Pilot Reform Program of the Ecological Environmental Damage Compensation System
Pilot Reform Program of the Ecological Environmental Damage Compensation System
Pilot Reform Program of the Ecological Environmental Damage Compensation System
December 3, 2015
The compensation for ecological-environmental (eco-environmental) damage is an issue of great concern to the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. The third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee expressly required that a strict compensation system be implemented with regard to those responsible for causing eco-environmental damage. This pilot program has been formulated to gradually put in place an eco-environmental damage compensation system.
I. General Requirements and Objectives
With the pilot program, we should expressly establish, step by step, matters of eco-environmental damage compensation such as the scope of compensation, the liable party, the claimant, and the ways to settle damage claims, develop corresponding management and technical systems for damage appraisal and assessment as well as capital guarantee and operating mechanisms, and eventually explore and develop a remediation and compensation system for eco-environmental damage to speed up our development of eco-civilization.
Certain provinces have been selected to carry out the Pilot Reform Program of the Eco-Environmental Damage Compensation System (the "Pilot Program") from the year 2015 to the year 2017. As of 2018, the eco-environmental damage compensation system shall be tried out on a national basis. By 2020, we strive to develop, on a preliminary level, a nation-wide eco-environmental damage compensation system that features well-defined responsibilities, unobstructed channels, and standard technologies, and that provides strong protection, sufficient compensation, and effective damage remediation. The pilot provinces shall be determined separately following the application and approval procedures.
II. Principles of the Pilot Program
-- Progress in accordance with the law and encourage innovations. Subject to the relevant laws and regulations, the Pilot Program shall be carried out based on the national conditions and the local realties, in an easy-to-difficult order, and in a reliable and organized manner. For specific matters not covered by law, policy or legislative proposals may be made as need be.
-- The value of the environment reflected in the liability for its damage. The principle is to have reflected the value of the ecological functions of environmental resources and to urge the obligor to make efforts to restore the damaged eco-environment. Where eco-environmental damage is irreparable, the damage shall be compensated for in monetary terms in lieu of remediation. For the same act of eco-environmental damage, any administrative liability or criminal liability already borne by the obligor shall not affect any liability for compensating for eco-environmental damage that the same obligor may bear under the law.
-- Active negotiations and judicial protection. After the occurrence of eco-environmental damage, the claimant should organize and conduct eco-environmental damage investigations, carry out appraisal and assessment, develop remediation plans, and actively engage in negotiations with the obligor. In the event that negotiations are not conducted or no agreements can be reached through negotiations, the claimant may institute legal proceedings in accordance with the law.
-- Information sharing and public supervision.
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