Regulations on the Administration of Pollutant Discharge Permits
Regulations on the Administration of Pollutant Discharge Permits
Regulations on the Administration of Pollutant Discharge Permits
Order of the State Council of the People's Republic of China No. 736
January 24, 2021
The Regulations on the Administration of Pollutant Discharge Permits, which were adopted at the 117th executive meeting of the State Council on December 9, 2020, are hereby promulgated and shall come into effect as of March 1, 2021.
Li Keqiang, Premier
Regulations on the Administration of Pollutant Discharge Permits
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 These Regulations are formulated in accordance with the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws for the purpose of strengthening the administration of pollutant discharge permits, regulating the discharge of pollutants by enterprises, public institutions and other producers and operators, controlling the discharge of pollutants, and protecting and improving ecology and the environment.
Article 2 Enterprises, public institutions and other producers and operators (hereinafter referred to as “Pollutant-discharging Entities”) which are subject to the administration of pollutant discharge permits pursuant to legal provisions shall apply for pollutant discharge permits in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations. Those pollutant-discharging entities which have not obtained pollutant discharge permits shall not be allowed to discharge pollutants.
Based on the quantity of pollutants generated, the quantity of pollutants discharged, their impacts on the environment and other factors, categorical administration of pollutant discharge permits shall be implemented for pollutant-discharging entities:
1. key administration of pollutant discharge permits shall be implemented for pollutant-discharging entities which generate and discharge relatively large quantities of pollutants or have a relatively major impact on the environment; and
2. simplified administration of pollutant discharge permits shall be implemented for pollutant-discharging entities which generate and discharge relatively small quantities of pollutants and have a relatively small impact on the environment.
The competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council shall formulate the scope of pollutant-discharging entities subject to the administration of pollutant discharge permits, the steps of implementation and the catalog of categories of administration and release them for implementation after reporting them to the State Council for approval. In the formulation process, the opinions of relevant departments, industry associations, enterprises, public institutions and the public shall be solicited.
Article 3 The competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council shall be responsible for the uniform supervision and administration of pollutant discharge permits throughout the country.
Competent departments of ecology and environment under local people's governments at or above the level of city with subordinate districts shall be responsible for the supervision and administration of pollutant discharge permits within their respective administrative regions.
Article 4 The competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council shall strengthen the construction and administration of the national pollutant discharge permit administration information platform, and raise the level of online handling of pollutant discharge permits.
The examination of and decision on pollutant discharge permits, information disclosure and other matters shall be handled through the national pollutant discharge permit administration information platform.
Article 5 People's governments at or above the level of city with subordinate districts shall include the funds needed for the administration of pollutant discharge permits in their budgets at the corresponding level.
Chapter II Application, Examination and Approval
Article 6 Pollutant-discharging entities shall apply for pollutant discharging permits to the competent departments of ecology and environment under the local people's governments at or above the level of city with subordinate districts (hereinafter referred to as “Examination and Approval Departments”) at the places where their production and operation premises are located.
If a pollutant-discharging entity has two or more production and operation premises which discharge pollutants, it shall apply for pollutant discharge permits respectively according to its production and operation premises.
Article 7 To apply for pollutant discharge permits, pollutant-discharging entities may submit their application forms through the national pollutant discharge permit administration information platform, or by letter or other ways.
The application form for pollutant discharge permit shall include the following items:
1. name, domicile, legal representative or major principal, location of production and operation premises, unified social credit code and other information of the pollutant-discharging entity;
2. approval document for the environmental impact report (form) or filing materials of the environmental impact registration form of the relevant construction project;
3. types, concentrations and quantities of discharged pollutants applied for by a pollutant discharge outlet, main production facility or workshop or factory boundary, and pollutant discharge standards and total discharge quantity control indicators implemented for key pollutants;
4. pollution prevention and control facilities, location and number of pollutant discharge outlets, pollutant discharge mode and direction, independent monitoring scheme and other information; and
5. main production facilities, main products and their production capacities, main raw and auxiliary materials, links that generate and discharge pollutants and other information, as well as explanatory notes on whether trade secrets are involved and other situations which are improper for disclosure.
Article 8 Under any of the following circumstances, a pollutant-discharging entity shall also submit corresponding materials when applying for a pollutant discharge permit:
1. in the case of implementation of key administration of pollutant discharge permits: explanatory materials in which the pollutant-discharging entity has disclosed its basic entity information and items being applied for permission for through the national pollutant discharge permit administration information platform prior to the submission of its application;
2. in the case of centralized treatment facilities for urban and industrial sewage: explanatory materials on the scope of pollutants included, pipe network layout, final discharge direction of the pollutant-discharging entity; or
3. in the case of new, reconstruction and expansion projects, as well as technological reconstruction projects that discharge key pollutants: explanatory materials for which the pollutant-discharging entity has obtained total discharge quantity control indicators on key pollutants through pollutant discharge quantity reduction and substitution.
Article 9 Examination and approval departments shall respectively handle received applications for pollutant discharge permits according to the following situations:
1. immediately inform the applying pollutant-discharging entities that they do not need to apply for pollutant discharge permits, if it is so prescribed in laws;
2. immediately make decisions on non-acceptance, if the applications do not fall within the scope of their authority, and inform the applying pollutant-discharging entities to apply to the competent departments of ecology and environment with the power of examination and approval;
3. allow the applying pollutant-discharging entities to make corrections on the spot if there are errors in their application materials that can be corrected on the spot;
4. issue notifications on the spot or within three days if the application materials are incomplete or do not conform to the statutory form, notifying at one time all the materials which the applying pollutant-discharging entities need to supplement and correct; if no notification is made within the specified time limit, it shall be deemed as acceptance from the date of receipt of the application materials; or
5. accept the applications if such applications fall within the scope of their authority and the application materials are complete and conform to the statutory form, or the applying pollutant-discharging entities have supplemented and corrected all their application materials as required.
Examination and approval departments shall disclose their decisions on acceptance or non-acceptance of applications for pollutant discharge permits on the national pollutant discharge permit administration information platform, and concurrently issue to the applying pollutant-discharging entities written documents which are affixed with their special seals and marked with the date.
Article 10 Examination and approval departments shall examine the application materials submitted by pollutant-discharging entities, and may conduct on-site verification on the production and operation premises of the applying pollutant-discharging entities.
Examination and approval departments may organize technical institutions to carry out technical evaluations of application materials for pollutant discharge permits, and bear the corresponding expenses of such evaluations.
Technical institutions shall be responsible for the technical evaluation opinions which they issue and shall not charge pollutant-discharging entities any fees.
Article 11 Pollutant discharge permits shall be issued to pollutant-discharging entities which meet the following requirements:
1. they have obtained approval documents for the environmental impact reports (forms) of their construction projects in accordance with the law, or have gone through the filing formalities for their environmental impact registration forms;
2. they discharge pollutants in conformity to the requirements of pollutant discharge standards, and discharge key pollutants in conformity to the requirements of technical specifications on the application for and issuance of pollutant discharge permits, approval documents for environmental impact reports (forms) and total discharge quantity control of key pollutants. If their production and operation premises are located in key areas or river basins that do not meet the national environmental quality standards, pollutant-discharging entities shall also satisfy the special requirements of relevant local people's governments for improving ecological and environmental quality;
3. they must be able to meet the requirements for permitted discharge concentrations by adopting pollution prevention and control facilities, or conform to feasible pollution prevention and control technologies; and
4. they have independent monitoring schemes that meet the national specifications on independent monitoring in respect of monitoring point location, indicator, frequency and other requirements.
Article 12 For pollutant-discharging entities subject to simplified administration of pollutant discharge permits, examination and approval departments shall make decisions on examination and approval within 20 days from the date of acceptance of their applications; and issue pollutant discharge permits to those which meet the requirements, and grant no permits to those which fail to meet the requirements and explain the reasons in writing.
For pollutant-discharging entities subject to key administration of pollutant discharge permits, examination and approval departments shall make decisions on examination and approval within 30 days from the date of acceptance of their applications. If on-site verification is needed, examination and approval departments shall make decisions on examination and approval within 45 days from the date of acceptance of their applications. Examination and approval departments shall issue pollutant discharge permits to those which meet the requirements, and grant no permits to those which fail to meet the requirements and explain the reasons in writing.
Examination and approval departments shall generate uniform pollutant discharge permit numbers through the national pollutant discharge permit administration information platform.
Article 13 The pollutant discharge permit shall record the following information:
1. name, domicile, legal representative or major principal, location of production and operation premises, etc. of the pollutant-discharging entity which holds the permit;
2. term of validity, issuing organ, date of issuance, certificate number, QR code, etc. of the pollutant discharge permit;
3. links that generate and discharge pollutants, pollution prevention and control facilities, etc.;
4. location and number of pollutant discharge outlets, pollutant discharge mode and direction, etc.;
5. type of pollutants discharged, permitted discharge concentration, permitted discharge quantity, etc.;
6. operation and maintenance requirements for pollution prevention and control facilities, regulated construction requirements for pollutant discharge outlets, etc.;
7. requirements for the prohibition or restriction of pollutant discharge during special periods of time;
8. content, frequency and other requirements for independent monitoring, environmental management ledger records and pollutant discharge permit implementation reports;
9. environmental information disclosure requirements for the pollutant-discharging entity;
10. requirements for the control of unorganized discharge in the case of unorganized discharge of air pollutants; and
11. other requirements for controlling pollutant discharge that the pollutant-discharging entity shall comply with in accordance with laws and regulations.
Article 14 Pollutant discharge permits shall be valid for five years.
If a pollutant-discharging entity needs to continue to discharge pollutants upon the expiry of the term of validity of its pollutant discharge permit, it shall submit an application to the relevant examination and approval department 60 days prior to the date of expiry. The examination and approval department shall complete its examination within 20 days from the date of acceptance of the application, grant an extension if the requirements are met, and grant no extension if the requirements are not met and explain the reasons in writing.
If a pollutant-discharging entity changes its name, domicile, legal representative or major principal, it shall apply to the relevant examination and approval department to go through the pollutant discharge permit change formalities within 30 days from the date of change.
Article 15 If, within the term of validity of its pollutant discharge permit, a pollutant-discharging entity has any of the following circumstances, it shall apply for a new pollutant discharge permit:
1. it commences a new, reconstruction or expansion project that discharges pollutants;
2.
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Order of the State Council of the People's Republic of China No. 736
January 24, 2021
The Regulations on the Administration of Pollutant Discharge Permits, which were adopted at the 117th executive meeting of the State Council on December 9, 2020, are hereby promulgated and shall come into effect as of March 1, 2021.
Li Keqiang, Premier
Regulations on the Administration of Pollutant Discharge Permits
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 These Regulations are formulated in accordance with the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws for the purpose of strengthening the administration of pollutant discharge permits, regulating the discharge of pollutants by enterprises, public institutions and other producers and operators, controlling the discharge of pollutants, and protecting and improving ecology and the environment.
Article 2 Enterprises, public institutions and other producers and operators (hereinafter referred to as “Pollutant-discharging Entities”) which are subject to the administration of pollutant discharge permits pursuant to legal provisions shall apply for pollutant discharge permits in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations. Those pollutant-discharging entities which have not obtained pollutant discharge permits shall not be allowed to discharge pollutants.
Based on the quantity of pollutants generated, the quantity of pollutants discharged, their impacts on the environment and other factors, categorical administration of pollutant discharge permits shall be implemented for pollutant-discharging entities:
1. key administration of pollutant discharge permits shall be implemented for pollutant-discharging entities which generate and discharge relatively large quantities of pollutants or have a relatively major impact on the environment; and
2. simplified administration of pollutant discharge permits shall be implemented for pollutant-discharging entities which generate and discharge relatively small quantities of pollutants and have a relatively small impact on the environment.
The competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council shall formulate the scope of pollutant-discharging entities subject to the administration of pollutant discharge permits, the steps of implementation and the catalog of categories of administration and release them for implementation after reporting them to the State Council for approval. In the formulation process, the opinions of relevant departments, industry associations, enterprises, public institutions and the public shall be solicited.
Article 3 The competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council shall be responsible for the uniform supervision and administration of pollutant discharge permits throughout the country.
Competent departments of ecology and environment under local people's governments at or above the level of city with subordinate districts shall be responsible for the supervision and administration of pollutant discharge permits within their respective administrative regions.
Article 4 The competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council shall strengthen the construction and administration of the national pollutant discharge permit administration information platform, and raise the level of online handling of pollutant discharge permits.
The examination of and decision on pollutant discharge permits, information disclosure and other matters shall be handled through the national pollutant discharge permit administration information platform.
Article 5 People's governments at or above the level of city with subordinate districts shall include the funds needed for the administration of pollutant discharge permits in their budgets at the corresponding level.
Chapter II Application, Examination and Approval
Article 6 Pollutant-discharging entities shall apply for pollutant discharging permits to the competent departments of ecology and environment under the local people's governments at or above the level of city with subordinate districts (hereinafter referred to as “Examination and Approval Departments”) at the places where their production and operation premises are located.
If a pollutant-discharging entity has two or more production and operation premises which discharge pollutants, it shall apply for pollutant discharge permits respectively according to its production and operation premises.
Article 7 To apply for pollutant discharge permits, pollutant-discharging entities may submit their application forms through the national pollutant discharge permit administration information platform, or by letter or other ways.
The application form for pollutant discharge permit shall include the following items:
1. name, domicile, legal representative or major principal, location of production and operation premises, unified social credit code and other information of the pollutant-discharging entity;
2. approval document for the environmental impact report (form) or filing materials of the environmental impact registration form of the relevant construction project;
3. types, concentrations and quantities of discharged pollutants applied for by a pollutant discharge outlet, main production facility or workshop or factory boundary, and pollutant discharge standards and total discharge quantity control indicators implemented for key pollutants;
4. pollution prevention and control facilities, location and number of pollutant discharge outlets, pollutant discharge mode and direction, independent monitoring scheme and other information; and
5. main production facilities, main products and their production capacities, main raw and auxiliary materials, links that generate and discharge pollutants and other information, as well as explanatory notes on whether trade secrets are involved and other situations which are improper for disclosure.
Article 8 Under any of the following circumstances, a pollutant-discharging entity shall also submit corresponding materials when applying for a pollutant discharge permit:
1. in the case of implementation of key administration of pollutant discharge permits: explanatory materials in which the pollutant-discharging entity has disclosed its basic entity information and items being applied for permission for through the national pollutant discharge permit administration information platform prior to the submission of its application;
2. in the case of centralized treatment facilities for urban and industrial sewage: explanatory materials on the scope of pollutants included, pipe network layout, final discharge direction of the pollutant-discharging entity; or
3. in the case of new, reconstruction and expansion projects, as well as technological reconstruction projects that discharge key pollutants: explanatory materials for which the pollutant-discharging entity has obtained total discharge quantity control indicators on key pollutants through pollutant discharge quantity reduction and substitution.
Article 9 Examination and approval departments shall respectively handle received applications for pollutant discharge permits according to the following situations:
1. immediately inform the applying pollutant-discharging entities that they do not need to apply for pollutant discharge permits, if it is so prescribed in laws;
2. immediately make decisions on non-acceptance, if the applications do not fall within the scope of their authority, and inform the applying pollutant-discharging entities to apply to the competent departments of ecology and environment with the power of examination and approval;
3. allow the applying pollutant-discharging entities to make corrections on the spot if there are errors in their application materials that can be corrected on the spot;
4. issue notifications on the spot or within three days if the application materials are incomplete or do not conform to the statutory form, notifying at one time all the materials which the applying pollutant-discharging entities need to supplement and correct; if no notification is made within the specified time limit, it shall be deemed as acceptance from the date of receipt of the application materials; or
5. accept the applications if such applications fall within the scope of their authority and the application materials are complete and conform to the statutory form, or the applying pollutant-discharging entities have supplemented and corrected all their application materials as required.
Examination and approval departments shall disclose their decisions on acceptance or non-acceptance of applications for pollutant discharge permits on the national pollutant discharge permit administration information platform, and concurrently issue to the applying pollutant-discharging entities written documents which are affixed with their special seals and marked with the date.
Article 10 Examination and approval departments shall examine the application materials submitted by pollutant-discharging entities, and may conduct on-site verification on the production and operation premises of the applying pollutant-discharging entities.
Examination and approval departments may organize technical institutions to carry out technical evaluations of application materials for pollutant discharge permits, and bear the corresponding expenses of such evaluations.
Technical institutions shall be responsible for the technical evaluation opinions which they issue and shall not charge pollutant-discharging entities any fees.
Article 11 Pollutant discharge permits shall be issued to pollutant-discharging entities which meet the following requirements:
1. they have obtained approval documents for the environmental impact reports (forms) of their construction projects in accordance with the law, or have gone through the filing formalities for their environmental impact registration forms;
2. they discharge pollutants in conformity to the requirements of pollutant discharge standards, and discharge key pollutants in conformity to the requirements of technical specifications on the application for and issuance of pollutant discharge permits, approval documents for environmental impact reports (forms) and total discharge quantity control of key pollutants. If their production and operation premises are located in key areas or river basins that do not meet the national environmental quality standards, pollutant-discharging entities shall also satisfy the special requirements of relevant local people's governments for improving ecological and environmental quality;
3. they must be able to meet the requirements for permitted discharge concentrations by adopting pollution prevention and control facilities, or conform to feasible pollution prevention and control technologies; and
4. they have independent monitoring schemes that meet the national specifications on independent monitoring in respect of monitoring point location, indicator, frequency and other requirements.
Article 12 For pollutant-discharging entities subject to simplified administration of pollutant discharge permits, examination and approval departments shall make decisions on examination and approval within 20 days from the date of acceptance of their applications; and issue pollutant discharge permits to those which meet the requirements, and grant no permits to those which fail to meet the requirements and explain the reasons in writing.
For pollutant-discharging entities subject to key administration of pollutant discharge permits, examination and approval departments shall make decisions on examination and approval within 30 days from the date of acceptance of their applications. If on-site verification is needed, examination and approval departments shall make decisions on examination and approval within 45 days from the date of acceptance of their applications. Examination and approval departments shall issue pollutant discharge permits to those which meet the requirements, and grant no permits to those which fail to meet the requirements and explain the reasons in writing.
Examination and approval departments shall generate uniform pollutant discharge permit numbers through the national pollutant discharge permit administration information platform.
Article 13 The pollutant discharge permit shall record the following information:
1. name, domicile, legal representative or major principal, location of production and operation premises, etc. of the pollutant-discharging entity which holds the permit;
2. term of validity, issuing organ, date of issuance, certificate number, QR code, etc. of the pollutant discharge permit;
3. links that generate and discharge pollutants, pollution prevention and control facilities, etc.;
4. location and number of pollutant discharge outlets, pollutant discharge mode and direction, etc.;
5. type of pollutants discharged, permitted discharge concentration, permitted discharge quantity, etc.;
6. operation and maintenance requirements for pollution prevention and control facilities, regulated construction requirements for pollutant discharge outlets, etc.;
7. requirements for the prohibition or restriction of pollutant discharge during special periods of time;
8. content, frequency and other requirements for independent monitoring, environmental management ledger records and pollutant discharge permit implementation reports;
9. environmental information disclosure requirements for the pollutant-discharging entity;
10. requirements for the control of unorganized discharge in the case of unorganized discharge of air pollutants; and
11. other requirements for controlling pollutant discharge that the pollutant-discharging entity shall comply with in accordance with laws and regulations.
Article 14 Pollutant discharge permits shall be valid for five years.
If a pollutant-discharging entity needs to continue to discharge pollutants upon the expiry of the term of validity of its pollutant discharge permit, it shall submit an application to the relevant examination and approval department 60 days prior to the date of expiry. The examination and approval department shall complete its examination within 20 days from the date of acceptance of the application, grant an extension if the requirements are met, and grant no extension if the requirements are not met and explain the reasons in writing.
If a pollutant-discharging entity changes its name, domicile, legal representative or major principal, it shall apply to the relevant examination and approval department to go through the pollutant discharge permit change formalities within 30 days from the date of change.
Article 15 If, within the term of validity of its pollutant discharge permit, a pollutant-discharging entity has any of the following circumstances, it shall apply for a new pollutant discharge permit:
1. it commences a new, reconstruction or expansion project that discharges pollutants;
2.
......