Measures on Administrative Penalty for Environmental Protection
Measures on Administrative Penalty for Environmental Protection
Measures on Administrative Penalty for Environmental Protection
Order of the State Enviromental Protection Administration[1999] No.7
August 6, 1999
The Measures on Environmental Protection Administrative Penalty was adopted at the executive session of the State Environmental Protection Administration on July 8, 1999 and is hereby promulgated for implementation.
Xie Zhenhua Director of the State Enviromental Protection Administration
Measures on Administrative Penalty for Environmental Protection
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 Pursuant to the Law of the People's Republic of China on Administrative Penalty and other relevant laws and regulations, these Measures are enacted for the purpose of standardizing environmental protection administrative penalties, ensuring and supervising the effective exercise of environmental management by the competent departments of environmental protection administration and protecting the lawful rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations.
Article 2 Types of environmental protection administrative penalties shall include:
1. Disciplinary warnings;
2. Fines;
3. Confiscation of illegal gains;
4. Orders for suspension of production or use;
5. Rescission of permits or other certificates of similar character; and
6. Other types of administrative penalties as prescribed by the environmental protection laws, regulations and rules.
Article 3 After investigation and confirmation of an act in violation of environmental law, the competent departments of environmental protection administration shall order the violator to put rectify the illegal act or do so within a specified time limit, and impose administrative penalties according to the law.
Article 4 The competent departments of environmental protection administration shall impose administrative penalties in accordance with the environmental protection laws, regulations and rules.
Article 5 Environmental administrative penalties shall be imposed according to the principles of fairness and openness, and penalties shall be combined with education.
Investigation and evidence collection shall be separated from decision-making in imposing administrative penalties.
Article 6 For the same illegal act, administrative penalties constituting fines shall not be imposed more than once.When the competent department of environmental protection administration imposes an administrative penalty constituting a fine, the decision making process shall be separated from the process of collecting the fine.
Article 7 When the competent department of environmental protection administration imposes penalties for violation of environmental laws and regulations, it shall comprehensively consider the following factors and make decisions based on the types and scope of penalties stipulated by the laws and regulations:
1. Seriousness of the violations:
2. Harmful consequences caused by the illegal act(s);
3. Attitude of the violator(s) and measures taken by the violator(s) to correct the illegal act; and
4. Whether the violation(s) constitute(s) a first offence or recidivism.
Article 8 The legal affairs division of the competent department of environmental protection administration at or above the county level shall be responsible for the unified management of the department's administrative penalties for environmental law violations.
Chapter II Organs Imposing the Administrative Penalty and Their Jurisdiction
Article 9 The competent departments of environmental protection administration at or above the county level shall impose administrative penalties for environmental law violations within their scope of statutory functions and powers.
Article 10 A competent department of environmental protection administration may, within its scope of functions and powers prescribed by law, entrust an environmental supervision and management institution with the imposition of administrative penalties. The entrusted environmental supervision and management institution shall, within the scope of this authorization, impose administrative penalties in the name of the entrusting competent department of environmental protection administration.
The entrusting competent department of environmental protection administration shall be responsible for supervising the imposition of administrative penalties by the entrusted environmental supervision and management institution, and shall bear legal responsibility for the consequences of penalties that are imposed by the entrusted institution.
Article 11 The local competent departments of environmental protection administration at or above the county level shall have jurisdiction over cases involving administrative penalties for environmental law violations within its administrative area.
Article 12 For the following cases of administrative penalties for environmental law violations, the competent departments of environmental protection administration prescribed by this Article shall have jurisdiction:
1. Administrative penalties imposed on a party, that develops a construction project, of which violates the environmental impact assessment system or the planned environmental protection facilities of which are not put into use simultaneously with the principal construction, shall be decided by the competent department of environmental protection administration that examines the environmental impact statement, environmental impact form, or the environmental impact registration form for the project;
2. Fines imposed on an enterprise or institution that fails to prevent and control pollution by a specified deadline shall be decided by the competent department of environmental protection administration of the People's government that prescribes the deadline; and
3. Administrative penalties imposed on a party that engages in the hazardous waste business without a business license or in violation of the business license shall be decided by the competent department of environmental protection administration in charge of the issuance of the license.
Article 13 Jurisdiction over an administrative penalty cases that involve transboundary administrative region pollution shall be decided, after negotiation, by the competent departments of environmental protection administration at the places where the act of pollution takes place and where the pollution incurs consequences; if a dispute arises over jurisdiction, the matter shall be reported to their common superior competent department of environmental protection administration for designation of jurisdiction.
When two or more competent departments of environmental protection administration have jurisdiction over one administrative penalty case, the competent department of environmental protection administration that discovers the environmental pollution first or receives the pollution report first shall have jurisdiction over the matter.
Article 14 If a dispute arises concerning jurisdiction over an administrative penalty case, the parties at issue shall report the matter to their common superior department of environmental protection administration for designation of jurisdiction.
Article 15 If the competent department of environmental protection administration at a low level of administrative authority has difficulty in imposing a penalty in an administrative penalty case within its jurisdiction, it may report the matter to the competent department of environmental protection administration at a higher level for designation of jurisdiction.
If the competent department of environmental protection administration at the higher level believes that the competent department of environmental protection administration at the lower level has difficulty in imposing a penalty or is incapable of imposing a penalty independently, it may inform the competent department of environmental protection administration at the lower level and the party concerned of this determination and directly impose on the party in question an administrative penalty within the jurisdiction of the competent department of environmental protection administration at the lower level.
The competent department of environmental protection administration at the higher level may transfer a case under its jurisdiction to the competent department of environmental protection administrative at the lower level for direct imposition of administrative penalty.
Article 16 Cases that are not under the jurisdiction of the competent departments of environmental protection administration as prescribed by the environmental protection laws and regulations shall be transferred to the department that has proper jurisdiction.
Article 17 The authority of local competent departments of environmental protection administration to impose fines shall be limited pursuant to these provisions:
1.
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