Command and Control Instruments

Command and control instruments have played an important role in China’s envi- ronmental management. In China, these instruments are mainly in the form of envi- ronmental laws and regulations and sometimes environmental management sys- tems. Environmental legislation has been developed rapidly in the past two dec- ades, in 2002, Law on Environmental Impact Assessment and Cleaner Production Law were passed by the National People’s Congress (NPC). However, law en-

forcement is a great challenge facing Chinese government. In order to strengthen environmental protection, Chinese government established eight management sys- tems for new construction projects, environmental impact assessment and ‘Three Simultaneousness’ are carried out. For projects that were previously implemented, the following systems are in place: pollutant emission permit, compulsory treat- ment within limited time; polluted enterprises to be closed down, suspended, merged or shifted to different production lines; pollution discharge fee; and meas- urement of comprehensive improvement of urban environment; etc.

2.2.2.1 LAWS AND REGULATIONS

Since the establishment of the Peoples’ Republic of China in 1949, the National People’s Congress (NPC) and its Standing Committee passed 9 laws on environ- mental protection and 15 laws on natural resource conservation. Since 1996, China enacted or revised specific laws about environmental protection, such as laws on water pollution control, protection of marine environment, atmospheric pollution control, ambient acoustic pollution control, solid waste control, environmental impact assessment, radioactive pollution control, and relevant laws on water re- source, cleaner production, renewable energy sources, agriculture, grassland, hus- bandry, etc. The State Council enacted or revised over 50 administrative regula- tions, including Regulations on Environmental Protection Management for Con- struction Projects, Implementation Rules for Water Pollution Control, Regulations for Management of Dangerous Chemicals, Regulations on Management of Pollu- tion Discharge Fee, Management Methods for Dangerous Waste Operation Li- censes, Regulations on Protection of Wild Flora, Regulations on Safe Management of Genetically Modified Organisms for Agricultural Uses, etc. The State Council also issued legally binding documents, such as Decision on Adopting Scientific View of Development and Strengthening Environmental Protection, Several Opin- ions about Accelerating the Development of Circular Economy, Notice about Im- proving Works on the Establishment of a Resource Saving Society, etc. Relevant departments of the State Council, local People’s Congresses and local governments enacted or revised over 660 local regulations and rules in line with national laws and regulations for environmental protection.

2.2.2.2 SUPERVISION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

China keeps strengthening environmental law enforcement and administrative management. A supervision and enforcement system that works on spot has been established. It features focused law enforcement and examination; and it is based on routine supervision activities, guaranteed by environmental inspection and su- pervision by public opinions. During 1997-2000, SEPA and the Environment and Resource Committee, the Ministry of Supervision and relevant departments of the State Council had jointly carried out the inspection of the implementation of the State Council Decision every year. A total of 42 inspection teams were deployed, carrying out inspections (63 tours at province or autonomous region level, 211 tours at district or city level, 243 tours at county level), and over 1,000 organiza- tions were inspected on the spot. 2335 public complaints were attended and 1,174

of them were handled on the spot. These efforts solved a number of serious environmental problems. Local people’s congresses, governments, political consul- tative meetings and environmental protection and supervision agencies carried out law enforcement activities of various forms, promoting the implementation of poli- cies such as ‘One Order, Two Goals’2 and the ‘33211 Environmental Protection Scheme’3 _{. In 2000, the nationwide environmental supervision system carried out} on-the-spot inspections 1.62 million times; 150,000 sets of pollution treatment facilities or equipments were examined; 14,000 new or expanded projects were examined; 14,000 projected were ordered to get improved within limited time till complying with the requirements. It turned out that 86.3% of the pollution treat- ment facilities were in normal operation; 61% of the projects were in stable com- pliance with the standards; 78.1% of the projects fulfilled the ‘Three Simulta- neousness’ requirements; and 74.7% of the projects ordered to get improved within limited time had accomplished the tasks.

In recent years, China has been making continuous efforts to review progresses in environ-mental protection, air pollution control, water pollution control and solid waste control etc. China also strengthened pollution control in major sectors and major areas. China’s Criminal Law has specific provisions against damage to the environment and resources. China issued Provisional Regulations on Punishment for Law Infringement and Indiscipline Behaviors against Environmental Protec- tion, and has established a responsibility system for environ-mental protection administration and law enforcement. For three consecutive years, China carried out theme activities aiming at punishing and improving pollution discharge enterprises and protecting public health. As a result, over 75,000 infringement cases against environ-mental protection laws were reviewed and handled; 16,000 enterprises illegally discharging pollution were shut down, and over 10,000 environmental pollution cases were blacklisted for reinforced supervision and treatment. In 2004, China’s environmental supervision agencies at all levels carried out 2,768,059 times of inspection on the pollution spots, 474,620 times more than last year. 2.2.2.3 EIA SYSTEM AND ‘THREE SIMULTANEOUSNESS’ SYSTEM

EIA system and ‘Three Simultaneousness’ system are crucial for the adoption of the ‘Prevention First’ guideline for environmental protection. It plays an important role in the prevention and reduction of industrial pollution. In 1979, Environmental Protection Law (trial version) was enacted. It defines Environmental Impact As- sessment and ‘Three Simultaneousness’ for construction projects as compulsory legal provision. In 1981, Management Rules for Environmental Protection in Infra- structure Projects was issued, detailing the EIA system and ‘Three Simultaneous- ness’ system. Several later published laws, including Law on Protection of Marine

2

According to the policy, the country's overall pollution discharge and industrial discharge should meet state standards. Air and water quality in major cities should do the same.

3

"33211" stands for three rivers, three lakes, two zones, one city and one gulf respectively. Three Rivers are Huaihe River, Liaohe River and Haihe River. Three Lakes are Taihu Lake, Dianchi Lake and Chaohu Lake. Two Zones are Acid Control Zone and SO2 Control Zone. One city is Beijing

Environment, Law on Atmospheric Pollution Control, Law on Water Pollution Control, also have provisions on the two systems. In 1986, Environmental Man- agement Rules for Construction Projects was issued; in 1997, Management Rules for Construction Projects was stipulated; both of which have detailed provisions about the two systems. It is regulated that construction projects that may have sig- nificant environmental impacts on the environment should develop an EIA report; construction projects that may have medium environ-mental impacts on the envi- ronment should develop an EIA Report table; construction projects that may have slight environmental impacts on the environment and no EIA process should fill the EIA registration form. It is also regulated that environmental protection facili- ties have to be designed, constructed and operated at the same time with the main construction body. In recent years, EIA system and ‘Three Simultaneousness’ have been reformed and refined. So far nationwide, over 1.46 million construction pro- jects across the country have undergone EIA processes; over 630,000 new con- struction projects have implemented the ‘Three Simultaneousness’ system; 99.3% of all construction projects carried out EIA processes, 96.4% of them implemented the ‘Three Simultaneousness’ system and 95.7% success-fully met the require- ments of the ‘Three Simultaneousness’ system. EIA system and the “Three Simul- taneousness” system have helped those industrial projects increase productivity while reducing pollution or at least discharging the same quantity of pollution. 2.2.2.4 ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION CONTROL IN A LIMITED PERIOD Environmental pollution control in a limited period is a major legal system for environmental protection in China. This is comparatively a better refined and de- veloped environmental law. Between 1978 and 1995, China had conducted two batches projects of environmental pollution control in a limited period at national level. 227 and 140 projects were involved in the two batches respectively. The total number of the projects in this scheme was 43,000 including local projects. This effort effectively helped the achievement of goals of pollution control and envi- ronmental protection in limited periods. In 1996, Chinese government implemented the third batch projects of environmental pollution control in a limited period (121 projects in total) to strengthen pollution control and help achieve the environmental protection goals by 2000 set in the Ninth-Five-Year-Plan Period. The total invest- ment was RMB 9 billion. In recent years, new elements have enriched this scheme via various means, e.g., technical up-grading and innovation, phasing-out outdated techniques, equipments and products, process control, cleaner production and waste reduction, etc. It is estimated that in 2005, 22,126 projects completed envi- ronmental pollution control in a limited period and the total investment was RMB 17.838 billion. As for those that could not fulfill this target, the ultimate measures are to shut down, stop operation, merge or shift to other production lines. Statistics show that 9,175 enterprises experienced these measures in 1999 and 19, 498 enter- prises did the same in 2000. In 2005, the number of enterprises even reached 10,777.

2.2.2.5 TOTAL POLLUTANT QUANTITY CONTROL

Since 1980, China’s environmental protection authorities have started pilot works on total pollutant quantity control and discharge permission in the area of water pollution control. During this period, some local laws and regulations gradually clarified the provisions related to total quantity control, and local authorities set up targets of total quantity control and reduction plans for some major pollutants. In 1995, the State Council issued Provisional Rules for Water pollution Control in Huaihe Watershed, stipulating that total quantity control should be applied and a total quantity control plan was developed. In 1996, the National People’s Congress issued Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Revising the Law of the People's Republic of China on Prevention and Control of Water Pollution, stipulating that ‘…Governments at or above provincial level may adopt total quantity control measures for major pollutants in water bodies that can- not reach national standards for aquatic environmental quality; governments at or above provincial level should examine the quantity of major pollutant discharge by enterprises that bear discharge reduction tasks’. For the first time, this statement confirmed the position of total quantity control in China’s legal system.

2.2.2.6 DISCHARGE PERMIT

In the pollution discharge permission system, government agencies or environ- mental management departments should determine the total quantity of pollution discharge that is al-lowed for a certain area, according to this area’s environmental capacity. They should then issue discharge permission certificates to qualified polluters and forbid illegal pollution discharge behaviors. In March 1988, SEPA issued Provisional Methods for Managing Water Pollutant Discharge Permit, regulating that pollution discharge permission shall be based on notification and registration, and that water pollution discharge permission shall be implemented in successive phases for major pollutant sources and major pollutants. In August 1992, SEPA issued Provisional Methods for Notification and Registration of Pol- lutant Discharge, signaling that a pollution discharge notification and registration system has been started across the country. This document integrates the notifica- tion and registration of water pollutants, air pollutants, solid waste and ambient noises. By the end of 1980, more and more cities and enterprises are conducting pollution discharge notification and registration and implementing pollution dis- charge permission.

Statistics show that by the end of 2000, 199,049 enterprises had applied for the notification and registration of air pollutant discharge and 160,310 enterprises for water pollutant discharge. Four hundred twenty seven and 504 cities have sepa- rately adopted water and air pollutant discharge permission policy. Seventy one thousand and twenty seven air pollutant per-mission certificate and 71,027 water pollutant permission had been issued. In 2005, the number of enterprises that have issued pollution permission certificates reached 176,733. Practice shows that noti- fication & registration and discharge permission system poses positive environ-

mental, economic and social effects, and therefore is an environmental manage- ment sys-tem that suits China’s special conditions.