Regulations on the Management of the Laundry and Dyeing Industry

Article 1 To regulate laundry and dyeing service behaviors, protect the legitimate rights and interests of operators and consumers, prevent environmental pollution, and promote the healthy development of the laundry and dyeing industry, these measures are formulated in accordance with relevant national laws and administrative regulations.
　　Article 2 These measures apply to laundry and dyeing business activities conducted within the territory of the People's Republic of China.
　　The term laundry and dyeing in these measures refers to business activities engaged in washing, ironing, dyeing, mending of clothes, as well as cleaning and maintenance services for leather products and fur garments.
　　Article 3 The Ministry of Commerce provides guidance, coordination, supervision, and management for the national laundry and dyeing industry, while local commerce authorities at all levels are responsible for guidance, coordination, supervision, and management within their administrative regions.
　　The Administration for Industry and Commerce is responsible for the registration of laundry and dyeing enterprises, supervising the quality of service products and business conduct according to law, and investigating and handling illegal acts that infringe on consumers' legitimate rights and interests.
　　Environmental protection departments are responsible for supervising and managing environmental impact behaviors during the establishment and operation of laundry and dyeing enterprises, and investigating and handling environmental violations according to law.
　　Article 4 Laundry shops and water washing plants must comply with national laws and standards regarding safety, hygiene, environmental protection, water conservation, and energy saving.
　　Newly built, renovated, or expanded laundry shops must use fully enclosed dry cleaning machines equipped with solvent purification and recovery functions.
　　Open-type dry cleaning machines should be gradually phased out. Existing laundry shops using open-type dry cleaning machines must retrofit them by adding compressor refrigeration recovery systems to enforce solvent recovery; those using open-type petroleum-derived solvent dry cleaning machines and dryers must also be equipped with fire and explosion prevention safety devices.
　　Article 5 Newly built, renovated, or expanded laundry shops and water washing plants must conduct environmental impact assessments according to law and can only be put into operation after passing acceptance by environmental protection departments.
　　Operators engaged in laundry and dyeing business activities must register with the industry and commerce authorities and obtain a business license according to law.
　　Operators must file for record with the commerce authority at the same level as the industry and commerce registration authority within 60 days after obtaining the business license.
　　Article 6 Operators must have fixed business premises equipped with dedicated laundry, storage, and pollution prevention facilities and equipment that correspond to the scale of operation and comply with relevant national regulations.
　　 Article 7 Laundry shops must not use dry cleaning solvents that do not comply with relevant national regulations. Storage, use, and recovery sites for dry cleaning solvents must have leak-proof conditions, and if classified as hazardous chemicals, must comply with hazardous chemical management regulations.
　　Water washing plants are encouraged to use phosphorus-free or low-phosphorus detergents.
　　Article 8 Pollutant emissions from the laundry and dyeing industry must meet national or local pollutant discharge standards. After new industry pollutant discharge standards are issued, the new standards must be implemented.
　　Residues and wastewater containing dry cleaning solvents generated during dry cleaning must be properly collected and treated. If classified as hazardous waste, they must be entrusted to units holding hazardous waste operation permits for treatment and disposal according to law.
　　Wastewater discharged into urban sewage networks for centralized treatment must meet the influent water quality requirements of the corresponding sewage treatment plants. Facilities with wastewater treatment must harmlessly treat the sludge produced.
　　Wastewater that does not meet discharge standards must not be directly discharged into rivers, lakes, rainwater pipelines, infiltration pits, infiltration wells, or similar.
　　Noise at the factory boundary of laundry shops and water washing plants must comply with the relevant area standards of the "Industrial Enterprise Boundary Noise Standard" (GB12348-90).
　　Article 9 Operators must establish safety production, environmental protection, and hygiene management systems that comply with relevant laws and regulations, provide effective protective equipment for employees, and regularly conduct safety, environmental protection, and hygiene education and training for employees.
　　Article 10 Practitioners must uphold professional ethics and comply with national laws and regulations; laundry and dyeing technicians must possess corresponding professional skills. Technicians are encouraged to obtain qualification certificates issued by relevant national departments or training certificates issued by relevant organizations and institutions and work with certificates.
　　Article 11 Operators must prominently display their business license at the business premises and clearly indicate service items, service prices, complaint telephone numbers, and other information.
　　Article 12 Operators must adhere to the principle of honesty and credibility during business operations, provide truthful and clear answers to consumers' questions or inquiries, must not deceive or mislead consumers, and must not engage in the following fraudulent behaviors:
　　(1) False advertising;
　　(2) Consumer fraud using stored-value cards;
　　(3) Deceptive acts such as passing off "water washing" or "single ironing" as dry cleaning;
　　(4) Deliberately concealing damage to clothes caused during processing;
　　(5) Other fraudulent acts violating laws and administrative regulations.
　　Article 13 Operators must carefully inspect the condition of clothes when receiving them and fulfill the following responsibilities:
　　(1) Remind consumers to check for any leftover items in pockets and confirm whether clothing accessories and decorations are complete;
　　(2) Remind consumers about fragile, easily corroded, and valuable accessories or attachments and clarify service responsibilities;
　　(3) Explain to consumers the laundry and dyeing effects based on the age, cleanliness, damage degree, fabric texture, and performance changes of the clothes;
　　(4) Inform consumers about clothes that are indeed difficult to clean or have stubborn stains that cannot be removed and confirm the cleaning effect.
　　Article 14 Operators may implement value-preserving cleaning according to consumer wishes, which means making a written cleaning agreement through negotiation between the operator and the consumer, specifying cleaning fees, value preservation amount, and service content.
　　For clothes under value-preserving cleaning, if damage or loss is caused by the operator's responsibility, or if the cleaning directly affects the original quality of the clothes and cannot be restored, the operator shall compensate according to the agreed value preservation amount with the consumer.
　　Article 15 Operators must issue service receipts to consumers when providing services. Service receipts should include: clothing name, quantity, color, damage or missing parts status, service content, price, delivery and pickup dates, storage period, mutually agreed matters, dispute resolution methods, and other content.
　　Article 16 Operators must implement laundry and dyeing industry service standards, operating procedures, and quality standards, and appoint dedicated personnel responsible for laundry and dyeing quality inspection.
　　Article 17 Operators shall standardize the procedures for the handover of clothes at each process to prevent loss or damage; the storage and receipt of dirty and clean clothes shall be separated.
　　Article 18 The washing of textiles in medical and health institutions shall be processed in dedicated washing plants and with specialized washing equipment, and strict disinfection treatment shall be carried out.
　　Textiles that have been disinfected and washed shall meet the relevant national hygiene requirements.
　　Article 19 If, due to the operator's responsibility, the washed and dyed clothes fail to meet the quality requirements or do not conform to the prior agreement with the consumer, or cause damage or loss of clothes, the operator shall, depending on the situation, provide reprocessing, refund the washing and dyeing fee, or compensate for the loss.
　　If the failure to meet the washing and dyeing quality standards is caused by misleading washing labels or the production and quality of the clothes not meeting national and industry standards, and not due to the operator's fault, the operator shall not be held responsible.
　　Article 20 The commerce administrative department shall regulate the order of the washing and dyeing market and promote industry development by formulating industry development plans, promotion policies, standards, comprehensive coordination, and guiding the work of industry associations.
　　The commerce administrative department shall guide and support the establishment of the Washing and Dyeing Quality Appraisal Committee to carry out washing and dyeing quality appraisal work; guide relevant industry organizations to formulate solutions for resolving consumer disputes in the washing and dyeing industry, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of operators and consumers.
　　Article 21 The washing and dyeing industry association shall accept the business guidance of the commerce administrative department, strengthen industry self-discipline; carry out work to promote industry development such as advocating honest operation, organizing the implementation of standards, providing information consultation, conducting technical training, mediating service disputes, and reflecting operators' suggestions and demands.
　　Article 22 If operators violate the provisions of these measures, the provisions of laws and regulations shall apply; if there are no such provisions, the commerce, industry and commerce, and environmental protection departments shall order corrections according to the functions stipulated in Article 3 of these measures. If there is illegal income, a fine of up to three times the illegal income may be imposed, but not exceeding 30,000 yuan; if there is no illegal income, a fine of up to 10,000 yuan may be imposed; and a public announcement may be made.
　　Article 23 The commerce administrative departments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government may, based on these measures and combined with the actual situation of the washing and dyeing industry within their administrative regions, jointly formulate relevant implementation measures with relevant departments.
　　Article 24 Definitions of terms used in these measures
　　Fully enclosed dry cleaning machine: refers to a dry cleaning machine that uses perchloroethylene or petroleum-derived solvents as dry cleaning solvents, equipped with a solvent recovery refrigeration system, where during the deodorization process, the gas inside the machine and the gas in the workplace do not exchange, and no exhaust gas is directly discharged.
　　Open-type dry cleaning machine: refers to a dry cleaning machine that uses perchloroethylene or petroleum-derived solvents as dry cleaning solvents, adopts a water-cooled recovery system, and before opening the loading and unloading door, discharges the mixture of dry cleaning solvent gases inside the machine by inhaling fresh air for the deodorization process.
Dyeing: refers only to the re-dyeing or color-changing services of garments provided by washing and dyeing shops.
Article 25 These measures shall come into effect on July 1, 2007.