China Publishes Interim Provisions on Fire Protection Design and Acceptance of Construction Projects

On April 4, 2020, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China (MOHURD) published the Interim Provisions on the Administration of Fire Protection Design Review and Acceptance of Construction Projects (Order No. 51 of the MOHURD), adjusted the competent departments of fire protection design review and acceptance of construction projects, and adjusted and improved the specific provisions on the review and acceptance of fire protection design of construction projects. The provisions are applicable to the fire design review and fire-fighting acceptance of special construction projects, as well as the register and spot check of fire-fighting acceptance of other construction projects, which shall come into force as of June 1, 2020.

The new provisions are mainly aimed at the matching of laws and regulations after the transfer of functions (between the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Ministry of Public Security on fire protection design review and acceptance of construction projects). At the same time, some management details are improved to clarify the responsibilities of all construction units.

Compared with its predecessor, Regulations on Fire Control Supervision and Management of Construction Projects (Order No. 106 of the Ministry of Public Security), the main contents and changes are as follows:

1. Department function adjustment: according to the Fire Protection Law of the People's Republic of China revised in April 2019, the main body of fire protection design review and acceptance of construction projects is adjusted from the Public Security Fire Department to the Competent Department of Housing and urban-rural construction.
2. No change in the scope of fire protection design review and acceptance: the previous Regulations on Fire Control Supervision and Management of Construction Projects stipulates that places requiring fire protection design review and acceptance shall still require fire protection design review (equivalent to the original fire protection design review) and acceptance inspection in Interim Provisions on the Administration of Fire Protection Design Review and Acceptance of Construction Projects.
3. The requirements for the professional ability of the personnel engaged in the examination and acceptance of the fire protection design of the construction project are clarified: the staff engaged in the examination and acceptance of the fire protection design of the construction project, as well as the employees of the construction, design, construction, project supervision, technical service and other units, shall have the corresponding professional and technical ability and participate in the vocational training regularly. (refer to article 7 of the Interim Provisions)
4. Defined the specific standards for passing the examination and acceptance of fire protection design: the design examination standards are: the application materials are complete and in accordance with the legal form; the design unit has the corresponding qualification; the fire protection design documents meet the national engineering construction fire protection technical standards (refer to article 23 of the interim provisions). And the acceptance standards for fire protection are: The application materials are complete and conform to the legal form; the contents of the Building Acceptance Certificate are complete; the construction project completion drawings related to fire protection are consistent with the reviewed fire protection design documents; the site assessment conclusion is qualified (refer to article 30 of the Interim Provisions).
5. Make clear the specific contents of the construction unit's inspection obligation for completion acceptance and on-site assessment of fire control acceptance: before applying for fire control acceptance, the construction unit shall carry out relevant fire control acceptance on its own. The completion acceptance organized by the construction unit shall be checked:
   1. The fire protection design of the project and the fire protection contents stipulated in the contract shall be completed 
   2. There shall be complete technical archives of fire protection of the project and construction management data (including the mobilization test report of building materials, building components and equipment involved in fire protection) 
   3. The construction unit shall pass the acceptance of each sub project involved in fire protection of the project; The construction, design, engineering supervision, technical service and other units confirm that the firefighting quality of the project conforms to the relevant standards
   4. The firefighting facilities performance, system function joint commissioning and joint test are qualified (refer to article 27 of the Interim Provisions)

When the competent department of fire protection design review and acceptance carries out on-site assessment of fire protection acceptance, it mainly includes "on-site sampling inspection of the appearance of fire prevention (extinguishing) facilities of buildings; on-site sampling measurement of measurable indexes such as distance, height, width, length, area and thickness through professional instruments and equipment; sampling test, joint commissioning and test elimination of the functions of fire protection facilities The system function of the prevention facilities." (refer to article 29 of the Interim Provisions).

In addition, the Interim Provisions also specify that the competent department in charge of fire protection design review and acceptance shall timely inform the fire protection acceptance, record and spot check to the fire protection and rescue institutions, and share the building plan, fire protection facility layout plan, fire protection facility system diagram and other data with the fire protection and rescue institutions; if the construction drawing design documents are jointly reviewed, the fire protection design technology of the construction project shall be included. For the construction projects subject to joint acceptance of planning, land, fire control, civil air defense, archives and other matters, the opinions on fire control acceptance shall be uniformly issued by the Department designated by the local people's government; in addition, the competent department of fire control design review and acceptance shall carry out spot check on other construction projects on record and implement per the principle of "randomly select the construction projects, randomly select  spot check personnel, extraction ratio of the spot check and the inspection result be announced to the public", etc.

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