Adopted at the 28th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on April 29, 2021, the the People's Republic of ChinaFire Law"was amended and issued by presidential decree No. 81.

The latest amendments to the the People's Republic of China Fire Protection Act

The (I) amended Article 15 to read: "Public gathering places are put into use, and fire safety inspections before business are implemented to inform and promise management. Before a public gathering place is put into use or business, the construction unit or the user unit shall report to the local people's government at or above the county level where the place is located for fire control.RescueInstitutions apply for fire safety inspections to make premises compliant with fire protectionTechnologyStandards and management provisions of the commitment, submit the provisions of the material, and its commitment and the authenticity of the material is responsible.

"The fire rescue agency shall review the materials submitted by the applicant; if the application materials are complete and conform to the statutory form, they shall be permitted. Fire and rescue agencies shall, in accordance with the fire technical standards and management regulations, promptly verify the public gathering places that have made commitments.

"If the applicant chooses not to use the notification commitment method, the fire rescue agency shall inspect the place within ten working days from the date of accepting the application in accordance with the fire technical standards and management regulations. If the fire safety requirements are met after inspection, permission shall be granted.

"Public gathering places shall not be put into use or operated without the permission of fire and rescue agencies. The specific measures for fire safety inspection shall be determined by the State Council.Emergencymanagement to develop."

The (II) amends Article 34 to read: "Fire protection technical service institutions such as fire protection facility maintenance and inspection, fire safety assessment, etc. shall meet the requirements for employment, and practitioners shall obtain corresponding qualifications in accordance with laws, administrative regulations, national standards, and industry standards. And practice guidelines, accept the entrustment to provide fire protection technical services, and be responsible for the quality of the service."

The (III) amended the fourth item of the first paragraph of Article 58 to read: "(IV) public gathering place is put into use or business without the permission of the fire rescue agency, or it is found that the use and business conditions of the place are inconsistent with the promised content after verification".

One paragraph is added as the second paragraph: "If the verification finds that the use and business conditions of public gathering places are inconsistent with the promised content, and the rectification is ordered within a time limit. If the rectification is not made within the time limit or the requirements are still not met after the rectification, the corresponding license shall be revoked according to law."

The (IV) amends Article 69 to read: "If fire-fighting technical service institutions such as fire-fighting facilities maintenance and inspection, fire-fighting safety assessment and other fire-fighting technical service institutions do not have the qualifications to engage in fire-fighting technical service activities or issue false documents, the fire-fighting and rescue institutions shall order them to make corrections and impose a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 50,000 yuan on the directly responsible persons in charge and other directly responsible persons; those who fail to carry out fire protection technical service activities in accordance with national standards and industry standards shall be ordered to make corrections and be fined not more than 50,000 yuan, and the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible persons shall be fined not more than 10,000 yuan; if there are illegal gains, the illegal gains shall be confiscated; if losses are caused to others, they shall be liable for compensation according to law; if the circumstances are serious, they shall be ordered to stop practicing or revoke the corresponding qualifications; if heavy losses are caused, the relevant departments shall revoke the business license and take measures to ban the relevant responsible personnel from entering the market for life.

"If the institutions specified in the preceding paragraph issue false documents and cause losses to others, they shall be liable for compensation according to law; if heavy losses are caused, the fire rescue institutions shall be ordered to stop practicing or revoke the corresponding qualifications according to law, and the business license shall be revoked by the relevant departments, and the relevant responsible personnel shall be prohibited from entering the market for life."

(above from the National People's Congress website)

Interpretation of the new modified part:

1. The unit can choose two approval methods before putting into use and opening in public gathering places. One is the notification commitment system, that is, after the unit promises as required, the fire rescue agency will approve the materials after reviewing the materials, and then verify them; if the unit does not choose to inform the commitment method, after submitting the application materials, the fire rescue agency will inspect it within the prescribed time limit. And make a permit. The amendment of this article is mainly based on the requirements of the State Council to provide optional convenience to the unit.

2, cancel the fire technical service organization qualification examination and approval, changed to meet the conditions of employment. The expression of quality certification of fire-fighting products was canceled, "fire-fighting facilities inspection and fire safety monitoring" was changed to "fire-fighting facilities maintenance inspection and fire safety assessment", and the requirements for qualification approval were canceled and changed to meet the employment conditions. The modification of this article is based on the change of the positioning and service content of the management service and the fire technical service organization.

3. The penalty for unqualified verification after informing the public gathering place of the commitment permit has been increased. While providing services to public gathering places, law enforcement is also stricter. If the verification finds that it does not conform to the promise, it will be punished (suspension of business and a fine of 3-300000); at the same time, it will be ordered to make corrections within a time limit, and if it fails to make corrections within the time limit, the license will be revoked.

4. The penalties for fire-fighting technical service institutions that do not meet the employment conditions have been increased, and the penalties for fire-fighting technical service institutions that do not carry out technical services according to standards have been increased. Because the qualification examination and approval of fire-fighting technical service institutions has been canceled, those who do not meet the employment conditions will be ordered to make corrections and be fined; at the same time, the penalty for not serving according to the standard has been increased (ordered to make corrections, the technical service institutions will be fined not more than 50000, and the responsible person will be fined not more than 10000).

In addition, this article clarifies that technical service agencies are supervised by "fire rescue agencies", and if they issue false documents to technical service agencies and cause heavy losses, the penalty of "revoking the business license and banning the relevant responsible persons for life" is added.

Comparison of legal provisions before amendment:

Article 15 Before a public gathering place is put into use or business, the construction unit or the user unit shall apply for fire safety inspection to the fire and rescue agency of the local people's government at or above the county level where the place is located.

The fire and rescue agency shall, within ten working days from the date of accepting the application, conduct fire safety inspection on the place in accordance with the fire technical standards and management regulations. Those without fire safety inspection or failing to meet fire safety requirements after inspection shall not be put into use or put into business.

Article 34 Fire protection technical service institutions and practitioners such as fire protection product quality certification, fire protection facility testing, fire protection safety monitoring, etc. shall obtain corresponding qualifications and qualifications in accordance with the law; in accordance with laws, administrative regulations, national standards, industry standards and practice guidelines, Accept the entrustment to provide fire protection technical services and be responsible for the quality of services.

Article 58 whoever, in violation of the provisions of this Law, commits one of the following acts shall be ordered by the competent departments of housing and urban and rural construction and fire rescue institutions to stop construction, use or suspend production and business in accordance with their respective functions and powers, and shall be fined not less than 30,000 yuan but not more than 300,000 yuan but not more than 300,000 yuan:

(IV) public gathering places are put into use or open for business without fire safety inspection or fail to meet fire safety requirements after inspection.

Article 69 Quality certification of fire-fighting products, testing of fire-fighting facilities, etc.Fire FightingIf a technical service organization issues false documents, it shall be ordered to make corrections, and a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 100,000 yuan shall be imposed, and the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel shall be fined not less than 10,000 yuan but not more than 50,000 yuan; if there are illegal gains, the illegal gains shall be confiscated; if losses are caused to others, they shall be liable for compensation according to law; if the circumstances are serious, the original licensing authority shall order the suspension of practice or revoke the corresponding qualifications and qualifications in accordance with the law.

If the institutions specified in the preceding paragraph issue false documents and cause losses to others, they shall be liable for compensation according to law; if they cause heavy losses, the original licensing authority shall order them to stop practicing or revoke the corresponding qualifications and qualifications according to law.