CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Rongliang Wu, Mei Wan, Qirong Huang and Xueqi Huang, Jin Mao Law Firm
Regulatory Reporting • Routine: Annual Environmental Statistics (all key emitters), Pollution-Discharge Permit execution report (quarterly/annual), GHG emission verification (ETS-covered firms, by March), Hazardous Waste Management Plan (pre-operation, annual update). • Event-driven: 24-hour preliminary + three-day detailed report for any discharge/emission exceed- ing permit limits or causing potential incident; one-hour emergency notification when a sudden environmental accident occurs; immediate “up- chain/down-chain” notification if waste is illegally diverted. Public Disclosure Major polluters must upload basic data, discharge totals, carbon emissions and emergency plans to the national disclosure portal within 30 days of filing their permit report and refresh them yearly. Enterprises required to prepare an EIA report or form must legally disclose the EIA document to solicit public comments pre-construction. Local EEBs must also disclose the pending EIA report before accepting applications and issuing approval decisions. Consequences for Non-Disclosure or Incomplete Disclosure Failure triggers correction orders and fines of CNY10,000–200,000, permit suspension or revoca- tion, credit downgrades that raise borrowing costs and bar government procurement, and up to seven years’ prison under the Criminal Law Amendment (XI) of 2020 for falsifying monitoring or carbon data. 16.2 Public Environmental Information The public can obtain environmental information in two main ways. Firstly, authorities must proactively publish data that affects public interests or needs public participation within 20 working days. Environ- mental information can be withheld only on the statu- tory grounds of state secrets, commercial secrets, personal privacy, ongoing investigations or other express legal prohibitions. Additionally, any citizen or organisation can request further information without demonstrating a special
• First, for electrical and electronic products in the above-mentioned Catalogue, they must either recycle the waste themselves or entrust qualified parties to do so. • Second, they must label toxic/hazardous sub- stance content or recycling instructions as required, failing which they may face penalties and be forced to fulfil take-back and recycling duties. • Third, under the Law of Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution Caused by Solid Waste, they must recover, recycle or properly dispose of waste products that pose environmental or health risks. 15.4 Rights and Obligations Applicable to Waste Operators Waste operators have the right to transport, utilise and dispose of industrial solid waste. Waste operators must fulfil the following key obliga- tions: • Follow the Law of Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution Caused by Solid Waste to avoid new pollution during soil remediation; handle waste from land remediation legally. • Make a plan (detailing transport time, mode, route, destination, final disposal measures, and amount of contaminated soil) for contaminated soil transfer and report to ecological authorities of the original and receiving areas. • No cross-provincial solid waste transfer for stor- age/disposal without approval. • Establish and truthfully record solid waste manage- ment accounts. For liability for breaches of these obligations, see 5. Environmental Liability . 16. Environmental Disclosure and Information 16.1 Disclosure and Reporting Requirements Chinese law obliges enterprises to report environmen- tal data to regulators and the public.
94 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook