Huang
t: +86 (0) 755 2532 8137
e: cn.rbs@sgs.com

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