China Environmental Law

On December 11, Mr. Zhou Shengxian, Minister and General Secretary of the Party Group of Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) chaired the 24th Party Group meeting which announced eight measures MEP “is going to carry out in the near future.”  These measures basically incorporate the “six fields [that] should be focused” in 2009 which Vice Minister Zhang recently announced. They eight measures are:

1. Firmly enhance emission reduction work and ensure the achievement of the emission reduction targets during the “11th Five-Year Plan” period.

“Taking expansion of domestic demand as a fundamental approach to ensure economic growth, environmental protection developments should take the enhancement of emission reduction as a focus on promoting the transformation of economic growth mode and restructuring and make all its efforts in achieving the task set out in the 11th Five-Year Plan.”

Specific action items include:

• continued efforts in the development of such projects as sewage treatment plants and sulfur removal in coal-fueled power plants;
• focus on effective operation of pollution control facilities and emission reduction projects;
• enhancement of emission reduction target responsibility system;
• stepping up the supervision, inspection and administrative law enforcement on emission reduction; and
• strengthening the supervision & management on key pollution sources.

2. Stand unswervingly to strengthen EIA approval service and exert all our energy to facilitate economic growth.

“Environmental protection development should be the vanguard for the expansion of domestic demand and promotion of steady and sound economic growth and provide good service for economic growth and social development.”

Specific action items include:

• strengthen review & approval of EIA;
• firmly honor the following seven commitments “convenient with high efficiency, open and transparent, subject to public supervision, honest and self-disciplined, fair & justice, strict in approval, and intensified check & acceptance;” and
• for those projects conducive to expanding domestic demand such as the one meeting environmental access conditions, welfare projects, infrastructure, development of eco environment as well as post-disaster reconstruction in particular national key projects, we should open a “Green passage” for EIA review & approval, facilitate fast approval and operation of the projects and make our due contribution to the development of physical economy [uh oh, this is what I was afraid of; I never liked the sound of this "green passage" for "infrastructure" and "national key projects."  Let's hope this isn't used to pass projects that have not adequately assessed and mitigated their negative environmental consequences].

3. Firmly carry out strict environment access system and curb rapid growth of the development projects with “high energy consumption, heavy pollution and resource oriented” and industries with excessive productivity.

Specific action items include:

• issue and improve the catalogue on the projects with “high consumption of energy and pollution” or with excessive productivity which are subject to restricted development;
• strengthen macro guidance, make more efforts in promoting clean production and developing circular economy;
• facilitate the transformation of traditional industry into low carbon economy [kudos]; and
• strictly check if construction projects meet environmental protection access conditions and stop the resumption of any phased out projects in the name of technical reform or new investment.

4. Firmly grasp the good opportunity of huge national investment in infrastructure and strengthen eco environmental protection and build the capacity in environmental management infrastructure.

Specific action items include:

• speed up the implementation of the planning for the prevention and control of water pollution in key river basins and let overloaded rivers, lakes and seas to restore their eco environment;
• accelerate the construction of such environmental infrastructure as urban sewage treatment plants and supporting pipelines, desulphurization device of coal-fueled generation sets and on-line monitoring system for key pollution sources; and
• increase the input in such areas as environmental monitoring, supervision, information, science & technology, publicity and education and vigorously strengthen the capacity in environmental management.”

5. Firmly intensify rural environmental protection and make more efforts in environmental quality.

“Rural environmental protection is an important component of both the building of socialist new countryside in China and environmental protection.”

Specific action items include:

• strictly control industrial pollution in rural areas and prevent the movement of pollution to rural areas;
• identify the protected areas for rural concentrated drinking water source in a scientific way, eliminate according to law all pollutant discharge outlets within the protected areas for drinking water sources and make every effort to guarantee the safety of rural drinking water;
• carry out demonstration projects on the prevention and control of soil pollution and the pollution from livestock farms; and control & reduce non-point pollution; and
• make more efforts in facilitating comprehensive environmental control in villages and towns.

6. Firmly strengthen environmental management and facilitate coordination between economic growth and environmental protection.

“Environmental management is an effective tool to carry out the decision and arrangements of the central government and ensure fast and sound economic development.”

Specific action items include:

• strengthen the role of such tools as environmental legal system, planning, standards, monitoring, supervision, publicity and education in environmental management;
• improve mechanism and system; strengthen macro comprehensive decision making and routine supervision;
• actively coordinate relevant ministries and commissions of central governments to have unified action and efforts [this sounds like MEP may be making a bid to consolidate its role as the lead Ministry on all environmental issues];
• jointly facilitate the implementation of all policies on environmental protection; and
• actively guide and urge  local governments and environmental protection developments to materialize each measure for environmental protection.

7. Firmly accelerate the improvement of environmental economic policy and establish a long-term effective mechanism for environmental protection.

“We will give full play to the important role of economic and market instruments in environmental protection”

Specific action items include:

• develop and improve such systems as green credit, green insurance, green taxation [despite the fact Zhang Lijun, Vice Minister of Environmental Protection was quoted yesterday as saying that "introducing [an] environmental tax . . . will be the focus of energy-saving and pollutant reduction schedule in 2009,” this is the only mention of new environmental taxes in the entire document];
• green procurement and green trade;
• continuously improve pricing and charging policy;
• extend and improve eco compensation mechanism;
• issue environmental economic policies relevant to economic development at appropriate time; and
• gradually develop a comprehensive & systematic environment economic policy system supporting sound & fast economic growth and establish a complete long-term effective mechanism conducive to environmental protection.

8. Firmly enhance environmental supervision and law enforcement, safeguard public environmental right and interests.

“Full enforcement of environmental laws and regulations and supervision on the implementation are necessary guarantee for practical outcomes of each arrangement of and measure for environmental protection. We will deeply carry out the outlook on scientific development and adhere to the principle of people first.”

Specific action items include:

• supervise and manage urban sewage and garbage treatment facilities,
• supervise and manage the chemical, pulp & paper making, power, and iron & steel industries, and enterprise on the black list of environmental pollution;
• cracking down on threats to the safety of drinking water; and
• carrying out follow-up supervision work on major environmental accidents.

* * *

Two of MEP’s Vice Ministers were not present at the important meeting where the 2009 plans were discussed and introduced: Li Ganjie and Pan Yue.  They could have been otherwise engaged, of course.  It was noted that Ms. Fu Wenjuan, Head of the Permanent Discipline Inspection Group for MEP, was in attendance.