CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Rongliang Wu, Mei Wan, Qirong Huang and Xueqi Huang, Jin Mao Law Firm
2. Enforcement Authorities and Mechanisms 2.1 Regulatory Authorities
cross-provincial unannounced inspections on local governments and enterprises. Local Ecological and Environmental Bureaus (EEBs) The Environmental Protection Law stipulates that local people’s governments are responsible for envi- ronmental quality within their administrative regions; EEBs at or above the county level oversee regional ecological and environmental work. Local comprehen- sive ecological and environmental law enforcement teams undertake over 80% of daily law enforcement. Their specific functions encompass handling approv- al matters such as issuing pollutant discharge per- mits, conducting EIA for construction projects, issu- ing hazardous waste operation permits, conducting law enforcement actions including annual “random selection of inspectors and inspected entities” spot checks, the imposition of administrative penalties, and the implementation of credit evaluation for relevant entities. Other Relevant Ministries and Commissions A range of key ministries and commissions collabo- rate to oversee sector-specific environmental govern- ance, with each undertaking distinct responsibilities aligned with their administrative scope: • the National Development and Reform Commis- sion manages total energy consumption, carbon intensity reduction targets and resource recycling bases, promoting industrial structure adjustment and energy policy development; • the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology develops and implements industry plans, policies and standards, covering cleaner production audits, green factories and green supply chains; • the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Develop- ment oversees building energy efficiency, urban sewage management, waste classification assess- ment and the planning of wastewater treatment facilities; • the State Taxation Administration handles the col- lection and management of environmental protec- tion taxes, the verification of pollutant discharge coefficients and cross-departmental data compari- son; and
China’s environmental regulatory system follows a central-local vertical leadership and cross-ministerial horizontal collaboration structure, with the following core authorities. Central-Level Core Bodies National Leading Group for Ecological and Environmental Protection Inspection This Group operates under the leadership of the Politi- cal Bureau of the Central Committee of the Commu- nist Party of China (CPC) and its Standing Commit- tee. Its core responsibilities are to co-ordinate and guide central ecological and environmental protection inspections; deploy inspection work; report progress to the CPC Central Committee and the State Council; and deliberate on key matters such as inspection sys- tem norms, plans and reports. Its office is located in the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, undertaking daily work and organising inspection implementation. Ministry of Ecology and Environment As the national authority for overall co-ordination of ecological and environmental work, the key respon- sibilities of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) include: • formulating departmental rules and standards for national ecological and environmental monitoring, pollution prevention and control, pollutant dis- charge permits and environmental impact assess- ment (EIA); • managing “core environmental protection” tasks such as emission reduction target assessment; overall co-ordination of EIA approval for national key construction projects; automatic monitoring of key national pollutant-discharging entities; car- bon emission rights trading; nuclear and radiation safety supervision; and addressing climate change; and • leading inspections, by assigning six regional inspection bureaus (covering North China, East China, South China, Northwestern China, South- western China and Northeast China) to conduct
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