Recently, the Department of Policies and Regulations of the State Administration of Work Safety ("SAWS") has released the Provisions on Supervision and Administration of Technical Service Institutions for Occupational Health (Draft for Comment) (the "Draft for Comment") for public comments before May 28, 2017.
The Draft for Comment clarifies the following issues. The first is the name of this regulation. The second is service items of technical service institutions for occupational health. The third is the category-based administration of qualification grades. The fourth is retaining the administration of business scope. The fifth is conditions for being qualified as a technical service institution for occupational health. The sixth refers to the assessment of professionals, technicians and laboratories' capacity in testing. The seventh is giving play to the organizational role of the technical service industry for occupational health. The eighth is encouraging technical service institutions to provide socialized services. The ninth comes to institutions' functions, powers and responsibilities in supervision and inspection. The tenth is detailing the legal liability of a technical service institution for occupational health. The last is setting out the way in which the current Grade III qualification will be handled. Additionally, the Draft for Comment clearly sets forth that the Grade III qualification will be eliminated, leaving the qualifications only divided into two grades, i.e. Grade I and Grade II. The SAWS will continue to be responsible for identifying the Grade I qualification and granting a qualification certificate to the parties concerned.