• In order to protect the equal employment rights and interests of people who have recovered from COVID-19, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the National Health Commission issued the Emergent Announcement on Resolutely Combating Employment Discrimination Against People Recovering from Covid-19.
• In order to guide the employing units to use the dispatched workers, and the labor dispatching units to carry out labor dispatching business activities in accordance with laws and regulations, three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta region jointly issued the Employment Compliance Guideline for Labor Dispatch in the Yangtze River Delta Region.
• The revised Safety Specifications of Special Work in Hazardous Chemicals Enterprises was issued by State Administration for Market Regulation (Standardization Administration of the State), aiming to further clarify and improve the risk management and control in response to the problems existing in the process of special operations of chemical enterprises in past years.
• To deeply implement the decision and deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Carbon Neutrality and Carbon Peaking, accelerate industrial green and low-carbon transformation, and effectively carry out the work of carbon peak in the industrial sector, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment jointly gazetted the Implementation Plan for Carbon Peaking in the Industrial Field.
• Updated Minimum Wage Standard of Yunnan Province.

Labour

< Emergent Announcement on Resolutely Combating Employment Discrimination Against People Recovering from Covid-19 >

< Employment Compliance Guideline for Labor Dispatch in the Yangtze River Delta Region >

Health and Safety

< Safety Specifications of Special Work in Hazardous Chemicals Enterprises >

Environment

< Implementation Plan for Carbon Peaking in the Industrial Field >

Minimum Wage Standard Update

Yunnan Province 

Labour

1. < Emergent Announcement on Resolutely Combating Employment Discrimination Against People Recovering from Covid-19 > (2022-07-29)

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the National Health Commission issued the Emergent Announcement on Resolutely Combating Employment Discrimination Against People Recovering from Covid-19 on 29^th July 2022. The main contents affecting employers include:

• It is strictly prohibited for employers to publish or entrust to publish recruitment information that contains discriminatory contents such as positive nucleic acid test history of COVID-19. If the recruitment information contains relevant discriminatory content, the department of labor security supervision shall give a heavier punishment according to the provisions of Article 43 of the Interim Regulations on Human Resources Market.
• It is strictly prohibited for employers and human resources service agencies to refuse to recruit (hire) people recovering from COVID-19 on the grounds that they have ever tested positive for COVID-19 nucleic acid.
• It is strictly prohibited for employers to discriminate against people who have recovered from COVID-19 in the process of entry and employment.
• It is strictly prohibited for employers to arbitrarily dismiss people who have recovered from COVID-19.

2. < Employment Compliance Guideline for Labor Dispatch in the Yangtze River Delta Region > (2022-07-18)

In July 2022, Jiangsu Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security, Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, Zhejiang Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security and Anhui Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security jointly issued the Employment Compliance Guideline for Labor Dispatch in the Yangtze River Delta Region (hereinafter referred to as the Guideline). The purposes, significance and clear contents of the Guideline are as follows:

• The Guideline puts forward 22 regulatory points from the three dimensions of the employing unit, labor dispatch unit and labor dispute settlement to guide the Yangtze River Delta region to uniformly regulate labor dispatch behavior, aiming to remind the employing unit and labor dispatch unit of matters that should be paid attention to and possible legal risks in the process of labor dispatch. To promote the orderly and healthy development of the labor dispatch market in the Yangtze River Delta region and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of dispatched workers.
• The Guideline specifies that the employing unit should regulate the scope of dispatched posts, the proportion of dispatched workers, the selection of the outsourcing of labor services and labor dispatch unit, the signing of labor dispatch agreements, the obligations of dispatched workers, the circumstances in which dispatched workers can be returned and the circumstances in which they cannot be returned, and use dispatched workers according to law and regulations; The labor dispatch unit shall regulate the administrative license for the operation of labor dispatch business, the change and extension of the labor dispatch operation license, the annual labor dispatch operation report, the conclusion of the labor contract, the necessary provisions of the labor contract, the obligations that should be performed to the dispatched workers, the dissolution and termination of the labor contract, economic compensation, etc., and carry out the labor dispatch operation activities according to law and regulations.
• As for the handling of labor disputes, the Guideline provides key hints on the labor dispute arbitration procedures, labor security supervision and handling procedures and other aspects.
• The Guideline also provides labor dispatch contracts (reference text) in the form of annexes.

Health and Safety

1. < Safety Specifications of Special Work in Hazardous Chemicals Enterprises > (2022-10-01)

The revised Safety Specifications of Special Work in Hazardous Chemicals Enterprises (GB 30871-2022) (hereinafter referred to as new Specification) was approved and issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation on 15^th March 2022, and will come into force on 1^st October 2022. It replaces the current Safety Code of Special Work in Chemical Manufactory (GB 30871-2014). The main revised contents of the new Specifications are as follows:   

1.The new Specifications adjusts the scope of application of the standard to be applicable to enterprises engaged in the production and operation (with storage) of hazardous chemicals, chemical and pharmaceutical enterprises.

2.The new Specifications further clarifies the scope of application of the new standard. The scope of operation is not only limited to the inspection and maintenance process but extended to the whole process of production and operation of the enterprise, which fully reflects the purpose of the whole process of production safety and comprehensive risk control of the enterprise.

3.The new Specifications improves the effectiveness of the implementation of the clauses, and the new standard is adjusted from the original partial clauses compulsory to full text compulsory of technical requirements.

4.The new Specifications strengthens the requirements for risk management and control in the operation process, the mainly contains are as follows:

• Strengthens the implementation of the main responsibility of enterprise safety production; 
• The function of guardians is further emphasized; 
• The requirement of "energy isolation" before implementing special operations is specified; 
• Adjusts part of the management requirements for work tickets in the current standard to the main text as mandatory clauses, requiring enterprises to strictly implement them; 
• Clarifies the requirements that related work tickets must be handled separately for the same operation with different types of special operations involved.

5.The new Specifications strengthens the safety risk management and control of hot work, the mainly contain are as follow:

• Expands the management scope of hot work; 
• Improves the management requirements for special grade hot work; 
• Strict requirements are put forward for the temporary power utilization involved in the implementation of hot work; 
• The necessity of detecting the gas content in the equipment is emphasized when implement hot work on the outer walls of pipes, storage tanks, towers and other equipment.

6.The new Specifications improves the safety measures for confined space operation, the mainly contain are as follows:

• Stipulate that the guardian of confined space must carry out the supervision outside the confined space, and must inspect the tools and instruments used by the personnel who enter the confined space; 
• Adjust the acceptable concentration standard of oxygen in confined space has been; 
• Specified the requirements for continuous monitoring of combustible gas, toxic gas and oxygen content when working in confined space.

Environment

1. < Implementation Plan for Carbon Peaking in the Industrial Field > (2022-07-07)

The Implementation Plan for Carbon Peaking in the Industrial Field (hereinafter referred to as the Implementation Plan) has been gazetted jointly by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on 7^th July 2022, aiming to accelerate industrial green and low-carbon transformation, and effectively carry out the work of carbon peak in the industrial sector.

Overall goals of the Implementation Plan:

• By 2025, the energy consumption per unit of added value of industrial enterprises above designated size will drop by 13.5% compared with 2020, the decline range in carbon dioxide emissions per unit of industrial added value will be greater than that of the whole society, and the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions in key industries will decrease significantly.
• A modern industrial system featuring high efficiency, green, recycling, and low carbon will be basically established, ensure that industrial CO₂ emissions will peak by 2030.

Six (6) key tasks of the Implementation Plan:

• Deeply adjusting industrial structure
  To promote the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure, resolutely curb the blind development of low-level projects with high energy consumption and heavy emissions, vigorously develop green and low-carbon industries.
• Deeply promote energy conservation and carbon reduction
  Make energy conservation and efficiency as the top priority source for meeting energy consumption growth, significantly improve the energy efficiency of key industries and key products, and foster low-carbon, smart, and systematic energy use.
• Actively promote green manufacturing
  To refine the green manufacturing system, further promote clean production, build green and low-carbon factories, green and low-carbon industrial parks and green and low-carbon supply chain, drive the green transformation of production mode through typical demonstrations.
• Vigorously develop the circular economy
  To optimize the structure of resource allocation，maximize the synergistic effect of resource conservation and carbon reduction, and reduce carbon emissions in the industrial sector through efficient recycling of resources.
• Accelerate industrial green and low-carbon technological transformation
  To boost innovation breakthroughs and transformation application of significant low-carbon technologies, process and equipment, to promote industrial carbon reduction and decarbonization through technological process innovation and production process reengineering.
• Proactively promote digital transformation in the industrial sector
  To promote the green and low-carbon transformation of digital enabled industries, strengthen the connection between enterprise demand and information service supply, and accelerate the application and promotion of digital low-carbon solutions.

Two (2) major actions of the Implementation Plan:

• To establish carbon peaking implementation plan for key industrial sectors, such as steel, construction materials, petrochemical, and nonferrous metals, research low-carbon development roadmaps for consumer goods, equipment manufacturing, electronics, continue to implement policies based on different sectors, reduce carbon emission intensity and control carbon emissions.
• To establish promotion mechanisms on green and low-carbon products development, increase the supply of green and low-carbon products in the fields of energy production, transportation and urban and rural construction.

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