Fire Control Law of the People's Republic of China (adopted on April 29, 1998)

(Passed by the Second Session of the Ninth National People's Congress on April 29, 1998)

CHAPTER ONE GENERAL RULES

Article 1 This law is formulated in the purpose of preventing fire and reducing fire damage, safeguarding citizen's personal security, public property and civil assets, upholding public security and ensuring the smooth construction of the socialist modernization.

Article 2 Fire control work shall follow the policy of devoting major efforts into prevention and combining fire prevention with fire fighting, and shall adhere to the principle of combining the efforts of both specialized organizations and the masses and carry out responsibility system on fire prevention and safety.

Article 3 The State Council shall led and the people's governments at all levels be responsible for fire control work. The people's government at all levels shall bring fire control work in line with the national economy and social development plan, and ensure that fire control work fit in with the economic construction and social development.

Article 4 The public security department of the State Council shall monitor and administer the nationwide fire control work; the public security organs of local people's governments above county level shall monitor and administer the fire control work within their administrative region and the fire control institutions of public security organs of the people's government at the same level shall be responsible for the implementation. Fire control work for military facilities, underground parts of mines and nuclear power plant shall be monitored and administered by their competent units. For fire control work on forest and grassland, in case there are separate regulations, the separate regulations shall be followed.

Article 5 Any unit and individual shall have the obligation of keeping fire control safety, protecting fire control facilities, preventing fire disaster and reporting fire alarm. Any unit and adult shall have the obligation to take part in organized fire fighting work.

Article 6 The people's government at all levels shall carry out regular fire control propaganda and education and strengthen citizens' awareness on fire control. Administrative department on education and labor shall put fire control knowledge into teaching and training. Competent departments in journalism, publishing, broadcasting, movie and television sector shall have the obligation to conduct propaganda and education on fire control safety.

Article 7 Units and individuals who make prominent contribution or achievements in fire control work shall be awarded.

CHAPTER TWO FIRE PREVENTION

Article 8 Urban people's governments shall bring the fire control plan into the overall urban planning, including fire control safety layout, fire control station, fire control communication, fire truck passageway and fire control equipment, etc, and take the charge of organizing relevant departments for its implementation. In case public fire control facilities and equipage are insufficient or do not fit in with actual demand, efforts should be made on expansion, rebuilding, allocation and purchase or technical reform. Science research and promotion on fire control work should be reiterated and advanced fire control technology and equipage should be adopted.

Article 9 Existing factories and warehouses and specialized depots and wharves for production, storage, loading and unloading of inflammable and explosive dangerous goods, shall be established at urban border area or independent safety zone. Filling and loading stations, supply stations and pressure regulating stations for inflammable and explosive gas and liquid shall be set up in an appropriate location and shall conform to the requirements on prevention of fire and explosion. For existing factories and warehouses and specialized depots and wharves for production, storage, loading and unloading of inflammable and explosive dangerous goods, and filling and loading stations, supply stations and pressure regulating stations for inflammable and explosive gas and liquid, in case they do not conform to the regulations of this article, relevant units shall adopt measures to give a solution within a time limit.

Article 10 For construction project conducting fire control design in accordance with requirements of the State Technical Standards on Fire Control for Engineering Construction, the design unit shall conduct the design in accordance with requirements of the State Technical Standards on Fire Control for Engineering Construction; the construction unit shall submit the drawings of fire control design for the construction project and relevant materials to relevant public security fire control institution for review and approval; for project not going through review and approval formalities or considered unqualified after the review and examination, the competent construction administrative department shall not issue the license for construction and the construction unit shall not carry out the construction. For fire control design for construction project approved by relevant public security fire control institution, in case the design needs changes, it shall be submitted to the previous public security fire control institution granting the approval for examination and approval; without approval, no unit or individual shall be allowed to make the changes. Upon the completion of a construction project containing a fire control design conducted in accordance with requirements of the State Technical Standards on Fire Control for Engineering Construction, the project must go through acceptance check on fire control by relevant public security fire control institutions; project without going through the acceptance check or considered unqualified after the acceptance check shall not be put into use.

Article 11 The fire proof performance of constructional elements and construction materials must conform to the state standards or industrial standards. The indoor fittings and decoration of public places using inflammable and flame retardant materials in accordance with requirements of the State Technical Standards on Fire Control for Engineering Construction, shall choose materials passing qualification check by inspection institution designated in accordance with regulations of the Product Quality Law.

Article 12 Song and dance hall, cinema, hotel, restaurant, commercial center and market fair where the public gather, before putting into use or starting business, shall be reported to local public security fire control institutions and can only be put into use or start business after passing the acceptance check on fire control safety.

Article 13 For mass activities with fire danger, such as large gatherings, fireworks evening party and lantern party, the host unit shall formulate preproposal on fire fighting and emergency evacuation and put into effect relevant fire control security measures, and report to public security fire control institutions which will conduct fire control security check. The activities can only be held when qualification check is granted.

Article 14 State organs, organizations, enterprises and institutions shall perform the following duties on fire control security: (I) Formulate fire control safety system and operation rules on fire control safety; (II) Exercise fire prevention safety responsibility system, appoint person-in-charge for fire control safety of the unit and various departments and posts under the unit; (III) Conduct fire control propaganda and education on employees in light of the characteristics of the unit, (IV) Organize fire prevention inspection and remove hidden danger in time; (V) Allocate and purchase fire control facilities and devices, set up fire control safety marks in accordance with relevant state regulations, and organize regular inspection and maintenance to ensure a perfect and effective condition of fire control facilities and device; (VI) Ensure that evacuation passageway and safety exit are unblocked and set up evacuation marks on fire control safety conforming to the state regulations. The administrative unit of residential areas shall perform duties and responsibilities on fire control safety in accordance with regulations of this article and do a good job on fire control safety in the residential areas.

Article 15 Rooms within the same building of workshop or warehouse shall not be used as dormitory. In case rooms in a building with workshop or warehouse have already been used as dormitory, the problem shall be solved within a time limit. Those who indeed have difficulties for the time being, shall take necessary fire control safety measures and can only continue to use the dormitory after acquiring approval from public security fire control institutions.

Article 16 For units with higher risk of fire disaster and units that may cause major casualties and deaths or heavy loss of assets in case of fire disaster, the public security fire control institutions of local people's governments above county level shall select these units as key units on fire control safety of their administrative region and file with the people's government of the same level for reference. Key units on fire control safety shall, in addition to performing the duties and responsibilities as stipulated in Article 14 of this law, perform the following duties and responsibilities on fire control safety: (I) Set up file system on fire prevention, locate critical parts for fire control safety, set up fire prevention marks and exercise strict administration; (II) Exercise daily fire prevention patrol and set up patrol record; (III) Conduct fire control safety training on employees; (IV) Formulate pre-proposal on fire fighting and emergency evacuation and organize regular fire drill.

Article 17 Any unit and individual engaged in production, storage, transportation, sales or use and destroy of inflammable and explosive dangerous goods, must execute relevant state regulations on fire control safety. Units producing inflammable and explosive dangerous goods shall attach instruction book with datas such as the ignition point, flash point and explosion limit of the product, and give points of attention for fire and explosion prevention. Inflammable and explosive dangerous goods with independent packing shall be attached with a tag of dangerous goods. Those who enter places where inflammable and explosive dangerous goods are produced and stored, must execute the state regulations on fire control safety. It is prohibited to carry kindling into places where inflammable and explosive dangerous goods are produced and stored. It is prohibited to illegally carry inflammable and explosive dangerous goods into public places or on public transportation means. The management of warehouses storing inflammable goods must be in execution of relevant state regulations on fire control safety.

Article 18 It is prohibited to use naked light in places with fire and explosion danger; in case naked light operation is required for special reasons, examination and approval formalities shall be handled in accordance with relevant regulations. Operators shall follow the regulations on fire control safety and adopt corresponding measures on fire control safety. Operators conducting operation with fire danger like electrical welding and gas welding or operators for automatic fire control system, must hold relevant certificates and strictly observe operation rules on fire control safety.

Article 19 The quality of fire control products must conform to the state standards or industrial standards. It is prohibited to produce, sell or use fire control products without passing qualification check by the inspection organ designated in accordance with regulations of the Product Quality Law. It is prohibited to use complementary fire control parts, extinguishant, maintenance and fire control facilities and devices not conforming to the state standards or industrial standards. Public security fire control institutions and their staff shall not specify sales units and brands of fire control products in the capacity of their functions.

Article 20 The quality of electrical products and gas utensils must conform to the state standards or industrial standard. The installation, use and design and laying of circuit and pipes must conform to relevant technical regulations on fire control. Article 21 Any unit or individual shall not damage or arbitrarily use, dismantle and stop using fire control facilities and devices, and shall not bury and occupy hydrant, occupy fire prevention space and block fire control passageway. Public utility units or urban construction units, when building road and cutting off power, water supply and communication lines that may affect fire brigade in fire fighting and rescue work, must inform local public security fire control institutions in advance.

Article 22 During farm products harvest seasons and fire prevention period of forest and grassland, major holidays and frequent fire disaster seasons, local people's government at all levels shall organize and carry out fire control propaganda and education according to the specific situations, adopt fire prevention measures and conduct fire control safety inspection.

Article 23 Villagers committee and neighborhood committee shall organize the masses to carry out fire control work, formulate fire prevention safety convention and conduct fire control safety inspection. The township people's governments and urban neighborhood offices shall give guidance and supervision.

Article 24 Public security fire control institutions shall monitor and conduct inspection on state organs, organizations, enterprises and institutions in terms of their observance of fire control laws and regulations. For key units for fire control safety, regular monitoring and inspection shall be conducted. Working staff of public security fire control institutions, when conducting supervision and inspection, shall produce certificates. Public security fire control institutions, when conducting fire control examination and approval and acceptance check, shall not collect fees.

Article 25 Public security fire control institutions, when finding out hidden fire danger, shall inform relevant units or individuals in time to take measures and order to remove the hidden danger within a time limit.

CHAPTER THREE FIRE CONTROL ORGANIZATIONS

Article 26 The people's government at all levels shall, in accordance with the requirement of economic and social development, set up fire control organizations in multi forms, strengthen construction of fire control organizations and the abilities on fire fighting.

Article 27 Urban people's governments shall, in accordance with the standards on fire control station construction, set up public security fire brigade, full time fire brigade to undertake fire fighting and rescue work. Township people's governments may, in accordance with the requirements of economic development and fire control work, set up full time and voluntary fire brigades to undertake fire fighting and rescue work. Public security fire brigades, except guaranteeing to carry out fire fighting and rescue work as stipulated in this law, should also do rescue and relief work of other disasters or accidents.

Article 28 The following units shall set up full time fire brigades to undertake fire fighting and rescue work. (I) Nuclear power plant, large power plant, civil airports and large wharves; (II) Large enterprises producing and storing inflammable and explosive dangerous goods; (III) Large warehouses and bases storing inflammable important goods; (IV) Other large enterprises other than those listed in Item (I) (II) (III), but with high risk of fire disaster and are far from local public security fire brigades.

Article 29 The establishment of full time fire brigade shall conform to relevant regulations of the state and be submitted to fire control institutions of public security organs of the people's government at provincial level.

Article 30 State organs, organizations, enterprises and institutions as well as towns and villages may set up obligatory fire brigade consisting of working staff or villager based on need.

Article 31 Public security fire control institutions shall give business guidance to full time and obligatory fire brigades, and shall have the right to direct and muster full time fire brigade for fire fighting and rescue work.

CHAPTER FOUR FIRE FIGHTING AND RESCUE

Article 32 Any one who discover a fire shall immediately report to the police. Any unit and individual shall provide convenience for fire alarm reporting gratis and shall not obstruct the reporting. It is strictly prohibited to make false reporting of fire. In case a fire occurs in a public place, the on site working staff of the public place shall have the obligation to organize and guide the evacuation of on-site masses. Units suffering fire disaster shall immediately organize fire fighting and rescue work. Neighboring units shall provide support. Fire brigades, upon receiving fire reporting, must rush to fire site immediately to rescue people under mishap, eliminate dangerous case and extinguish fire.

Article 33 Public security fire control institutions, when making unified organization and direction of on site fire fighting and rescue, the chief commander shall have the right to determine the following matters in accordance with the requirements of fire fighting and rescue work: (I) Use of various water sources; (II) Cut off transmission of power, inflammable gas and liquid, and restrict the use of fire and power; (III) Delimit warning zone and exercise local transportation control; (IV) Make use of neighboring constructions and related facilities; (V) Dismantle or damage neighboring constructions and structures of fire site so as to prevent fire spreading; (VI) Muster relevant units of water and power supply, medical and rescue and transportation to assist the fire fighting and rescue work. For ultra large fire disaster, relevant local people's government shall organize relevant personnel and assemble necessary goods to support the fire fighting.

Article 34 Public security fire control institutions, when conducting relief and rescue work of other disasters or accidents other than fire disaster, shall carry out the task under unified direction of relevant local people's government.

Article 35 Fire trucks and fire boats, when rushing for fire fighting and rescue work or relief and rescue task for other disaster and accidents, shall not be restricted by its driving speed, driving route, driving direction and traffic signals; other vehicles, ships and pedestrians must make way and shall not conduct overtaking. Traffic commander shall guarantee the fast and smooth passing of fire trucks and fire boats. Article 36 Fire truck, fire boats and fire control devices, equipage and facilities shall not be used for purposes other than fire fighting and rescue work.

Article 37 Fire brigades shall not charge any fee for fire fighting and rescue work from units and individuals suffering fire disaster. Full time fire brigade and obligatory fire brigade shall be compensated for fuel, extinguishant and device and equipage used in taking part of fire fighting and rescue for other units.

Article 38 Personnel suffering injury, cripple and death as a result of taking part of fire fighting and rescue work, shall be given medical treatment and compensation.

Article 39 After a fire is extinguished, public security fire control institutions shall, based on need, have the right to seal up fire site, be responsible for investigation, identify fire cause, check and ratify fire losses and find out responsibilities of fire disasters. For ultra large fire disasters, in case the State Council or the people's government at provincial level consider it necessary, an investigation can be organized. After a fire is extinguished, fire breaking units shall protect fire site in accordance with requirements of public security fire control institutions, accept investigation on the accident and provide accurate facts on the fire disaster.

CHAPTER FIVE LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Article 40 Any one who violates the rules of this law and has one of the following conducts, shall be ordered to make corrections within a time limit; those who do not make the corrections after the time limit, shall be ordered to stop construction, stop use of things concerned or stop production or business, and may be punished with penalty simultaneously: (I) Those who start construction when the fire control design of the construction projects have not be reviewed and approved or be considered disqualified after the review and examination by relevant public security fire control institutions. (II) Those who make arbitrary use of a completed construction project which should conduct fire control design in accordance with law but has not passed or fail to pass the fire control acceptance check; (III) Those who arbitrarily make use of or start business in places where the public gather without going through fire control safety check or fail to pass the qualification check; (IV) Units with conduct of this article shall be punished in accordance with rules of this article and the person in charge with direct responsibility or other personnel with direct responsibility shall be given warning or penalty.

Article 41 Those who, in violation of this law, arbitrarily hold mass activities like large gatherings, fireworks evening party, lantern party with risk of fire disaster, shall be ordered to make corrections by public security fire control institutions; those who can not make the corrections, shall be ordered to suspend the activities and may be imposed with penalty. (V) Units with the conduct of this article shall be punished in accordance with the rules of this article, and the person in charge with direct responsibility or other personnel with direct responsibility shall be given disciplinary warning or penalty.

Article 42 Those who, in violation of this law, arbitrarily lower technical standards on fire control in construction, us construction parts and materials not conforming the state standards or industrial standards or disqualified fitting and decoration materials during construction, shall be ordered to make corrections within a time limit; those who do not make the corrections within the time limit, shall be ordered to stop construction, and can be imposed with penalty simultaneously. Units with the conduct of this article, shall be punished in accordance with rules of this article; and the person in charge with direct responsibility or other personnel with direct responsibility shall be given disciplinary warning or penalty.

Article 43 State organs, organizations, enterprises and institutions who violates rules of this law and do not perform responsibilities or fire control safety, shall be ordered to make corrections within a time limit; for units who do not make the corrections within the time limit, the person in charge with direct responsibility or other personnel with direct responsibility shall be given administrative sanction or disciplinary warning. Operational places with one of the following conducts shall be ordered to make corrections within a time limit; those who do not make the corrections within the time limit, shall be ordered to stop production and business, and can be imposed with penalty simultaneously; the person in charge with direct responsibility or other personnel with direct responsibility shall be imposed with penalty: (I) Those who do not remove fire danger in time; (II) Those who do not, in accordance with relevant regulations of the state, allocate and purchase fire control facilities and devices; (III) Those who do not guarantee the evacuation passageway and safety exist unblocked. Those who use rooms in a building with workshop or warehouse as dormitory shall be punished in accordance with rules of Article 2.

Article 44 Those who, in violation the rules of this law, produce and sell fire control products that have not passed qualification check by inspection institutions designated in accordance with rules of the Product Quality Law, shall be ordered to stop illegal action, and be confiscated with product and illegal income, and be strictly punished in accordance with the rules of the Product Quality Law. Those units engaged in maintenance and check and test of fire control facilities and devices, carry out maintenance and check and test in violation of rules on fire control technology, shall be ordered to make corrections within a time limit and can be imposed with penalty simultaneously; and the person in charge with direct responsibility or other personnel with direct responsibility shall be given disciplinary: warning or penalty.

Article 45 In case the installation of electrical appliances and gas utensils or the laying of circuits and pipelines do not conform to the rules of fire control technology, the person in charge shall be ordered to make corrections within a time limit; those who do not make the corrections within the time limit, shall be ordered to stop the use.

Article 46 Those who, in violation the rules of this law, produce, store, transport, sell or use, destroy inflammable and explosive dangerous goods, shall be ordered to stop illegal activities, and can be given disciplinary warning, penalty or disciplinary warning or penalty. Those units with the conduct of this article, shall be ordered to stop illegal activities, and can be given disciplinary warning or penalty, and the person in charge with direct responsibility or other personnel with direct responsibility shall be punished in accordance with rules of this article.

Article 47 Those who, in violation the rules of this law, have one of the following conducts, shall be given disciplinary warning or penalty, or detention less than 15 days: (I) Those who, in violation the rules of this law, enter places where inflammable and explosive dangerous goods are produced and stored; (II) Those who, in violation law, use naked light in operation or who, in violation of prohibition, smoke, use naked light in places with fire and explosion danger. (III) Those who obstruct fire alarm reporting or make false report on fire disaster; (IV) Those who deliberately obstruct fire truck and fire boasts from rushing to fire site or who disturb the order of fire site; (V) Those who refuse to obey the command of fire site commander and influence fire fighting and rescue work; (VI) Those whose blunder causes fire but has not resulted in heavy losses.

Article 48 Those who violates the rules of this law and have one of the following conducts, shall be given disciplinary warning or penalty: (I) Those who instigate or force others to conduct operation at risk in violation the rules on fire control safety, but have not cause serious results; (II) Those who bury, occupy fire hydrant or occupy fire prevention space, block fire control passageway, or damage and arbitrarily use, dismantle and stop use fire control facilities and devices; (III) Those who do not remove serious fire danger after being informed by public security fire control institutions; Units with the conduct of this article shall be punished in accordance with rules of this article; and the person in charge with direct responsibility or other personnel with direct responsibility shall be disciplinary warning or penalty. Those who have the conduct listed in item 2 of Clause 1, shall be further ordered to make restorati on or compensate the losses within a time limit; for those who do not make the restoration after the time limit, a forcible execution will be carried out on the dismantle or cleaning up at the expense of the person(s) with illegal conduct.

Article 49 On site working staff of public places, in case of a fire, do not perform the obligation of organizing and guiding the evacuation of the on site masses, and cause casualty and death, but do not constitute a criminal charge, shall be punished with detention less than 15 days.

Article 50 For those who, after a fire is extinguished, deliberately destroy the fire site or make a simulated scene in the purpose of concealing and covering up fire causes and shirking their responsibility, but do not constitute a criminal charge, shall be given disciplinary warning or penalty and the person in charge with direct responsibility or other personnel with direct responsibility shall be punished in accordance with this article.

Article 51 The punishment on conducts violating the rules of this law shall be decided by public security fire control institutions; punishment of detention shall be decided by public security organs in accordance with rules of penal clauses on public order administration.

Article 52 The working staff of public security fire control institutions, in case of abusing their authority, ignoring their duty and playing favoritism and committing irregularities, and having one of the following conducts, causing loss to the benefit of the state and people, but having not constituted a criminal charge, shall be given administrative sanction in accordance with law: (I) Those who pass the examination and approval and acceptance check to fire control design and construction projects that do not conform to the state technical standards on fire control for construction projects; (II) Those who deliberately delay in giving and do not give examination and approval and acceptance check to fire control design and construction projects that shall be given examination and approval and acceptance check in accordance with law. (III) Those who do not inform relevant units or individual to make corrections when finding hidden danger of fire. (IV) Those who, in the capacity of their function, specify sales units or brands of fire control products or specify construction units of fire control facilities. (V) Other conducts involving abusing authority, dereliction of duty and playing favoritism and committing irregularities. Article 53 Those who violate this law and commit a criminal offence will be punished as a crime.

CHAPTER SIX SUPPLEMENTARY ARTICLES  Article 54 This law shall come into force as of September 1, 1998. Meanwhile, the "Regulations on Fire Control of the People's Republic of China" approved by the fifth meeting of the Standing Committee of the 6th National People's Congress on May 11, 1984 and promulgated by the State Council on May 13, 1984 shall be annulled simultaneously.