Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China (Revision)
Scope of Application
Legal requirements for all levels of government, public institutions, companies, and the military in China.
Purpose
Offers legal measures to protect the environment, control pollution, safeguard public health, and enhance sustainable development.
General Key Points
The Chinese Government should:
- Adopt policies and measures that link economic and social development with environmental protection.
- Prioritize environmental protection through preventing damage, conducting comprehensive treatment, engaging the public, and enforcing accountability for damage.
Key Points on Stakeholder Engagement
The Media should:
- Publicize laws, regulations, and knowledge on environmental protection.
Key Points on Environmental and Social Impact Assessment
Developers and Contractors should:
- Reduce environmental pollution and ecological disruption. Assume liabilities for any damage.
- Conduct environmental impact assessments (EIAs) before project implementation begins.
- Simultaneously design, construct, and implement pollution control subprojects with the main construction projects.
- Satisfy the requirements of the approved EIA.
Chinese Environmental Protection Departments should:
- Develop monitoring norms and a network to monitor environmental quality and share data.
The Chinese Government should:
- Establish and improve environmental monitoring rules.
- Establish a coordination mechanism to prevent and control pollution in key regions and valley areas.
- Apply uniform plans, standards, monitoring, and prevention and control measures.
- Authorize relevant actors to conduct an on-site inspection of developers and contractors that discharge pollutants.
- Apply an objective responsibility and evaluation system.
- Publicly disclose the relevant departments’ results from environmental performance evaluations.
- Establish and improve the environment and health monitoring, survey, and risk assessment rules.
- Adopt measures to prevent diseases related to environmental pollution.
Subnational Governments should:
- Organize EIAs immediately after emergencies and promptly disclose the results to the public.