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Decision of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development on Amending the Interim Provisions on Fire Design Review and Acceptance Management of Construction Projects

(Promulgated by Order No. 58 of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People's Republic of China on August 21, 2023, and effective from October 30, 2023)

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has decided to make the following amendments to the Interim Provisions on Fire Design Review and Acceptance Management of Construction Projects (Order No. 51 of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development):

1. Amend Article 17 to: "If a special construction project has any of the following circumstances, the construction unit shall submit special fire design technical information at the same time in addition to the materials listed in Article 16 of these Regulations:

Article 19 After receiving the fire design review application submitted by the construction unit, the fire design review and acceptance department shall issue an acceptance certificate if the application materials are complete; if the application materials are incomplete, it shall inform all the contents that need to be supplemented at one time.

Article 20 For construction projects with one of the circumstances in Article 17 of these Regulations, the fire design review and acceptance department shall submit the application materials to the housing and urban-rural construction department of the provincial, autonomous regional and municipal people's government within five working days from the date of acceptance of the fire design review application for expert review.

Article 21 The housing and urban-rural construction department of the provincial, autonomous regional and municipal people's government shall establish an expert database composed of personnel with senior technical titles in engineering fire protection, construction and other specialties, and formulate an expert database management system.

Article 22 The housing and urban-rural construction department of the provincial, autonomous regional and municipal people's government shall organize an expert review meeting within ten working days from the date of receipt of the application materials to review the special fire design technical materials submitted by the construction unit.

The review experts are randomly selected from the expert database. For projects with complex technology, strong professionalism or special requirements of the state, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, national engineering survey and design masters and experts with corresponding qualifications from abroad can be directly invited to participate in the review; experts with interests in special construction engineering design units shall not participate in the review.

The review experts shall meet the relevant professional requirements, the total number shall not be less than seven, and they shall independently issue review opinions of agreement or disagreement. Special fire protection design technical data shall be considered approved if more than three-quarters of the review experts agree. If the review experts have different opinions, they shall be noted. The housing and urban-rural construction authorities of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government shall notify the fire protection design review and acceptance authorities that have submitted the review in writing of the expert review opinions.

Article 23 The fire protection design review and acceptance authorities shall issue written review opinions within fifteen working days from the date of acceptance of the fire protection design review application. If expert review is required in accordance with these regulations, the expert review time shall not exceed twenty working days.

Article 24: For those who meet the following conditions, the fire design review and acceptance department shall issue a fire design review qualified opinion:

(i) The application materials are complete and meet the legal form;

(ii) The design unit has the corresponding qualifications;

(iii) The fire design documents meet the national engineering construction fire technical standards (for special construction projects with one of the circumstances in Article 17 of these Regulations, the special fire design technical materials have passed the expert review).

For those who do not meet the conditions specified in the preceding paragraph, the fire design review and acceptance department shall issue a fire design review unqualified opinion and explain the reasons.

Article 25: If the joint review of construction drawings and design documents is implemented, the technical review of the fire design of the construction project shall be incorporated into the joint review.

Article 26: Construction, design and construction units shall not modify the fire design documents that have passed the review without authorization. If modification is indeed necessary, the construction unit shall reapply for fire design review in accordance with these Regulations.

Chapter IV Fire acceptance of special construction projects

Article 27: A fire acceptance system shall be implemented for special construction projects.

After the completion acceptance of a special construction project, the construction unit shall apply to the fire protection design review and acceptance department for fire protection acceptance; if the fire protection acceptance has not been completed or the fire protection acceptance is unqualified, it shall not be put into use.

Article 28 When the construction unit organizes the completion acceptance, it shall check whether the construction project meets the following requirements:

(a) The fire protection design of the project and the various fire protection contents agreed in the contract are completed;

(b) There are complete project fire protection technical archives and construction management materials (including on-site test reports of building materials, building components and equipment related to fire protection);

(c) The construction unit has passed the acceptance of each sub-project related to fire protection; the construction, design, engineering supervision, technical service and other units confirm that the fire protection quality of the project meets the relevant standards;

(d) The performance of fire protection facilities, joint debugging and testing of system functions and other contents have passed the inspection.

The construction unit shall not prepare a project completion acceptance report for a construction project that is found not to meet the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Article 29: Construction units applying for fire inspection and acceptance shall submit the following materials:

(I) Fire inspection and acceptance application form;

(II) Project completion acceptance report;

(III) Construction project completion drawings involving fire protection.

After receiving the fire inspection and acceptance application submitted by the construction unit, the fire design review and acceptance department shall issue an acceptance certificate if the application materials are complete; if the application materials are incomplete, it shall inform all the contents that need to be supplemented at one time.

Article 30: After accepting the fire inspection and acceptance application, the fire design review and acceptance department shall conduct on-site assessment of special construction projects in accordance with relevant national regulations. On-site assessment includes on-site sampling inspection of the appearance of the building's fire prevention (extinguishing) facilities; on-site sampling measurement of measurable indicators such as distance, height, width, length, area, thickness, etc. through professional instruments and equipment; sampling test of the functions of fire protection facilities, joint debugging and testing of the system functions of fire protection facilities, etc.

Article 31: The fire design review and acceptance department shall issue a fire inspection and acceptance opinion within 15 days from the date of accepting the fire inspection and acceptance application. For those who meet the following conditions, a fire acceptance opinion shall be issued:

(i) The application materials are complete and in compliance with the statutory form;

(ii) The content of the project completion acceptance report is complete;

(iii) The completion drawings of the construction project involving fire protection are consistent with the fire protection design documents that have been reviewed and approved;

(iv) The on-site assessment conclusion is qualified.

For those who do not meet the conditions specified in the preceding paragraph, the fire protection design review and acceptance department shall issue a fire protection acceptance opinion and explain the reasons.

Article 32 For construction projects that implement joint acceptance of planning, land, fire protection, civil air defense, archives and other matters, the fire protection acceptance opinion shall be issued uniformly by the department designated by the local people's government.

Chapter V Fire protection design, filing and spot check of other construction projects

Article 33 For other construction projects, when the construction unit applies for a construction permit or an approval report for commencement of construction, it shall provide fire protection design drawings and technical information that meet the construction needs.

If the fire protection design drawings and technical information that meet the construction needs are not provided, the relevant department shall not issue a construction permit or approve the commencement report.

Article 34: A filing spot check system shall be implemented for other construction projects, and classified management shall be implemented.

Other construction projects that fail to meet the requirements of the spot check in accordance with the law shall be stopped from use.

Article 35: The housing and urban-rural development authorities of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall formulate a list of classified management catalogs for other construction projects.

Other construction projects shall be divided into two categories, namely general projects and key projects, based on factors such as the regional environment of the building, the use function of the building, the building scale and height, the building fire resistance level, the evacuation capacity, and the configuration level of fire protection facilities and equipment.

Article 36: Within five working days from the date of the completion acceptance of other construction projects, the construction unit shall report to the fire protection design review and acceptance authority for filing.

When filing, the construction unit shall submit the following materials:

(I) Fire protection acceptance filing form;

(II) Project completion acceptance report;

(III) Construction project completion drawings involving fire protection.

Article 28 of these Regulations on fire protection inspections for completion acceptance by construction units shall apply to other construction projects.

Article 37 After receiving the filing materials from the construction unit, the fire design review and acceptance department shall issue a filing certificate if the filing materials are complete; if the filing materials are incomplete, all the contents that need to be supplemented shall be notified at one time.

General projects can apply for filing in the form of notification and commitment system, and the fire design review and acceptance department shall issue a filing certificate based on the commitment letter.

Article 38 The fire design review and acceptance department shall conduct random inspections on other construction projects on record and strengthen the random inspections on key projects.

The random inspection work shall implement the "double random, one public" system, randomly select inspection objects and randomly select inspection personnel. The sampling ratio shall be determined by the housing and urban-rural construction department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the central government in combination with the fire design and construction quality in the jurisdiction, and shall be announced to the public.

Article 39 The fire design review and acceptance department shall complete the inspection and make inspection records in accordance with the relevant provisions on fire acceptance of construction projects within 15 working days from the date when other construction projects are determined as inspection objects. The inspection results shall be notified to the construction unit and announced to the public.

Article 40: After receiving the notice of rectification of unqualified inspection, the construction unit shall stop using the construction project and organize rectification. After the rectification is completed, it shall apply to the fire design review and acceptance department for re-examination.

The fire design review and acceptance department shall conduct a re-examination within seven working days from the date of receipt of the written application and issue a re-examination opinion. The construction project can only be used after the re-examination is qualified.

Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions

Article 41: Violations of these regulations shall be punished in accordance with the "Construction Law of the People's Republic of China", "Fire Protection Law of the People's Republic of China", "Construction Project Quality Management Regulations" and other laws and regulations; if a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law.

Construction, design, construction, engineering supervision, technical service and other units and their employees who violate relevant construction project laws and regulations and national engineering construction fire protection technical standards shall, in addition to being punished or held criminally liable in accordance with the law, also bear corresponding civil liability in accordance with the law.

Article 42: The rules for the review and acceptance of fire design for construction projects and the document templates required for the implementation of these regulations shall be formulated by the housing and urban-rural development department of the State Council.

Article 43 Before the implementation of the newly promulgated national engineering construction fire protection technical standards, if the fire protection design of the construction project has been reviewed and approved according to law, it shall be implemented according to the standards of the original review opinions.

Article 44 These regulations are not applicable to the construction activities of residential interior decoration, villagers' self-built houses, disaster relief and temporary buildings in non-crowded places.

Article 45 The housing and urban-rural construction authorities of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government may formulate implementation rules in accordance with relevant laws and regulations and these regulations, combined with local actual conditions.

Article 46 These regulations shall come into force on June 1, 2020.