In order to strengthen the supervision of pharmaceutical precursor chemicals and prevent them from flowing into illegal channels, Provisions for Pharmaceutical Precursor Chemicals (Order No.72 of the Ministry of Health) was issued by the Ministry of Health and went into effect on May 1, 2010. On June 4, 2010, the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) issued a notice, requiring that enterprises approved by the SFDA to be engaged in the production and distribution of pharmaceutical precursor chemicals before the Provisions took effect shall reapply for the production and distribution licenses within three months as of the issuing date of the notice.