China Environmental Law

The Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law amendments become effective June 1, 2008. They represent the second time the law has been amended since its initial promulgation on May 11, 1984 (the first set of amendments came into effect on May 15, 1996).   A draft version of these amendments was presented last fall for public comment. I have already reported on the most significant differences in the penalty section of the enacted version as compared to the comment draft, and there are a couple of additional modifications in the penalty section that I will touch on later. Other than these changes, the enacted version and the comment version are basically the same except that the enacted version is more logically and clearly presented. The drafters are to be congratulated on this improvement, but it does make comparisons between the two version somewhat challenging.

The amendments do not significantly change the status quo (except in one regard) of the basic structure of water pollution regulation in China, but they have now compiled in one place a system that had developed over time as a result of provisions in the original act and subsequent regulations.  The one significant change in this structure added by the amendments is that it is now explicitly provided (Article 5) that:

The State implements an accountability and evaluation system for the target of water environmental protection whereby the fulfillment of water environmental protection targets constitutes a part of the performance evaluation of local people’s governments or their responsible persons. 

This is an important and welcome addition to the Law.  It follows a trend (started in the Energy Conservation Law amendments) of making the achievement of national environmental and energy goals a criterion upon which the performance of public officials will be based. The national energy and environmental goals are set forth in the 11^th  five year Plan which includes a Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) reduction target of 10% below 2005 levels by 2010.  This national goal is allocated on a provincial and sub-provincial level (on both a percentage and absolute basis) so that every local official should have his own explicit goals.  These goals are now supported not only by the Plan, but also by law. The way the Plan and law intersect in the environmental arena is rather straight-forward, and is made even clearer in the water pollution context by these amendments, but we will have to address that point later this week.  For now, kick back, relax, and spend your Saturday night reading the amendments for yourself.  I’ve included a translation under the “Laws & Regulations” header in the right sidebar.