Ecological and Environmental Code of the People's Republic of China
Ecological and Environmental Code of the People's Republic of China
Ecological and Environmental Code of the People's Republic of China
Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No. 70
March 12, 2026
The Ecological and Environmental Code of the People's Republic of China, adopted at the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on March 12, 2026, is hereby issued and shall come into force on August 15, 2026.
Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China
Ecological and Environmental Code of the People's Republic of China
(Adopted at the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress on March 12, 2026)
Contents
Book One General Part
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Supervision and Administration
Section 1 Supervision and Administration Systems and Working Mechanisms
Section 2 Supervision and Administration Systems
Chapter III Planning and Eco-environmental Zoning-based Regulation
Chapter IV Standards and Monitoring
Chapter V Ecological and Environmental Impact Assessment
Section 1 General Rules
Section 2 Ecological and Environmental Impact Assessment of Plans
Section 3 Ecological and Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Projects
Chapter VI Ecological Conservation Compensation
Chapter VII Response to Ecological and Environmental Emergencies
Chapter VIII Safeguard Measures
Chapter IX Information Disclosure and Public Participation
Book Two Pollution Prevention and Control
Part One General Provisions
Chapter I General Rules
Chapter II Pollutant Discharge Permit Administration
Part Two Air Pollution Prevention and Control
Chapter III General Rules
Chapter IV Measures for Prevention and Control of Air Pollution
Section 1 Prevention and Control of Air Pollution from Coal Combustion and Other Energy Sources
Section 2 Prevention and Control of Industrial Air Pollution
Section 3 Prevention and Control of Air Pollution from Motor Vehicles, Vessels, and Other Sources
Section 4 Prevention and Control of Dust Pollution
Section 5 Prevention and Control of Air Pollution from Agricultural and Other Sources
Chapter V Joint Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in Key Regions
Chapter VI Response to Heavy Pollution Weather
Part Three Water Pollution Prevention and Control
Chapter VII General Rules
Chapter VIII Measures for Prevention and Control of Water Pollution
Section 1 Prevention and Control of Industrial Water Pollution
Section 2 Prevention and Control of Urban Water Pollution
Section 3 Prevention and Control of Agricultural and Rural Water Pollution
Section 4 Prevention and Control of Water Pollution from Vessels
Chapter IX Protection of Drinking Water Sources and Other Special Water Bodies
Chapter X Prevention and Control of Water Pollution in Major River Basins
Part Four Marine Pollution Prevention and Control
Chapter XI General Rules
Chapter XII Prevention and Control of Marine Pollution by Land-based Pollutants
Chapter XIII Prevention and Control of Marine Pollution from Engineering Projects
Chapter XIV Prevention and Control of Marine Pollution from Dumping of Wastes
Chapter XV Prevention and Control of Marine Pollution by Vessels
Part Five Soil Pollution Prevention and Control
Chapter XVI General Rules
Chapter XVII Soil Pollution Prevention
Chapter XVIII Soil Pollution Risk Management and Remediation
Section 1 General Requirements
Section 2 Soil Pollution Risk Management and Remediation of Agricultural Land
Section 3 Soil Pollution Risk Management and Remediation of Construction Land
Part Six Prevention and Control of Solid Waste Pollution
Chapter XIX General Rules
Chapter XX Prevention and Control of Industrial Solid Waste Pollution
Chapter XXI Prevention and Control of Municipal Solid Waste Pollution
Chapter XXII Prevention and Control of Pollution from Construction and Demolition Waste, Agricultural Solid Waste, and Other Solid Waste
Chapter XXIII Prevention and Control of Hazardous Waste Pollution
Part Seven Prevention and Control of Noise Pollution
Chapter XXIV General Rules
Chapter XXV Prevention and Control of Industrial Noise Pollution
Chapter XXVI Prevention and Control of Construction Noise Pollution
Chapter XXVII Prevention and Control of Transportation Noise Pollution
Chapter XXVIII Prevention and Control of Community Noise Pollution
Part Eight Prevention and Control of Radioactive Pollution
Chapter XXIX General Rules
Chapter XXX Prevention and Control of Radioactive Pollution from Nuclear Facilities
Chapter XXXI Prevention and Control of Radioactive Pollution from Utilization of Nuclear Technology
Chapter XXXII Prevention and Control of Radioactive Pollution from the Development and Utilization of Uranium and Thorium Ores and Associated Radioactive Minerals
Chapter XXXIII Prevention and Control of Pollution from Radioactive Waste
Part Nine Risk Management of Chemical Substance Pollution and Prevention and Control of Electromagnetic Radiation and Light Pollution
Chapter XXXIV Risk Management of Chemical Substance Pollution
Chapter XXXV Prevention and Control of Electromagnetic Radiation Pollution
Chapter XXXVI Prevention and Control of Light Pollution
Book Three Ecological Conservation
Chapter I General Rules
Chapter II Ecosystem Conservation
Section 1 Forests
Section 2 Grasslands
Section 3 Wetlands
Section 4 Oceans and Islands
Section 5 Rivers and Lakes
Section 6 Deserts
Chapter III Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Natural Resources
Section 1 Land Resources
Section 2 Mineral Resources
Section 3 Water Resources
Section 4 Fishery Resources
Section 5 Other Natural Resources
Chapter IV Species Conservation
Section 1 Wildlife Conservation
Section 2 Wild Plant Conservation
Section 3 Prevention and Control of Invasive Alien Species
Chapter V Protection of Important Geographic Units
Section 1 Protected Areas
Section 2 Important River Basins and Regions, Including the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
Chapter VI Prevention and Control of Ecological Degradation
Section 1 Soil and Water Conservation
Section 2 Desertification Prevention and Control
Chapter VII Ecological Restoration
Book Four Green and Low-Carbon Development
Chapter I General Rules
Chapter II Development of the Circular Economy
Section 1 General Rules
Section 2 Cleaner Production
Section 3 Waste Recycling and Recovery
Section 4 Green Consumption
Chapter III Energy Conservation and Green and Low-Carbon Transition
Section 1 General Rules
Section 2 Energy Conservation
Section 3 Green and Low-Carbon Energy Transition
Chapter IV Climate Change Response
Section 1 General Rules
Section 2 Climate Change Mitigation and Carbon Dioxide Peaking and Carbon Neutrality
Section 3 Climate Change Adaptation
Section 4 International Cooperation
Book Five Legal Liability and Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions on Legal Liability
Section 1 General Rules
Section 2 Liable Parties
Section 3 Pursuit of Liability
Chapter II Specific Provisions on Legal Liability
Section 1 Violations of Provisions on Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Administration
Section 2 Violations of Provisions on Ecological and Environmental Impact Assessment Administration
Section 3 Violations of Provisions on Pollutant Discharge Permit Administration
Section 4 Violations of Provisions on Air Pollution Prevention and Control
Section 5 Violations of Provisions on Water Pollution Prevention and Control
Section 6 Violations of Provisions on Marine Pollution Prevention and Control
Section 7 Violations of Provisions on Soil Pollution Prevention and Control
Section 8 Violations of Provisions on Prevention and Control of Solid Waste Pollution
Section 9 Violations of Provisions on Noise Pollution Prevention and Control
Section 10 Violations of Provisions on Prevention and Control of Radioactive Pollution
Section 11 Violations of Provisions on Risk Management of Chemical Substance Pollution, and Prevention and Control of Electromagnetic Radiation and Light Pollution
Section 12 Violations of Provisions on Ecological Conservation Management
Section 13 Violations of Provisions on Green and Low-Carbon Development Management
Section 14 Other Violations
Chapter III Supplementary Provisions
Book One General Part
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Code is enacted in accordance with the Constitution to protect the ecological environment, prevent and control pollution and other public nuisances, safeguard public health and ecological and environmental rights and interests, maintain ecological security, promote green and low-carbon development, build ecological civilization, comprehensively promote the building of a Beautiful China, accelerate the modernization featuring harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, and achieve the sustainable development of the Chinese nation.
Article 2 For the purposes of this Code, "ecological environment" refers to the aggregate of naturally formed and artificially modified natural spaces, natural elements, and their interconnections and interactions that affect human survival and development as well as ecosystem functions, including the atmosphere, water, oceans, land, mineral resources, forests, mountains, grasslands, wetlands, glaciers, plateaus, deserts, wildlife, natural relics, cultural relics, protected areas, cities, and rural areas.
Article 3 This Code shall apply to activities related to ecological and environmental protection, including pollution prevention and control, ecological conservation, and green and low-carbon development, conducted within the territory of the People's Republic of China and other sea areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China.
Where any activity conducted outside the territory of the People's Republic of China and other sea areas under its jurisdiction causes or may cause environmental pollution or ecological damage within the territory of the People's Republic of China or other sea areas under its jurisdiction, the relevant provisions of this Code shall apply.
Article 4 Ecological and environmental protection shall uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China, implement Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, establish the concept of respecting, conforming to, and protecting nature, uphold the principle that a sound ecological environment constitutes the most inclusive public welfare, improve and implement institutional mechanisms for the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and protect the ecological environment under the strictest systems and the strictest rule of law.
Article 5 Conserving resources and protecting the ecological environment are basic state policies of China.
The State shall adopt economic, technological, and other policy measures conducive to protecting the ecological environment and promoting harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, coordinate industrial structure adjustment, pollution prevention and control, ecological conservation, and response to climate change, advance in a coordinated manner carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and economic growth, and advance ecological priority, resource conservation and intensive utilization, and green and low-carbon development.
Article 6 Ecological and environmental protection shall adhere to the principles of prevention first, systematic governance, ecological priority, green development, public participation, and pursuit of liability for damage.
Article 7 All entities and individuals shall have the obligation to protect the ecological environment.
Article 8 People's governments at all levels shall strengthen ecological and environmental protection, properly handle the relationship between high-quality development and high-level protection, and, in light of ecological and environmental protection objectives and remediation tasks, adopt effective measures to improve the quality of the ecological environment.
Local people's governments at all levels shall be responsible for ecological and environmental protection and the quality of the ecological environment within their respective administrative regions and the sea areas under their administration.
Article 9 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall adopt effective measures to prevent and reduce environmental pollution and ecological damage, conserve resources and ensure their intensive utilization, control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, fulfill obligations for green and low-carbon development, and bear liability in accordance with the law for the damage caused.
Article 10 Citizens shall enhance their awareness of ecological and environmental protection, adopt simple, moderate, green, and low-carbon lifestyles, consciously fulfill their obligations for ecological and environmental protection, comply with ecological and environmental laws and regulations, and cooperate in the implementation of ecological and environmental protection measures.
Article 11 The State supports research, development, and application of ecological and environmental science and technology, strengthens scientific and technological support and talent development for ecological and environmental protection, and promotes the application of information technology, digital technology, artificial intelligence, and other technologiesprovided that safety is ensured, so as to improve the scientific and technological level of ecological and environmental protection.
Article 12 People's governments at all levels and their relevant authorities shall strengthen publicity and awareness-raising activities on ecological and environmental protection, carry out publicity and education on the rule of law in ecological and environmental protection, promote ecological culture, and enhance public awareness of ecological and environmental protection and legal literacy.
Education administrative departments and schools shall incorporate ecological and environmental laws and regulations as well as knowledge of ecological and environmental protection into school curricula, and cultivate students' awareness of ecological and environmental protection and their legal literacy.
News media shall disseminate ecological and environmental laws and regulations and knowledge of ecological and environmental protection, and exercise media supervision over ecological and environmental violations.
The State encourages grassroots mass self-governing organizations, social organizations, volunteers in ecological and environmental protection, and others to carry out publicity on ecological and environmental laws and regulations and knowledge of ecological and environmental protection, and foster a sound social ethos of protecting the ecological environment and building ecological civilization.
Article 13 Entities and individuals that have made remarkable achievements in ecological and environmental protection shall be commended and rewarded in accordance with State provisions.
Article 14 The State shall strengthen international cooperation in the field of ecological and environmental protection, perform obligations under international treaties concluded or acceded to by the People's Republic of China, support international exchanges and cooperation in ecological and environmental protection, actively participate in the research and formulation of international rules on ecological and environmental protection, actively articulate the philosophy, propositions, and successful practices of ecological and environmental rule of law with Chinese characteristics, and promote the building of a fair and equitable global environmental governance system featuring cooperation and mutual benefit.
Article 15 August 15 each year is designated as National Ecology Day. The State shall carry out publicity and education activities on ecological civilization in various forms.
Chapter II Supervision and Administration
Section 1 Supervision and Administration Systems and Working Mechanisms
Article 16 People's governments at or above the county level shall organize, coordinate, and urge relevant authorities to perform their duties and responsibilities of supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection in accordance with the law.
Article 17 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, within the scope of its functions and duties, exercise unified supervision and administration over ecological and environmental protection nationwide, including unified policy planning and standard formulation, unified monitoring and assessment, unified supervision and law enforcement, and unified inspection and accountability. Ecology and environment authorities under local people's governments shall, within the scope of their functions and duties, exercise unified supervision and administration over ecological and environmental protection within their respective administrative regions.
The natural resources authority under the State Council shall, within the scope of its functions and duties, exercise supervision and administration over the development, utilization, and protection of natural resources nationwide, and, upon authorization by the State Council, uniformly perform the duties of the owner of natural resource assets owned by the whole people, and uniformly perform duties relating to territorial spatial use control and ecological conservation and restoration. Natural resources authorities under local people's governments shall, within the scope of their functions and duties, exercise supervision and administration over the development, utilization, and protection of natural resources, as well as the development and protection of territorial space within their respective administrative regions.
Relevant authorities under people's governments at or above the county level, including those responsible for development and reform, industry and information technology, housing and urban-rural development, transport, water resources, agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and grassland, as well as ecological and environmental protection authorities of the military, shall, within the scope of their respective functions and duties, exercise supervision and administration over ecological and environmental protection.
Article 18 The State shall establish and improve a system of lists of responsibilities for ecological and environmental protection, and clarify the duties and responsibilities of relevant authorities under the State Council and authorities under local people's governments in the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection.
Article 19 Provinces, cities, counties, and townships shall establish and improve the river and lake chief system and the forest chief system in accordance with the law. River and lake chiefs at all levels shall be responsible for work related to the management and protection of rivers and lakes within their respective administrative regions; forest chiefs at all levels shall be responsible for work related to the protection and development of forest and grassland resources within their respective administrative regions.
Article 20 Local people's governments at or above the county level shall, in light of actual needs, establish coordination and linkage mechanisms for ecological and environmental protection, strengthen coordination and cooperation among authorities, and advance ecological and environmental protection within their respective administrative regions.
Article 21 The State shall establish and improve coordination mechanisms for joint protection of the ecological environment in key areas, river basins, and sea areas that span administrative regions, and implement unified planning, unified standards, unified monitoring, and unified protection measures.
The ecological and environmental protection spanning administrative regions other than those specified in the preceding paragraph shall be resolved by the people's government at the higher level or resolved through consultation among the relevant local people's governments.
Article 22 The State shall improve coordination mechanisms for ecological security, adopt effective measures to enhance capabilities in risk assessment and evaluation, monitoring and early warning, emergency response and handling, and establish a comprehensive, multi-level, and efficient ecological security protection system, and coordinate the advancement of ecological security work.
Article 23 The State shall establish and improve mechanisms for sharing ecological and environmental information, enhance information-sharing capacity, and strengthen the sharing of ecological and environmental information.
People's governments at or above the county level shall promote the development of platforms for sharing ecological and environmental information, and relevant authorities shall promptly organize the uploading of such information and update it dynamically.
Section 2 Supervision and Administration Systems
Article 24 The State shall adhere to region-specific, differentiated, and precise regulation, implement ecological and environmental supervision and administration systems featuring integrated management of aboveground and underground areas, coordinated land and marine governance, and regional coordination, and strengthen coordination among supervision and administration systems relating to planning, standards, monitoring, and other matters.
Article 25 People's governments at all levels and their relevant authorities shall strengthen capacity building for ecological and environmental protection supervision and administration, and improve the informatization, digitalization, and intelligentization of ecological and environmental protection supervision and administration.
Article 26 Relevant authorities under the State Council and local people's governments at or above the county level shall, when organizing the formulation of economic and technological policies and measures, fully consider their impact on the ecological environment and solicit opinions from relevant parties and experts.
Article 27 The State shall implement a system of responsibility for ecological and environmental protection targets and a system for assessment and evaluation, and incorporate the fulfillment of ecological and environmental protection targets into assessment and evaluation criteria. Assessment and evaluation work shall enhance relevance and effectiveness and resolutely guard against formalism. Assessment results shall be disclosed to the public.
Article 28 The State shall establish and improve the ecological and environmental protection inspection system and organize comprehensive inspections of the fulfillment of responsibilities for ecological civilization development and ecological and environmental protection by relevant parties. Ecological and environmental protection inspections shall operate under a two-level inspection system at the central level and at the level of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government.
Article 29 Entities subject to inspection shall voluntarily accept ecological and environmental protection inspections and actively cooperate with inspection work.
Upon receipt of ecological and environmental protection inspection feedback opinions, entities subject to inspection shall organize the formulation of rectification plans, specifying, for each item, the responsible entities for implementation, rectification objectives, rectification timelines, key measures, and acceptance authorities for the issues identified in the inspection feedback.
Accountability shall be pursued in accordance with State provisions for major ecological and environmental issues and dereliction of duty discovered during ecological and environmental protection inspections and rectification.
Article 30 People's governments at or above the county level shall annually report to the people's congress at the corresponding level or its standing committee on the state of the ecological environment and the completion of ecological and environmental protection targets, and shall promptly report major ecological and environmental incidents to the standing committee of the people's congress at the corresponding level, and accept supervision in accordance with the law.
Article 31 The State shall strengthen the judicial protection for the ecological environment.
People's courts shall strengthen ecological and environmental adjudication and advance the development of specialized adjudication mechanisms for ecological and environmental matters.
People's procuratorates shall strengthen ecological and environmental procuratorial work and reinforce procuratorial supervision.
Article 32 The State shall improve systems for compensation for ecological and environmental damage and for public interest litigation concerning the ecological environment, in order to safeguard national interests and the public interest of society.
Article 33 Administrative authorities, supervisory authorities, adjudicatory authorities, and procuratorial authorities shall strengthen coordination and cooperation, establish and improve mechanisms for case referral and information sharing, and pursue legal liability in accordance with the law for unlawful acts causing environmental pollution and ecological damage.
Article 34 The State shall implement natural resource asset accountability audits upon departure from office, and conduct audits on the performance by leading officials of responsibilities relating to the management of natural resource assets and ecological and environmental protection.
Article 35 The State shall strengthen ecological conservation and restoration, adhere to integrated protection and restoration of mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, lakes, grasslands, and deserts, and implement systematic governance centered on natural recovery while combining natural recovery with artificial restoration.
Article 36 The State shall improve the system framework for main functional zones and optimize the territorial spatial development pattern in accordance with the different orientations of urbanized areas, major agricultural production areas, key ecological function zones, and other areas.
Article 37 The State shall improve systems for total resource management and comprehensive conservation, avoid resource waste, and improve resource utilization efficiency.
Article 38 The State shall improve the property rights system and management system framework for natural resource assets, improve the entrusted agency mechanism for ownership of natural resource assets owned by the whole people, and promote the paid use of natural resources.
Article 39 The State shall improve mechanisms for realizing the value of ecological products, develop diversified pathways for realizing the value of ecological products, and advance the ecological industrialization and industrial ecological transformation.
Article 40 In the development and utilization of natural resources, resources shall be developed rationally, conserved and used intensively and efficiently, environmental pollution and ecological destruction shall be prevented, GHG emissions shall be reduced, and plans for the ecological and environmental protection shall be formulated and implemented in accordance with the law.
Article 41 The State shall coordinate the governance of water resources, the water environment, and aquatic ecosystems, and strengthen protection of the aquatic ecological environment.
The State shall implement a rigid constraint system for water resources, adhere to determining urban development, land use, population scale, and industrial development in accordance with water availability, promote the scientific and rational distribution of population and cities, establish a modern industrial system compatible with the carrying capacity of water resources, and safeguard national water security.
Article 42 The State shall strengthen biodiversity conservation, establish and improve coordination mechanisms for biodiversity conservation and systems for biodiversity investigation, monitoring, assessment, and protection, and rationally plan and develop a spatial system for biodiversity conservation.
The introduction of alien species and the research, development, and utilization of biotechnology shall be conducted with effective measures to prevent damage to biodiversity.
Article 43 The State shall establish a protected areas system with national parks as the mainstay, nature reserves as the foundation, and various types of natural parks as supplements, to ensure systematic protection of important ecosystems, natural relics, natural landscapes, and biodiversity.
Article 44 The State shall advance the development of ecological security shelterbelts in regions including the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Ecological Security Shield Area, the Yangtze River Key Ecological Area, the Yellow River Key Ecological Area, the Northeast Forest Belt, the Northern Sand Prevention Belt, the Southern Hilly and Mountainous Belt, and coastal zones, and strengthen ecological and environmental protection of important rivers and lakes including the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Huai River, Hai River, Pearl River, Songhua River, Liao River, Dongting Lake, Poyang Lake, Tai Lake, Hongze Lake, and Chao Lake.
Article 45 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, in accordance with the status of the marine ecological environment and requirements for quality improvement, together with the development and reform, natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, transport, water resources, fisheries and fishery administration, forestry and grassland, and other relevant authorities under the State Council, as well as coast guard agencies, designate key sea areas for national ecological and environmental governance and the areas subject to their management and control, formulate comprehensive governance action plans, and implement them upon approval by the State Council.
Local people's governments at or above the level of a city divided into districts (hereinafter "districted-city level") in coastal areas shall, in accordance with the comprehensive governance action plans, formulate implementation plans for the sea areas under their administration, adopt special control measures tailored to local conditions, carry out comprehensive governance, and advance in a coordinated manner the governance of key sea areas and the development of Beautiful Bays.
Article 46 People's governments at all levels shall strengthen protection of the agricultural ecological environment, promote the application of new technologies for protection of the agricultural ecological environment, strengthen monitoring and early warning for agricultural pollution sources, coordinate relevant authorities in adopting effective measures to prevent and control soil pollution and land desertification, acidification, salinization, degradation, rocky desertification, and land subsidence, and to prevent and control ecological imbalances such as destruction of vegetation, soil and water loss, eutrophication of water bodies, depletion of water sources, extinction of germplasm resources, and invasion of alien species, and promote integrated prevention and control of plant diseases and insect pests.
People's governments at all levels shall improve public services for rural ecological and environmental protection, promote comprehensive improvement of the rural ecological environment, and continuously improve the rural living environment.
Article 47 Urban and rural development shall, in light of local natural ecological characteristics, protect vegetation, waters, natural landscapes, cultural relics, ancient and famous trees, etc., and strengthen the construction and management of urban parks and green spaces.
Article 48 The State shall establish and improve systems for monitoring, investigation, and risk assessment concerning the ecological environment and health; encourage and organize research on the impacts of ecological and environmental quality on public health, and adopt effective measures to prevent and control diseases related to environmental pollution and ecological destruction.
Article 49 The State shall implement a phase-out system for technologies, processes, equipment, materials, and products that seriously pollute the environment, damage the ecology, or otherwise cause serious harm.
The development and reform authority under the State Council shall, together with relevant authorities, determine the phase-out periods for technologies, processes, equipment, materials, and products that seriously pollute the environment, damage the ecology, or otherwise cause serious harm, and include them in the national catalog of comprehensive industrial policies.
Producers, importers, sellers, and users shall cease producing, importing, selling, and using equipment, materials, and products listed in the catalog specified in the preceding paragraph within the prescribed time limit. Adopters of technologies and processes shall cease adopting technologies and processes listed in the catalog specified in the preceding paragraph within the prescribed time limit.
Equipment, materials, and products that have been phased out shall not be transferred to others for use.
Article 50 Authorities under the State Council responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection, as well as the people's governments of relevant provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government in key regions, river basins, and sea areas, may organize relevant authorities to carry out joint law enforcement, law enforcement across administrative regions, river basins, and sea areas, and cross-jurisdictional law enforcement.
Article 51 Authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection shall have the power to conduct on-site inspections, in accordance with the law, of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators that cause environment pollution or ecological damage, as well as of ecological and environmental technical service institutions. Entities subject to inspection shall truthfully report relevant circumstances and provide necessary materials. Authorities and their staff conducting on-site inspections shall keep confidential the trade secrets, personal privacy, and personal information of entities subject to inspection.
Article 52 Where enterprises, public institutions, or other producers and business operators violate laws or regulations, causing or potentially causing consequences such as serious environmental pollution or ecological damage, or where relevant evidence may be destroyed or concealed, authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection may, in accordance with the law, seal up or seize relevant premises, vessels, facilities, equipment, tools, and articles.
Article 53 Offices established by ecology and environment authorities under people's governments at the districted-city level may, in their own names and in accordance with the law, conduct on-site inspections, implement sealing-up and seizure measures, undertake substitute performance, and impose administrative penalties.
Article 54 The State shall establish an ecological and environmental credit-based regulatory system.
Authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection shall, in accordance with the law, record relevant ecological and environmental violation information concerning enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators in credit records.
Where enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators rectify their dishonest conduct, eliminate adverse impacts, and satisfy the criteria for credit restoration, they may apply for credit restoration, and relevant State authorities shall carry out credit restoration in accordance with regulations.
Article 55 Where activities conducted outside the territory of the People's Republic of China and other sea areas under its jurisdiction cause or may cause environmental pollution or ecological damage within the territory of the People's Republic of China or other sea areas under its jurisdiction, the relevant authorities and agencies shall have the authority to take necessary measures.
Chapter III Planning and Eco-environmental Zoning-based Regulation
Article 56 The State shall establish and improve a national planning system led by national development plans, based on territorial spatial plans, supported by special-purpose plans and regional plans, and jointly composed of national and local plans. Coordination and alignment among these plans shall be strengthened to ensure planning guides, directs, and constrains ecological and environmental protection.
Article 57 People's governments at or above the county level shall incorporate ecological and environmental protection into the national economic and social development plan.
Article 58 The State shall establish and improve a unified and aligned territorial spatial use control and planning permit system covering the entire territory and all categories Territorial spatial use control shall be implemented on a zoning and category basis in accordance with territorial spatial plans. Activities involving the development and utilization of territorial space shall comply with territorial spatial use control requirements and obtain planning permits in accordance with the law.
Article 59 Territorial spatial plans shall scientifically and systematically coordinate the arrangement of functional spaces for agriculture, ecology, urban development, and other purposes; delineate cultivated land and permanent basic farmland, ecological conservation redlines, and urban development boundaries; and optimize the structure and layout of territorial space.
Special-purpose plans involving territorial spatial utilization shall align with territorial spatial plans.
Article 60 The State shall establish and improve the ecological conservation redline management system, giving priority to including areas with extremely important ecological functions and ecologically highly sensitive or fragile areas within ecological conservation redlines, under which strict protection measures shall be implemented.
Activities involving the development and utilization of natural resources or construction activities affecting the ecology and environment shall strictly observe ecological conservation redlines and shall not cause damage to the ecological environment.
People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall strengthen supervision and administration over human activities within ecological conservation redlines and regularly assess protection effectiveness.
Article 61 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with relevant authorities, formulate the national ecological and environmental protection plan in accordance with national development plans, and submit it to the State Council for approval before promulgation.
The ecology and environment authorities under local people's governments at or above the districted-city level shall, together with relevant authorities, formulate ecological and environmental protection plans for their respective administrative regions in accordance with the requirements of the national ecological and environmental protection plan, and submit them to the people's governments at the corresponding level for approval and promulgation.
The ecological and environmental protection plans shall include targets, tasks, and safeguard measures relating to pollution prevention and control, ecological conservation, and response to climate change.
Article 62 Relevant local people's governments in key regions, river basins, and sea areas that fail to meet national ecological and environmental quality standards shall formulate plans for achieving standards within prescribed time limits, improvement plans, and implementation plans thereof in accordance with the law, and adopt effective measures to achieve standards and improve ecological and environmental quality within the prescribed time limit. The plans for achieving standards within prescribed time limits, improvement plans, and implementation plans thereof shall be promptly disclosed to the public.
Article 63 The ecology and environment, development and reform, natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, water resources, agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and grassland, and other relevant authorities may, within the scope of their respective responsibilities, formulate the plans for the relevant ecological and environmental field in light of actual needs.
Article 64 The State may, in light of actual needs, formulate regional plans for key regions identified in national development plans, contiguous regions spanning administrative regions with close economic and social linkages, and specific regions undertaking major strategic tasks, to guide regional ecological and environmental protection and coordinated development.
Article 65 In formulating plans in the field of ecology and environment, opinions from relevant authorities, experts, and other parties shall be solicited. After implementation of the plans, the authorities responsible for plan formulation shall organize monitoring, analysis, and evaluation in accordance with State provisions.
Article 66 The State shall establish and improve the system of eco-environmental zoning-based regulation.
Local people's governments at or above the districted-city level shall formulate and adjust eco-environmental zoning-based regulation schemes in light of the ecological and environmental conditions in their respective administrative regions, and shall publish and implement such schemes after filing them with the ecology and environment authority under the people's government at the next higher level.
Eco-environmental zoning-based regulation schemes shall align with territorial spatial plans.
Article 67 Eco-environmental zoning-based regulation schemes shall implement objectives concerning ecological conservation redlines, environmental quality bottom lines, and upper limits on resource utilization; delineate units subject to priority protection, key regulation, and general regulation; and specify corresponding eco-environmental admittance lists. Production and construction activities conducted in violation of the provisions of eco-environmental admittance lists are prohibited.
Chapter IV Standards and Monitoring
Article 68 The State shall advance the development of the standards system in the field of ecology and environment, strengthen coordination and alignment among standards, and give full play to the supporting role of standards in ecological and environmental protection.
Article 69 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall formulate national ecological and environmental quality standards.
People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may formulate local ecological and environmental quality standards for items not specified in national ecological and environmental quality standards; for items already specified in national ecological and environmental quality standards, they may formulate local ecological and environmental quality standards that are more stringent than national ecological and environmental quality standards. Local ecological and environmental quality standards shall be filed with the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 70 The ecology and environment, development and reform, industry and information technology, natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, transport, water resources, agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and grassland, standardization, and other relevant authorities under the State Council shall, within the scope of their respective responsibilities, formulate standards relating to pollution prevention and control, ecological conservation, green and low-carbon development, and other matters, in accordance with the law.
Article 71 Standards in the field of ecology and environment shall be formulated for the purposes of safeguarding public health and protecting the ecological environment, shall be aligned with economic and social development, and shall be scientific and reasonable.
Article 72 In formulating standards in the field of ecology and environment, experts shall be organized to conduct review and assessment, and opinions from relevant authorities, industry associations, enterprises, public institutions, and the public shall be solicited to improve the scientific nature of the standards.
Article 73 Authorities responsible for formulating standards in the field of ecology and environment shall promptly publish the full text of such standards on their websites for free public access and download.
Article 74 The implementation of standards in the field of ecology and environment shall be evaluated on a regular basis, and such standards shall be revised or repealed where appropriate based on evaluation results.
Article 75 The State encourages and supports research on ecological and environmental benchmarks.
The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall formulate ecological and environmental benchmarks as needed to safeguard public health and protect the ecological environment.
Article 76 The State shall establish and improve the ecological and environmental monitoring system.
The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with relevant authorities, formulate ecological and environmental monitoring specifications, establish an ecological and environmental monitoring network featuring coordinated land-sea coverage, integrated space-air-ground monitoring, vertical coordination, and information sharing, uniformly plan the establishment of national ecological and environmental quality monitoring stations, advance integrated monitoring, coordinated monitoring, and routine monitoring, establish and improve mechanisms for sharing monitoring data, and strengthen the management of ecological and environmental monitoring.
The ecology and environment, natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, transport, water resources, agriculture and rural affairs, meteorology, forestry and grassland, disease prevention and control, and other relevant authorities shall carry out work related to ecological and environmental monitoring within the scope of their respective responsibilities.
Article 77 The establishment of various ecological and environmental monitoring stations shall comply with the requirements of laws, regulations, and relevant monitoring specifications.
Ecological and environmental monitoring shall employ monitoring facilities and equipment that comply with the provisions of laws, administrative regulations, and national standards, and shall comply with relevant monitoring specifications.
It is prohibited to produce, import, sell, or use monitoring facilities and equipment that do not comply with laws, administrative regulations, and national standards.
Article 78 Ecological and environmental monitoring institutions, enterprises, and public institutions subject to pollutant discharge permit administration, and those with statutory monitoring obligations shall establish and improve systems for monitoring data quality management in accordance with the law.
The monitoring institutions, enterprises, and public institutions specified in the preceding paragraph, as well as the persons in charge thereof, shall be responsible for the authenticity, accuracy, and completeness of monitoring data.
Article 79 Ecological and environmental monitoring institutions shall possess appropriate facilities, equipment, technical personnel, technical capabilities, and management capabilities, and shall complete filing procedures with relevant authorities in accordance with the law.
Article 80 It is prohibited to falsify ecological and environmental monitoring data, or instruct others to falsify such data, by interfering with sampling, substituting samples, altering monitoring conditions, conducting false monitoring, tampering with or forging records, or other means.
It is prohibited to interfere with or damage ecological and environmental monitoring facilities or equipment by occupying, destroying, relocating, or altering them without authorization, or by any other means, or to instruct another person to do so.
Article 81 People's governments at or above the provincial level shall organize relevant authorities or entrust professional institutions to conduct investigations and evaluations of ecological and environmental conditions, and establish and improve monitoring and early warning mechanisms for the carrying capacity of the ecological environment.
Chapter V Ecological and Environmental Impact Assessment
Section 1 General Rules
Article 82 For the purposes of this Code, "ecological and environmental impact assessment" refers to the methods and system of analyzing, predicting, and assessing the potential ecological and environmental impacts resulting from the implementation of plans and construction projects, proposing countermeasures and measures to prevent or mitigate adverse ecological and environmental impacts, and conducting follow-up monitoring.
The State shall strengthen ecological and environmental impact assessment of GHG emissions. Specific measures and implementation steps shall be prescribed by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 83 Ecological and environmental impact assessments shall be conducted in accordance with the law in the formulation of plans concerning development and utilization and for the construction of projects that may affect the ecological environment.
Development and utilization plans for which ecological and environmental impact assessments have not been conducted in accordance with the law shall not be organized for implementation; construction projects for which ecological and environmental impact assessments have not been conducted in accordance with the law shall not commence construction.
Article 84 Ecological and environmental impact assessments shall be objective, open, and impartial, shall comprehensively consider the possible impacts of the implementation of plans or construction projects on various ecological and environmental factors and the ecosystems constituted thereby, and shall provide a scientific basis for decision-making.
The State encourages relevant entities, experts, and the public to participate in ecological and environmental impact assessments in accordance with the law.
Article 85 The State shall strengthen the development of foundational databases and assessment indicator systems for ecological and environmental impact assessment, encourage and support scientific research on methods and technical specifications for ecological and environmental impact assessment, establish necessary information-sharing systems for ecological and environmental impact assessment, and improve the scientific nature of ecological and environmental impact assessment.
The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with relevant authorities, organize the establishment and improvement of foundational databases and assessment indicator systems for ecological and environmental impact assessment.
Section 2 Ecological and Environmental Impact Assessment of Plans
Article 86 Relevant authorities under the State Council, local people's governments at or above the districted-city level and their relevant authorities shall, in formulating territorial spatial plans and plans for the construction, development, and utilization of regions, river basins, and sea areas, organize ecological and environmental impact assessments and prepare chapters or explanations on ecological and environmental impacts as part of such plans.
The chapters or explanations on ecological and environmental impacts in plans shall analyze, predict, and assess the possible ecological and environmental impacts resulting from implementation of the plans, propose countermeasures and measures to prevent or mitigate adverse ecological and environmental impacts, and be submitted together with the draft plans to the planning approval authorities as constituent parts thereof.
Approval authorities shall not approve draft plans that do not contain chapters or explanations on ecological and environmental impacts.
Article 87 Relevant authorities under the State Council, local people's governments at or above the districted-city level and their relevant authorities shall, in the process of organizing the formulation of special-purpose plans relating to industry, agriculture, forestry, energy, water conservancy, transport, urban and industrial park development, tourism, and natural resource development, organize ecological and environmental impact assessments and submit ecological and environmental impact reports to the authorities responsible for approving such special-purpose plans.
Guiding plans among the special-purpose plans specified in the preceding paragraph shall undergo ecological and environmental impact assessment in accordance with Article 86 of this Code.
Article 88 The specific scope of plans subject to ecological and environmental impact assessment pursuant to Articles 86 and 87 of this Code shall be prescribed by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council together with relevant authorities and submitted to the State Council for approval.
People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may, in light of local conditions, require ecological and environmental impact assessments for plans formulated by county-level people's governments within their respective jurisdictions. Specific measures shall be formulated by provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government with reference to the provisions of this Section.
Article 89 Ecological and environmental impact reports for special-purpose plans shall include the following:
(1) Analysis, prediction, and assessment of the possible impacts of implementation of such plans on the ecological environment;
(2) Countermeasures and measures to prevent or mitigate adverse ecological and environmental impacts; and
(3) Conclusions of the ecological and environmental impact assessment.
Article 90 Where special-purpose plans may cause adverse ecological and environmental impacts and directly involve public ecological and environmental rights and interests, the authorities responsible for formulating such plans shall, before submitting the draft plans for approval, hold demonstration meetings or hearings, or otherwise solicit opinions from relevant entities, experts, and the public on the draft ecological and environmental impact reports, except where disclosure is prohibited by State provisions.
The formulation authorities shall carefully consider the opinions of relevant entities, experts, and the public on the draft ecological and environmental impact reports, and shall attach explanations on whether such opinions are adopted when submitting the ecological and environmental impact reports.
Article 91 When submitting draft special-purpose plans for approval, the authorities responsible for formulating such plans shall submit the ecological and environmental impact reports together with the draft plans to the approval authorities for review; where ecological and environmental impact reports are not submitted, the approval authorities shall not grant approval.
Article 92 Before approving draft special-purpose plans or making decisions thereon, people's governments at or above the districted-city level shall first have their ecology and environment authorities convene review panels composed of representatives of relevant authorities and experts to review the ecological and environmental impact reports and issue written review opinions.
Experts participating in the review panels specified in the preceding paragraph shall be randomly selected from lists of experts in relevant fields included in the expert pool established in accordance with regulations of the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Measures for the review of ecological and environmental impact reports for special-purpose plans approved by relevant authorities under people's governments at or above the provincial level shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council together with relevant authorities.
Article 93 Where review panels recommend revisions, the authorities responsible for formulating special-purpose plans shall revise and improve the draft plans in accordance with the conclusions of the ecological and environmental impact reports and the review opinions, and shall explain whether and how the conclusions and review opinions have been adopted; where they are not adopted, reasons shall be given.
When approving draft special-purpose plans, people's governments at or above the districted-city level or relevant authorities under people's governments at or above the provincial level shall use the conclusions of ecological and environmental impact reports and review opinions as important bases for decision-making.
Where the conclusions of ecological and environmental impact reports or review opinions are not adopted in the approval process, explanations shall be provided and placed on file for future reference.
Article 94 After implementation of plans with significant ecological and environmental impacts, the formulation authorities shall promptly organize follow-up evaluation of ecological and environmental impacts, report the evaluation results to the approval authorities, and circulate them to the ecology and environment authorities and other relevant authorities; where obvious adverse ecological and environmental impacts are discovered, improvement measures shall be promptly proposed.
Section 3 Ecological and Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Projects
Article 95 The State shall implement classified administration of ecological and environmental impact assessment for construction projects according to the degree of their ecological and environmental impacts.
Project developers shall organize the preparation of ecological and environmental impact reports, ecological and environmental impact report forms, or complete ecological and environmental impact registration forms in accordance with the following provisions:
(1) Where significant ecological and environmental impacts may be caused, an ecological and environmental impact report shall be prepared to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the ecological and environmental impacts generated;
(2) Where less significant ecological and environmental impacts may be caused, an ecological and environmental impact report form shall be prepared to conduct analysis or specialized assessment of the ecological and environmental impacts generated; and
(3) Where ecological and environmental impacts are minimal and it is unnecessary to prepare an ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form, an ecological and environmental impact registration form shall be completed.
The catalog for classified administration of ecological and environmental impact assessment for construction projects shall be formulated and published by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 96 An ecological and environmental impact report for a construction project shall include the following:
(1) An overview of the construction project;
(2) The current state of the ecological environment surrounding the construction project;
(3) Analysis, prediction, and assessment of the possible impacts of the construction project on the ecological environment;
(4) Ecological and environmental protection measures for the construction project and technical and economic demonstration thereof;
(5) Economic cost-benefit analysis of the impacts of the construction project on the ecological environment;
(6) Recommendations concerning ecological and environmental monitoring and emissions management for implementation of the construction project;
(7) Conclusions of the ecological and environmental impact assessment; and
(8) Other contents prescribed by law.
The contents and formats of ecological and environmental impact report forms and ecological and environmental impact registration forms shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 97 Ecological and environmental impact assessment for construction projects shall avoid overlap with ecological and environmental impact assessment for plans.
Where a plan constitutes an integral construction project and ecological and environmental impact assessment is conducted for the construction project, ecological and environmental impact assessment for the plan shall not be conducted.
Where a plan that has already undergone ecological and environmental impact assessment contains specific construction projects, the conclusions of the ecological and environmental impact assessment for the plan shall serve as important bases for ecological and environmental impact assessment of the construction projects, and the contents of ecological and environmental impact assessment for the construction projects shall be simplified in accordance with review opinions on the ecological and environmental impact assessment for the plan.
Article 98 Project developers may entrust technical entities to conduct ecological and environmental impact assessment for their construction projects and prepare ecological and environmental impact reports or ecological and environmental impact report forms for such projects; where project developers possess the technical capability for ecological and environmental impact assessment, they may independently conduct ecological and environmental impact assessment for their construction projects and prepare ecological and environmental impact reports or ecological and environmental impact report forms for such projects.
The preparation of ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects shall comply with relevant State provisions concerning standards and technical specifications for ecological and environmental impact assessment.
Administrative measures for the preparation of ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 99 Technical entities entrusted to prepare ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects shall independently, objectively, and impartially conduct business activities in accordance with the law, establish and improve quality control systems, and ensure that the ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms they issue are objective, authentic, and accurate.
Technical entities and personnel entrusted to prepare ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects shall possess good credit records and shall not have any interest relationship with the ecology and environment authorities or other relevant approval authorities responsible for approving such reports and report forms. Personnel in key positions such as preparation and review shall possess relevant professional technical competence and professional experience.
Technical entities entrusted to prepare ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects shall file with the ecology and environment authorities. Ecology and environment authorities shall strengthen supervision and regulation of technical entities conducting ecological and environmental impact assessment activities. Specific measures shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 100 Project developers shall be responsible for the contents and conclusions of ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects, and technical entities entrusted to prepare such reports and report forms shall bear appropriate responsibility for the ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms they prepare.
Ecology and environment authorities under people's governments at or above the districted-city level shall strengthen supervision, administration, and quality assessment of entities and personnel preparing ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects.
Ecology and environment authorities responsible for approving ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects shall conduct credit-based regulation in accordance with the law regarding relevant unlawful acts committed by preparation entities, lead preparers, and principal preparers.
No entity or individual may designate technical entities for project developers to prepare ecological and environmental impact reports or ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects.
Article 101 Except where disclosure is prohibited by State provisions, for construction projects that may cause significant ecological and environmental impacts and require the preparation of ecological and environmental impact reports, project developers shall, before submitting ecological and environmental impact reports for approval, hold demonstration meetings or hearings, or otherwise explain relevant circumstances to the public likely to be affected and fully solicit opinions from relevant entities, experts, and the public.
Ecological and environmental impact reports submitted by project developers for approval shall be accompanied by explanations on whether opinions from relevant entities, experts, and the public have been adopted.
Article 102 Ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects shall be submitted by project developers to ecology and environment authorities with approval authority in accordance with relevant provisions for approval.
Ecology and environment authorities shall make approval decisions and notify project developers in writing within 60 days from the date of receipt of ecological and environmental impact reports and within 30 days from the date of receipt of ecological and environmental impact report forms, respectively.
The State shall implement record-filing administration for ecological and environmental impact registration forms.
No fees shall be charged for approval or review of ecological and environmental impact reports or ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects, or for record-filing of ecological and environmental impact registration forms.
Article 103 Upon receipt of ecological and environmental impact reports for construction projects, ecology and environment authorities shall disclose the full text thereof, except where disclosure is prohibited by State provisions; if it is discovered that project developers have failed to adequately solicit public opinions, ecology and environment authorities shall order project developers to do so.
Article 104 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall be responsible for approving ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for the following construction projects:
(1) Construction projects of a special nature such as nuclear facilities;
(2) Construction projects spanning the administrative regions of provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government;
(3) Construction projects approved by the State Council or by relevant authorities authorized by the State Council; and
(4) Other construction projects prescribed by laws or administrative regulations.
Approval authority for ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects other than those specified in the preceding paragraph shall be prescribed by people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government and filed with the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Where a construction project may cause adverse ecological and environmental impacts across administrative regions and relevant ecology and environment authorities disagree on the conclusions of the ecological and environmental impact assessment for the project, the ecological and environmental impact report and ecological and environmental impact report form shall be approved by the common higher-level ecology and environment authority.
Article 105 Ecology and environment authorities shall make decisions not to approve ecological and environmental impact reports or ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects falling under any of the following circumstances:
(1) The type, site selection, layout, scale, or other aspects of the construction project do not comply with ecological and environmental laws, regulations, or relevant statutory plans;
(2) Ecological and environmental quality in the relevant region, river basin, or sea area where the construction project is located has failed to meet ecological and environmental quality standards, and the measures proposed for the construction project cannot meet the requirements for ecological and environmental quality improvement;
(3) Pollution prevention and control measures adopted for the construction project cannot ensure that pollutant emissions meet applicable emission standards, or necessary measures to prevent and control ecological damage have not been adopted;
(4) Reconstruction, expansion, or technological transformation projects fail to propose effective prevention and control measures for the original environmental pollution and ecological damage associated with the projects; or
(5) The ecological and environmental impact reports or ecological and environmental impact report forms for the construction project contain serious quality problems such as obviously inaccurate basic data, major defects, omissions, or false contents, or incorrect or unreasonable ecological and environmental impact assessment conclusions.
Article 106 After the ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form for a construction project has been approved, where major changes occur in the nature, scale, location, production processes, or measures for pollution prevention and ecological conservation of the project, the project developer shall resubmit the ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form for approval.
Where construction of a project commences more than five years after the approval of its ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form, the report or report form shall be resubmitted to the original approval authority for re-examination; the original approval authority shall notify the project developer in writing of its review opinion within ten days from the date of receipt of the ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form.
Article 107 Where an ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form for a construction project has not been reviewed by the competent approval authority in accordance with law, has not been approved upon review, or has not been approved upon re-examination by the original approval authority, the project developer shall not commence construction.
Article 108 During the construction and operation of construction projects, project developers shall implement ecological and environmental protection countermeasures and measures proposed in ecological and environmental impact reports, ecological and environmental impact report forms, and approval opinions issued by approval authorities.
Article 109 Where circumstances arising during the construction or operation of a construction project are inconsistent with its approved ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form, the project developer shall conduct a post-assessment of ecological and environmental impacts, adopt improvement measures, and file the post-assessment results and the improvement measures with the original approval authority for the ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form and the construction project approval authority. The original approval authority for the ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form may also require the project developer to conduct a post-assessment of ecological and environmental impacts and adopt improvement measures.
Article 110 Ecology and environment authorities shall conduct follow-up inspections of ecological and environmental impacts arising after construction projects are put into production or use. Where serious environmental pollution or ecological damage is caused, the causes and liabilities shall be ascertained.
Chapter VI Ecological Conservation Compensation
Article 111 The State shall establish and improve the ecological conservation compensation system and provide compensation through mechanisms such as vertical fiscal compensation, interregional horizontal compensation, and market-based compensation, to regions, entities, and individuals that carry out ecological and environmental protection in accordance with regulations or agreements. In accordance with the integrity, systematic nature, and inherent laws of ecosystems, the State shall establish and improve a sustainable ecological conservation compensation mechanism featuring government leadership, participation by enterprises and society, and market-oriented operation, to promote the integrated protection of the ecological environment.
Ecological conservation compensation may take various forms, including monetary compensation, counterpart cooperation, industrial transfer, personnel training, joint development of industrial parks, and purchase of ecological products and services.
Article 112 People's governments at or above the county level shall establish stable mechanisms for investment in ecological conservation compensation funds and, in accordance with the law, broaden funding channels for ecological conservation compensation through multiple means.
Article 113 The State shall provide compensation through fiscal transfer payments and other means, to regions, entities, and individuals that undertake the protection of important ecological and environmental elements, as well as to regions, entities, and individuals that carry out ecological and environmental protection in ecologically important areas such as key ecological function zones, ecological conservation redlines, and protected areas designated in accordance with the law.
The central government shall implement classified compensation through central fiscal funds based on categories including forests, grasslands, wetlands, deserts, oceans, water resources, cultivated land, and other important ecological and environmental elements such as aquatic biological resources and terrestrial wildlife resources prescribed by laws, administrative regulations, and State provisions. Relevant local people's governments may, on the basis of classified compensation by the central government and in accordance with the principles governing the allocation of fiscal powers and expenditure responsibilities between the central and local governments, establish classified compensation systems tailored to local conditions and increase compensation for entities and individuals that undertake the protection of important ecological and environmental elements.
The central government shall arrange transfer payments for key ecological function zones and gradually increase the scale of such transfer payments in light of fiscal capacity. Differentiated compensation shall be implemented in transfer payments for key ecological function zones based on factors such as ecological spillover effects, the importance of ecological functions, and ecological and environmental sensitivity and fragility, and support shall be increased for regions with a relatively high proportion of ecological conservation redlines.
Relevant local people's governments shall ensure the allocation and use of ecological conservation compensation funds and ensure that such funds are used for ecological conservation compensation.
Article 114 The State encourages, guides, and promotes the establishment of ecological conservation compensation mechanisms between the people's governments of beneficiary regions and protection regions through consultation and other means, and supports interregional horizontal ecological conservation compensation. Based on the needs of ecological and environmental protection, people's governments at higher levels may organize and coordinate interregional horizontal ecological conservation compensation among people's governments at lower levels.
Where interregional horizontal ecological conservation compensation is carried out in key regions with especially important ecological functions across provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, autonomous prefectures, or districted cities, the central and provincial governments may provide guidance and fiscal support. Where remarkable results are achieved in interregional horizontal ecological conservation compensation, the development and reform, finance, and other relevant authorities under the State Council may provide relevant support in areas such as planning, funding, and project arrangements.
Article 115 The State shall fully leverage the role of market mechanisms in ecological conservation compensation and promote the market-oriented development of ecological conservation compensation.
The State encourages social forces such as enterprises and public welfare organizations, as well as local people's governments, to carry out ecological conservation compensation through means such as the purchase of ecological products and services in accordance with market rules.
The State encourages and guides private capital to establish market-oriented ecological conservation compensation funds and participate in ecological conservation compensation in an orderly manner in accordance with the law.
Article 116 The State shall improve the monitoring support system for ecological conservation compensation, establish and improve the statistical system for ecological conservation compensation, improve the standards system for ecological conservation compensation, and provide technical support for ecological conservation compensation work.
Chapter VII Response to Ecological and Environmental Emergencies
Article 117 People's governments at all levels and their relevant authorities, enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall, in accordance with the law, carry out work relating to prevention and preparedness, monitoring and early warning, emergency response and handling, investigation and assessment, and post-event recovery for ecological and environmental emergencies.
Article 118 Ecological and environmental emergencies shall be graded into four levels: exceptionally major, major, relatively major, and general, based on factors such as the degree of social harm and scope of impact. Standards for grading ecological and environmental emergencies shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council together with relevant authorities, and shall be published and implemented upon approval by the State Council.
Article 119 The State shall establish and improve a responsibility system for response to ecological and environmental emergencies featuring tiered responsibility, local administration as the primary principle, and interdepartmental coordination, rigorously prevent and control ecological and environmental risks, protect ecologically and environmentally sensitive targets, and respond to various ecological and environmental emergencies in a timely, appropriate, and scientific manner.
Article 120 The ecology and environment, emergency management, and other relevant authorities shall closely cooperate, strengthen information sharing and coordinated linkage, and jointly ensure effective response to ecological and environmental emergencies.
Article 121 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall, in accordance with the law, improve risk prevention and control measures for ecological and environmental emergencies, conduct inspections for potential hazards, and promptly eliminate potential hazards.
Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall, in accordance with State provisions, reserve necessary supplies and equipment for ecological and environmental emergencies, regularly conduct emergency drills, and make emergency preparedness arrangements. Where an ecological and environmental emergency occurs or may occur, enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall immediately adopt response measures, cut off or control pollution sources, prevent expansion of harm, promptly notify parties likely to be harmed, report to the ecology and environment, emergency management, and other relevant authorities, and accept investigation and handling.
Article 122 People's governments at all levels and their relevant authorities, enterprises, and public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall, in the course of emergency response to natural disasters, accident disasters, and public health incidents, adopt necessary measures to avoid or reduce harm to the ecological environment.
Article 123 The State Council shall organize the formulation and implementation of the national contingency plan for ecological and environmental emergencies. Local people's governments at or above the county level shall formulate contingency plans for ecological and environmental emergencies within their respective administrative regions and file them in accordance with relevant provisions.
Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall formulate contingency plans for ecological and environmental emergencies in accordance with State provisions and file them with the ecology and environment authorities and other relevant authorities.
Article 124 People's governments at or above the county level shall establish and improve monitoring and early warning mechanisms for ecological and environmental emergencies and organize the formulation of early warning plans. Where damage to the ecological environment may affect public health or ecological security, warning information shall be promptly released in accordance with the law and emergency measures shall be initiated.
Ecology and environment authorities shall strengthen collection, analysis, and assessment of risk information that may lead to ecological and environmental emergencies. Where assessment indicates that an ecological and environmental emergency may occur, they shall promptly submit recommendations for release of warning information to the people's governments at the corresponding level.
Article 125 Where an ecological and environmental emergency involves or may involve adjacent administrative regions, the people's government at the place where the emergency occurs and its ecology and environment authority shall promptly notify the people's governments and ecology and environment authorities at the corresponding level in the adjacent administrative regions.
People's governments receiving such notification shall, in accordance with State provisions, promptly initiate emergency response and adopt coordinated emergency response measures.
Article 126 After emergency response to an ecological and environmental emergency has been completed, the relevant people's government shall immediately organize assessment of the ecological and environmental impacts and losses caused by the emergency and promptly publish the assessment results.
The assessment results shall serve as important bases for investigation and handling of the ecological and environmental emergency, compensation for damage, ecological restoration, and other related work.
Chapter VIII Safeguard Measures
Article 127 The State shall adopt fiscal, tax, pricing, procurement, financial, industrial, and other policies and measures conducive to protection of the ecological environment.
Article 128 The State Council and local people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the principles governing the allocation of powers and expenditure responsibilities, incorporate funds required for ecological and environmental protection into government budgets at the corresponding level, increase fiscal investment in ecological and environmental protection, optimize allocation of fiscal resources in the field of ecological civilization development, ensure that the scale of investment is commensurate with development tasks, and improve the efficiency of the use of fiscal funds.
Article 129 The State shall, in accordance with the law, grant tax incentives to entities and individuals participating in ecological and environmental protection.
The State encourages and advocates donations of property by all sectors of society for ecological and environmental protection and shall grant tax incentives in accordance with the law.
Article 130 The State shall improve pricing formation mechanisms in fields such as natural resources, sewage and waste treatment, and water and energy use, and shall implement differentiated pricing policies in accordance with the law for industries characterized by high resource consumption and heavy pollution.
Article 131 State authorities and other public institutions using fiscal funds shall give priority to procuring and using products, equipment, facilities, and services conducive to protection of the ecological environment, including those that conserve energy, water, land, materials, and mineral resources.
Article 132 The State shall strengthen financial support for ecological and environmental protection and continuously promote the regulated and sound development of green financial products and services such as green credit, green bonds, green insurance, and green trusts.
Article 133 The State encourages and supports the development of ecological and environmental protection industries, including ecological and environmental protection technologies and equipment, resource conservation and intensive utilization, and ecological and environmental services.
Article 134 The State shall promote the establishment of market trading systems for resource and environmental factors, advance market-based allocation of resource and environmental factors, and give full play to the role of market mechanisms.
Article 135 The State shall promote advanced and applicable technologies, processes, and equipment, reduce resource consumption and the generation and emission of pollutants and GHGs, and promote comprehensive utilization of waste and harmless treatment of pollutants.
Article 136 Where enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators undergo production transformation, relocation, or closure for purposes of protecting the ecological environment in accordance with relevant provisions, the people's governments shall provide support therefor.
Chapter IX Information Disclosure and Public Participation
Article 137 Citizens, legal persons, and other organizations shall, in accordance with the law, have the right to access ecological and environmental information and to participate in and supervise ecological and environmental protection.
Authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection shall disclose ecological and environmental information in accordance with the law, improve procedures for public participation, and facilitate participation in and supervision of ecological and environmental protection by citizens, legal persons, and other organizations.
Article 138 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall uniformly release information on national ecological and environmental quality, monitoring information on key pollution sources, and other major ecological and environmental information. Ecology and environment authorities under people's governments at or above the provincial level shall regularly publish bulletins on the state of the ecological environment.
Authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection shall disclose, in accordance with the law, information concerning ecological and environmental quality, ecological and environmental monitoring, ecological and environmental emergencies, ecological and environmental administrative licensing, administrative penalties, and other matters.
Article 139 Authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection shall strengthen coordination and communication to ensure that disclosed ecological and environmental information is accurate and consistent.
Article 140 The State encourages enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators to voluntarily disclose relevant ecological and environmental information.
Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to key pollutant discharge permit administration and others legally required to disclose ecological and environmental information shall, in accordance with the law, disclose ecological and environmental information such as pollutant discharge information and GHG emissions information in a timely, truthful, accurate, and complete manner.
Article 141 The State encourages and guides citizens, legal persons, and other organizations to participate in ecological and environmental protection in accordance with the principles of legality, orderliness, voluntariness, and convenience.
Article 142 The State encourages and guides citizens, legal persons, and other organizations to use products, technologies, and processes conducive to protection of the ecological environment, reduce the generation of waste, and promote recycling and reuse of waste.
Article 143 In the preparation of plans or formulation of standards in the field of ecology and environment, the conduct of ecological and environmental impact assessment, and other related activities, hearings, public solicitation of comments, and other such means shall be adopted in accordance with law to safeguard the public's right to participate in ecological and environmental protection.
Article 144 The State encourages citizens, legal persons, and other organizations to supervise public affairs relating to ecological and environmental protection.
Article 145 Authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection shall publish efficient and convenient reporting channels such as reporting hotlines and email addresses to facilitate public reporting.
Where citizens, legal persons, or other organizations discover acts by any entity or individual that cause environmental pollution or ecological damage, they shall have the right to report such acts to authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection.
Where citizens, legal persons, or other organizations discover that local people's governments at any level or authorities or agencies responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection fail to perform their duties in accordance with the law, they shall have the right to report such matters to superior authorities or supervisory authorities.
Article 146 Authorities receiving reports shall promptly handle such reports and keep confidential the relevant information of informants; where reports are made under real names, feedback on handling results and other relevant information shall be provided.
Where an informant reports their own employing entity, such entity shall not rescind or modify labor contracts or employment contracts, or otherwise retaliate against the informant.
Article 147 The State encourages social organizations and volunteers to engage in public interest activities relating to ecological and environmental protection in accordance with the law.
Where acts causing environmental pollution or ecological damage harm the public interest, social organizations meeting the following conditions may file civil public interest litigation with the people's courts in accordance with the law:
(1) They are registered with the civil affairs authority under a people's governments at or above the districted-city level in accordance with the law; and
(2) They have specialized in public interest activities relating to ecological and environmental protection continuously for five years or more and have no record of violations of law.
Where social organizations that meet the conditions specified in the preceding paragraph file civil public interest litigation with the people's courts, the people's courts shall accept such litigation in accordance with the law.
Social organizations filing litigation shall not seek economic benefits through litigation.
Book Two Pollution Prevention and Control
Part One General Provisions
Chapter I General Rules
Article 148 This Book shall apply to the prevention and control of environmental pollution.
Article 149 Pollution prevention and control shall be based on the principles of targeted, science-based, and law-based pollution control and uphold overall planning, source prevention and control, classified administration, and social co-governance. Coordinated governance of multiple pollutants and across regions shall be strengthened, and supervision and administration throughout the entire process shall be enhanced, so as to promote synergistic gains in pollution reduction and carbon reduction, continuously improve ecological and environmental quality, and safeguard public health.
Article 150 Entities and individuals discharging pollutants shall adopt effective measures to prevent and control environmental pollution arising from air pollution, water pollution, marine pollution, soil pollution, solid waste pollution, noise pollution, radioactive pollution, as well as pollution caused by chemical substances, electromagnetic radiation, light, and other forms of pollution generated in production, daily life, and other activities.
Article 151 The discharge of pollutants shall comply with pollutant discharge standards, total emission control indicators for key pollutants, pollutant discharge permit administration, and the requirements of relevant laws, regulations, and rules.
Article 152 Enterprises, and public institutions discharging pollutants shall establish responsibility systems for pollution prevention and control and clarify the responsibilities of the persons in charge of the entities and relevant persons.
Article 153 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall formulate national pollutant discharge standards.
People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may formulate local pollutant discharge standards for items not specified in national pollutant discharge standards; for items already specified in national pollutant discharge standards, they may formulate local pollutant discharge standards that are more stringent than national pollutant discharge standards. Local pollutant discharge standards shall be filed with the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 154 Pollutant discharge standards shall be formulated on the basis of ecological and environmental quality standards and economic and technological conditions, and reflect the characteristics of pollutant discharges and acceptable ecological and environmental risks, while scientifically and reasonably determining pollutant discharge control requirements.
Article 155 The State shall implement a system for total emission control of key pollutants.
Total emission control indicators for key pollutants shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council after soliciting opinions from relevant authorities and the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and shall be submitted together with the development and reform authority under the State Council to the State Council for approval and implementation. People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall allocate and implement the total emission control indicators issued by the State Council and control or reduce total emissions of key pollutants within their respective administrative regions.
Specific measures for determining and allocating total emission control indicators shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council together with relevant authorities.
Article 156 People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may, in light of the ecological and environmental quality conditions of their respective administrative regions and the needs of pollution prevention and control, implement total emission control over other key pollutants in addition to those determined by the State.
Article 157 Enterprises, and public institutions shall comply with the total emission control indicators for key pollutants allocated to them.
Article 158 For regions that exceed total emission control indicators for key pollutants or fail to achieve ecological and environmental quality targets, ecology and environment authorities under people's governments at or above the provincial level shall suspend approval of ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects that will increase the total emission volume of key pollutants in such regions.
Article 159 Ecology and environment authorities under people's governments at or above the provincial level shall, together with relevant authorities, conduct regulatory talks with the principal persons in charge of local people's governments at or above the county level and their relevant authorities in regions where environmental pollution problems are prominent, pollution prevention and control is ineffective, and public complaints are intense, and require them to promptly undertake rectification by adopting effective measures. Information on regulatory talks and rectification shall be disclosed to the public.
Article 160 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall organize and carry out statistical investigations of emission sources in accordance with the law, and establish and improve methodological systems for emission source statistical accounting and systems for data quality control. The State shall periodically organize and conduct national censuses of pollution sources.
Article 161 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with relevant authorities, establish and improve systems for pollution damage assessment.
Article 162 Pollution prevention and control facilities in construction projects shall be designed, constructed, and put into operation simultaneously with the principal project.
Pollution prevention and control facilities shall comply with the requirements of approved ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms and shall not be dismantled or left idle without authorization.
Before construction projects are put into production or use, project developers shall, in accordance with State provisions, conduct acceptance inspections of the supporting pollution prevention and control facilities constructed for such projects.
Article 163 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators discharging pollutants shall establish and use pollutant discharge outlets (hereinafter referred to as "discharge outlets") in accordance with laws and regulations and the provisions of the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 164 It is prohibited to discharge pollutants by evading regulatory supervision through means such as concealed pipes, seepage wells, seepage pits, injection, fissures, karst caves, tampering with or fabricating monitoring data, temporary suspension of production for the purpose of evading on-site inspections, opening emergency discharge channels under non-emergency circumstances, or abnormal operation of pollution prevention and control facilities.
It is prohibited to dump, stack, or store solid waste and other pollutants in rivers, lakes, canals, channels, reservoirs, beaches, and bank slopes below their highest water levels, or other locations prescribed by laws and regulations.
Article 165 People's governments at all levels shall make overall plans for the development of urban and rural wastewater treatment facilities and supporting pipeline networks, facilities and sites for the collection, transport, and disposal of solid waste, and other pollution prevention and control facilities, ensure their normal operation, and improve the level of development of urban and rural pollution prevention and control facilities.
Article 166 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall periodically publish guiding catalogs of technologies, processes, and equipment for pollution prevention and control.
Article 167 The State shall gradually promote trading of pollutant discharge allowances for key air pollutants, water pollutants, and other pollutants, establish and improve systems for trading pollutant discharge allowances based on total emission control indicators for key pollutants, and strengthen supervision and administration throughout the entire process of trading pollutant discharge allowances.
Article 168 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators that directly discharge taxable pollutants into the environment shall pay environmental protection tax in accordance with the law.
Article 169 The State encourages the purchase of environmental pollution liability insurance.
Article 170 People's governments at all levels shall arrange funds in fiscal budgets to support the protection of rural drinking water source areas, treatment of domestic sewage and disposal of domestic garbage and other waste, prevention and control of agricultural non-point source pollution, prevention and control of pollution from livestock and poultry breeding and slaughtering, prevention and control of pollution from aquaculture, prevention and control of soil pollution, and remediation of pollution from rural industrial and mining activities.
Article 171 People's governments at all levels, the agriculture and rural affairs authorities, and other relevant authorities and agencies, shall guide agricultural producers and business operators in engaging in scientific planting and breeding, in scientifically, rationally, and safely using pesticides, veterinary drugs, feed and feed additives, fertilizers, and other agricultural inputs, and in scientifically disposing of agricultural waste such as agricultural plastic films, crop straw, and packaging waste of agricultural inputs; strengthen control over pollutants discharged from agricultural production and business activities; and prevent agricultural non-point source pollution.
It is prohibited to apply solid waste or wastewater that fails to comply with agricultural standards and ecological and environmental protection standards to farmland. Effective measures shall be adopted in the application of pesticides, fertilizers, and other agricultural inputs and irrigation activities to prevent heavy metals and other toxic and hazardous substances from polluting the environment.
The site selection, construction, and administration of livestock and poultry farms, designated slaughtering enterprises, and other such entities shall comply with the provisions of laws and regulations. Livestock and poultry farms shall improve precision feeding practices and strengthen comprehensive management of livestock and poultry manure and wastewater. Entities and individuals engaged in livestock and poultry breeding and slaughtering shall adopt effective measures to promptly collect, store, transport, harmlessly treat, and utilize as resources waste such as livestock and poultry manure and carcasses, so as to prevent environmental pollution.
County-level people's governments shall be responsible for organizing the disposal of rural domestic waste.
Article 172 The State shall strengthen systematic governance in regions with prominent agricultural non-point source pollution and improve the effectiveness of prevention and control of agricultural non-point source pollution.
Article 173 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with relevant authorities, determine key regions and key industries for prevention and control of heavy metal pollution and submit them to the State Council for approval. Local people's governments at or above the districted-city level in key regions shall, in accordance with State provisions, organize the formulation and implementation of plans for prevention and control of heavy metal pollution. Enterprises in key industries shall regularly inspect for potential hazards and rectify them, and adopt effective measures to prevent and control heavy metal pollution.
Chapter II Pollutant Discharge Permit Administration
Article 174 The State shall establish and improve a stationary pollution source supervision and administration system centered on the pollutant discharge permit system, and specific measures shall be formulated by the State Council.
Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration shall obtain pollutant discharge permits in accordance with relevant provisions. No pollutants may be discharged without obtaining a pollutant discharge permit.
Article 175 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration shall be subject to classified pollutant discharge permit administration based on factors such as the amount of pollutants generated and discharged and the degree of impact on the ecological environment:
(1) Where the amount of pollutants generated or discharged or the degree of impact on the ecological environment is relatively significant, key pollutant discharge permit administration shall apply; and
(2) Where the amount of pollutants generated and discharged and the degree of impact on the ecological environment are relatively minor, simplified pollutant discharge permit administration shall apply.
The catalog specifying the scope, implementation steps, and administration categories of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration shall be proposed by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council, submitted to the State Council for approval, and released for implementation.
In formulating the catalog specifying the scope, implementation steps, and administration categories of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration, opinions from relevant authorities, industry associations, enterprises, public institutions, and the public shall be solicited.
Article 176 The following enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall obtain pollutant discharge permits:
(1) Enterprises, and public institutions discharging industrial waste gas or toxic and hazardous air pollutants, and entities engaged in production and operation of coal-fired heat sources for centralized heating facilities;
(2) Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators directly or indirectly discharging industrial wastewater or medical wastewater into water bodies;
(3) Entities operating centralized municipal wastewater treatment facilities;
(4) Coastal engineering and marine engineering entities directly discharging industrial wastewater or medical wastewater into the ocean;
(5) Entities generating industrial solid waste;
(6) Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators discharging industrial noise;
(7) Entities engaged in the development and utilization of associated radioactive minerals that discharge radioactive liquid waste or generate radioactive solid waste;
(8) Enterprises, and public institutions operating Category I electromagnetic radiation facilities, and enterprises, and public institutions operating Category II electromagnetic radiation facilities that are subject to pollutant discharge permit administration in accordance with the law; and
(9) Other enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration in accordance with laws and administrative regulations.
Article 177 Ecology and environment authorities under people's governments at or above the districted-city level shall strengthen supervision and administration of pollutant discharge permits.
Article 178 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall apply for pollutant discharge permits to the ecology and environment authorities under local people's governments at or above the districted-city level where their production and business operation premises are located.
Where pollutant discharge permits are required for marine engineering projects, applications shall be submitted to the ecology and environment authority under the State Council or to marine area agencies dispatched by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 179 Pollutant discharge permits shall serve as the principal basis for ecological and environmental supervision and administration of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration.
Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration shall comply with the requirements of pollutant discharge permits, operate and maintain pollution prevention and control facilities in accordance with relevant provisions, establish ecological and environmental management systems, and strictly control pollutant discharges.
Article 180 Pollutant discharge permits shall be issued to enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration that satisfy the following conditions:
(1) They have legally obtained approval documents for ecological and environmental impact reports or ecological and environmental impact report forms, or have completed record-filing procedures for ecological and environmental impact registration forms;
(2) Pollutant discharges comply with requirements such as pollutant discharge standards; discharges of key pollutants comply with the technical specifications for application and issuance of pollutant discharge permits, the approval documents for ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms, and the total emission control indicators for key pollutants; and where the production and business operation premises of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration are located in regions, river basins, or sea areas that have not attained national ecological and environmental quality standards, they shall also comply with special requirements of relevant local people's governments for improving ecological and environmental quality;
(3) Pollution prevention and control facilities adopted can satisfy requirements such as permitted discharge concentrations or comply with feasible pollution prevention and control technologies;
(4) Monitoring points, indicators, frequency, and other aspects of self-monitoring plans comply with national self-monitoring specifications; and
(5) Other conditions prescribed by laws and administrative regulations.
Article 181 A pollutant discharge permit shall contain the following information:
(1) The locations and number of discharge outlets, methods of pollutant discharge, discharge destinations, etc.;
(2) The categories of pollutants discharged, permitted discharge concentrations, permitted discharge volumes, permitted discharge limits, etc.;
(3) Links involving the generation and discharge of pollutants, pollution prevention and control facilities and requirements for their operation and maintenance, requirements for standardized construction of discharge outlets, etc.;
(4) Requirements prohibiting or restricting pollutant discharges during special periods; and
(5) Other information prescribed by laws and administrative regulations.
Article 182 The validity period of a pollutant discharge permit shall be five years. During the validity period of a pollutant discharge permit, enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration that fall under any of the following circumstances shall reapply for a pollutant discharge permit:
(1) Construction, reconstruction, or expansion of pollutant-discharging projects;
(2) Changes in production and business operation premises, the locations of discharge outlets, methods of pollutant discharge, or discharge destinations;
(3) Increases in the number of discharge outlets or in the categories, concentrations, or quantities of pollutants discharged; or
(4) Other circumstances prescribed by laws and administrative regulations.
Article 183 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration shall, in accordance with the requirements of pollutant discharge permits and relevant standards and specifications, lawfully conduct self-monitoring, establish management ledgers, and preserve original monitoring records and management ledgers.
The retention period for original monitoring records and management ledgers shall not be less than five years.
Article 184 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to key pollutant discharge permit administration shall, in accordance with State provisions, install, use, and maintain automatic pollutant discharge monitoring equipment; conduct surveillance and automatic monitoring; connect such equipment to the surveillance equipment of ecology and environment authorities; ensure the normal operation of automatic monitoring equipment; and preserve original monitoring records. Specific measures for monitoring shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Where enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to key pollutant discharge permit administration detect abnormalities in data transmitted by automatic pollutant discharge monitoring equipment, they shall promptly report such abnormalities to ecology and environment authorities and inspect and repair the equipment. Where ecology and environment authorities detect abnormalities in data transmitted by automatic pollutant discharge monitoring equipment of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to key pollutant discharge permit administration, they shall promptly conduct investigations.
Article 185 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration shall, in accordance with relevant provisions, disclose to the public information on pollutant discharges such as the categories, concentrations, and volumes of pollutants discharged, the construction and operation of pollution prevention and control facilities, and self-monitoring data, and shall accept public supervision.
Article 186 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators whose amount of pollutants generated and discharged and degree of impact on the ecological environment are all minimal shall complete pollutant discharge registration forms and shall not be subject to pollutant discharge permit administration. The validity period of pollutant discharge registration forms shall be five years.
The catalog specifying the scope of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators required to complete pollutant discharge registration forms shall be formulated and released by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council. In formulating the catalog specifying the scope of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators required to complete pollutant discharge registration forms, opinions from relevant authorities, industry associations, enterprises, public institutions, and the public shall be solicited.
Part Two Air Pollution Prevention and Control
Chapter III General Rules
Article 187 This Part shall apply to the prevention and control of air pollution.
Article 188 For the purposes of this Code, "air pollution" refers to phenomena whereby the introduction of certain substances into the atmosphere alters its chemical, physical, or other characteristics, thereby endangering public health or damaging the ecological environment, and causes deterioration of air quality.
Article 189 Prevention and control of air pollution shall take improvement of air quality as the objective, transform the mode of economic development, optimize the industrial structure and layout, and adjust the energy and transport structure.
Prevention and control of air pollution shall strengthen comprehensive prevention and control of air pollution arising from coal combustion, industry, motor vehicles and vessels, non-road mobile machinery, fugitive dust, agriculture, and other sources; promote joint regional prevention and control of air pollution; and implement coordinated control of air pollutants such as particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and ammonia, as well as GHGs.
Article 190 Local people's governments at or above the districted-city level shall formulate plans and adopt effective measures to control or gradually reduce emissions of air pollutants, to ensure that air quality attains prescribed standards and progressively improves.
Article 191 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall exercise unified supervision and administration over air pollution prevention and control nationwide. Ecology and environment authorities under local people's governments shall exercise unified supervision and administration over air pollution prevention and control within their respective administrative regions.
Other relevant authorities under people's governments at or above the county level shall exercise supervision and administration over air pollution prevention and control within the scope of their respective responsibilities.
Article 192 People's governments of municipalities directly under the Central Government, districted cities, and counties in regions that fail to attain national air quality standards shall promptly formulate plans for attaining air quality standards within prescribed time limits, adopt effective measures, and attain air quality standards within the time limits prescribed by people's governments at or above the provincial level.
Article 193 Plans for attaining air quality standards within prescribed time limits formulated by people's governments of municipalities directly under the Central Government and districted cities shall be filed with the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 194 Plans for attaining air quality standards within prescribed time limits shall be evaluated and revised in a timely manner in accordance with the requirements for air pollution prevention and control and economic and technological conditions.
Article 195 Quality standards for products such as coal, petroleum coke, biomass fuels, coatings containing VOCs, fireworks and firecrackers, and boilers shall specify requirements for air pollution prevention and control.
Fuel quality standards shall comply with national requirements for control of air pollutants and shall be coordinated with and implemented simultaneously with national air pollutant emission standards for motor vehicles and vessels and non-road mobile machinery.
Article 196 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall organize monitoring of air quality and air pollution sources, and organize the development and management of the national air quality and air pollution source monitoring network.
Ecology and environment authorities under local people's governments at or above the districted-city level shall be responsible for organizing the development and management of monitoring networks for air quality and air pollution sources within their respective administrative regions, and for conducting monitoring of air quality and air pollution sources.
Article 197 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall, in accordance with State provisions, monitor the industrial waste gas and toxic and hazardous air pollutants they discharge and preserve original monitoring records. Specific measures for monitoring shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 198 Ecology and environment authorities shall promptly monitor air pollutants generated by environmental pollution emergencies and disclose monitoring information to the public.
Article 199 The State encourages and supports analysis of the sources of air pollution and trends in changes thereof, and gives full play to the supporting role of science and technology in air pollution prevention and control.
Article 200 Prevention and control of air pollution from marine engineering projects shall not be governed by this Part.
Chapter IV Measures for Prevention and Control of Air Pollution
Section 1 Prevention and Control of Air Pollution from Coal Combustion and Other Energy Sources
Article 201 Relevant authorities under the State Council and local people's governments at all levels shall optimize methods of coal utilization and reduce emissions of air pollutants generated during the production, storage, transport, use, and conversion of coal.
Article 202 The State shall promote coal washing and processing, reduce the sulfur and ash content of coal, and restrict the mining of coal with high sulfur and ash content. Supporting coal washing facilities shall be constructed simultaneously with newly constructed coal mines to ensure that the sulfur and ash content of coal attains prescribed standards; existing coal mines shall construct supporting coal washing facilities within prescribed time limits, except where the coal mined is low in sulfur and ash content or where washing is unnecessary in accordance with the requirements of coal-fired power plants that have attained emission standards.
It is prohibited to mine coal containing radioactive substances, arsenic, and other toxic and hazardous substances in excess of prescribed standards.
Article 203 Where coalbed methane is exploited and utilized, emissions of coalbed methane shall comply with relevant standards and specifications.
Article 204 It is prohibited to import, sell, or use coal that fails to comply with quality standards. The use of high-quality coal is encouraged.
Entities storing materials such as coal, coal gangue, coal slag, and coal ash shall adopt fire prevention measures to prevent air pollution.
Article 205 Local people's governments at all levels shall adopt effective measures to strengthen management of scattered coal, prohibit the sale of coal that fails to comply with quality standards for scattered coal, and encourage and support measures such as substitution with clean and low-carbon energy and centralized heating to prevent and control air pollution caused by the combustion of scattered coal.
Article 206 Petroleum refining enterprises shall produce fuels in accordance with fuel quality standards.
It is prohibited to import, sell, or use petroleum coke that fails to comply with quality standards.
Article 207 Local people's governments at or above the districted-city level may designate and publish areas where the use of highly polluting fuels is prohibited and, in accordance with air quality improvement requirements, progressively expand the scope of such areas. The catalog of highly polluting fuels shall be determined by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Within areas where the use of highly polluting fuels is prohibited, the sale and use of highly polluting fuels are prohibited; the construction or expansion of facilities using highly polluting fuels is prohibited, and existing facilities shall, within the time limit prescribed by local people's governments at or above the districted-city level, switch to natural gas, shale gas, liquefied petroleum gas, electricity, or other clean and low-carbon energy sources.
Article 208 Urban development shall be planned in a holistic manner. In areas using coal-fired heating, cogeneration of heat and power and centralized heating shall be promoted. Within areas covered by centralized heating pipeline networks, the construction or expansion of decentralized coal-fired heating boilers is prohibited; existing coal-fired heating boilers that fail to attain emission standards shall be dismantled within the time limits prescribed by local people's governments at or above the districted-city level.
Article 209 Market regulation authorities under people's governments at or above the county level shall, together with ecology and environment authorities, conduct supervision and inspection regarding compliance with air pollution prevention and control standards or requirements in the production, importation, sale, and use of boilers; boilers that fail to comply with air pollution prevention and control standards or requirements shall not be produced, imported, sold, or used.
Article 210 Coal-fired power plants and other coal-consuming entities shall adopt clean production processes, construct supporting dust removal, desulfurization, denitrification, and other facilities, or adopt technological transformation or other measures to control emissions of air pollutants.
The State encourages coal-consuming entities to adopt advanced technologies and facilities for coordinated control of air pollutants, including dust removal, desulfurization, denitrification, and mercury removal technologies and facilities, so as to reduce emissions of air pollutants.
Section 2 Prevention and Control of Industrial Air Pollution
Article 211 Enterprises in industries such as iron and steel, building materials, non-ferrous metals, petroleum, and the chemical industry that emit dust, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides during production processes shall adopt clean production processes, construct supporting dust removal, desulfurization, denitrification, and other facilities, or adopt technological transformation or other measures to control emissions of air pollutants.
Article 212 The State encourages and supports key industries such as iron and steel, cement, and coking, as well as coal-fired boilers, in adopting technologies such as ultra-low emission technologies to reduce emissions of air pollutants.
Article 213 Relevant authorities under the State Council shall, within the scope of their respective responsibilities, formulate standards for limits on VOC content in raw and auxiliary materials and products containing VOCs, and standards for raw and auxiliary materials and products with low VOC content.
Where raw and auxiliary materials or products containing volatile organic compounds are produced, imported, sold, or used, their VOC content shall meet the applicable quality standards or requirements.
The State encourages the production, importation, sale, and use of raw and auxiliary materials and products that are low-toxic and contain low levels of VOCs. Industrial coating enterprises and other such entities shall use raw and auxiliary materials and products with low VOC content in accordance with relevant provisions.
Article 214 The production and use of raw and auxiliary materials and products containing VOCs shall, in accordance with State provisions, be conducted in enclosed spaces or equipment with pollution prevention and control facilities installed and used, or effective measures shall be adopted to reduce exhaust gas emissions.
Article 215 The State shall establish and improve a labeling system for products with low VOC content. Producers of products with low VOC content shall label such products in accordance with relevant provisions.
Article 216 Enterprises in petroleum, chemical, and other industries that manufacture or use organic solvents shall adopt effective measures to carry out routine maintenance and repair of pipelines and equipment, reduce leaks of material, and promptly collect and treat leaked materials.
Oil depots, gas stations, crude oil and refined oil terminals, vessels transporting crude oil and refined oil, tank trucks, railway tank cars, and other such facilities and means of transport shall install vapor recovery devices in accordance with State provisions and ensure their normal operation.
Article 217 Enterprises in industries such as iron and steel, building materials, non-ferrous metals, petroleum, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and mining, as well as other industrial production enterprises, shall strengthen refined management, adopt measures such as centralized collection and treatment, and strictly control emissions of dust and gaseous pollutants.
Industrial production enterprises shall adopt measures such as enclosure, screening, covering, cleaning, and water spraying to reduce emissions of dust and gaseous pollutants generated during the storage, transfer, and loading and unloading of internal materials.
Article 218 Combustible gases generated by industrial production, waste landfilling, and other activities shall be recovered and utilized; where recovery and utilization are not feasible, the gases shall be treated to prevent and control pollution.
Where combustible gas recovery and utilization facilities cannot operate normally, they shall be promptly repaired or replaced. Where the discharge of combustible gases is truly necessary during periods in which recovery and utilization facilities cannot operate normally, the discharged combustible gases shall be fully combusted or other measures to control emissions of air pollutants shall be adopted, and reports shall be submitted to the local ecology and environment authorities. Repair or replacement shall be completed within prescribed time limits as required.
Section 3 Prevention and Control of Air Pollution from Motor Vehicles, Vessels, and Other Sources
Article 219 The State advocates green travel, reasonably controls the number of fuel-powered motor vehicles in accordance with urban planning, vigorously develops urban public transport, and increases the proportion of travel by public transport.
The State adopts fiscal, tax, government procurement, and other measures to promote the application of energy-saving, environmentally friendly, and new-energy motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery, restrict the development of motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery with high fuel consumption and high emissions, and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels.
People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may, in regions where conditions permit, implement in advance the emission limits for the corresponding stages of national motor vehicle air pollutant emission standards and file them with the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Local people's governments at or above the county level shall strengthen and improve urban traffic management, optimize road layout, and ensure the continuity and smooth passage of sidewalks and non-motor vehicle lanes.
Article 220 Key entities with extensive use of heavy-duty trucks shall, in accordance with State provisions, incorporate emissions management for transport and loading and unloading activities into their pollution prevention and control responsibility systems, and strengthen prevention and control of air pollution from heavy-duty trucks.
Article 221 Motor vehicles, vessels, non-road mobile machinery, and their engines shall not emit air pollutants in excess of applicable standards.
It is prohibited to produce, import, or sell motor vehicles, vessels, non-road mobile machinery, or their engines that fail to comply with air pollutant emission standards.
Article 222 Enterprises that produce motor vehicles, non-road mobile machinery, and their engines shall conduct emission inspections of newly manufactured motor vehicles, non-road mobile machinery, and their engines. Only those passing inspection may be released for sale. Inspection information shall be disclosed to the public and filed with ecology and environment authorities.
Ecology and environment authorities under people's governments at or above the provincial level may strengthen supervision and inspection of the air pollutant emission conditions and operation of emission control systems of newly manufactured, imported, and sold motor vehicles, non-road mobile machinery, and their engines through on-site inspections, sampling inspections, and other means. The industry and information technology, transport, market regulation, customs, and other relevant authorities shall cooperate accordingly.
Article 223 In-use motor vehicles shall undergo regular emission inspections conducted by motor vehicle emission inspection institutions in accordance with relevant provisions. Only those passing inspection may be driven on roads. Traffic management authorities under public security authorities shall not issue certificates of passing safety and technical inspection to motor vehicles that fail to pass emission inspections.
Ecology and environment authorities may conduct supervisory sampling inspections of the air pollutant emission conditions and operation of emission control systems of in-use motor vehicles at locations where motor vehicles are centrally parked, repaired, or used for heavy-duty truck operations; under conditions that do not affect normal traffic flow, they may conduct supervisory sampling inspections of the air pollutant emission conditions and operation of emission control systems of motor vehicles traveling on roads through technical means such as non-contact road monitoring. Traffic management authorities under public security authorities shall cooperate accordingly.
For the purposes of this Code, "emission control systems" refer to systems installed on motor vehicles, vessels, non-road mobile machinery, and other such equipment, including pollution control systems, emission diagnostic systems, and remote emissions management terminals.
Article 224 Ecology and environment authorities shall, together with the transport, housing and urban-rural development, agriculture and rural affairs, water resources, and other relevant authorities, conduct supervision and inspection of the air pollutant emission conditions and operation of emission control systems of in-use non-road mobile machinery; and those failing to meet emission requirements shall not be used.
Maritime safety authorities and fisheries and fishery administration authorities shall, within the scope of their respective responsibilities, conduct supervision and inspection of the air pollutant emission conditions and operation of emission control systems of vessels; and those failing to meet emission requirements shall not be used.
Article 225 Motor vehicle and non-road mobile machinery emission inspection institutions shall obtain metrological certification in accordance with the law, use motor vehicle and non-road mobile machinery emission inspection equipment that has passed statutory verification, conduct emission inspections of motor vehicles and non-road mobile machinery in accordance with specifications formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council, and connect with ecology and environment authorities to realize real-time sharing of inspection data. Motor vehicle and non-road mobile machinery emission inspection institutions and the persons in charge thereof shall be responsible for the authenticity, accuracy, and completeness of inspection data.
Ecology and environment authorities and authorities responsible for certification and accreditation supervision and administration shall, within the scope of their respective responsibilities, conduct supervision and inspection of emission inspection activities conducted by motor vehicle and non-road mobile machinery emission inspection institutions.
Article 226 Producers and importers of motor vehicles and non-road mobile machinery shall disclose to the public information concerning emission inspections, pollution control technologies, and relevant maintenance technologies for the motor vehicle models and non-road mobile machinery models they produce or import.
Motor vehicle and non-road mobile machinery maintenance entities shall, in accordance with requirements for air pollution prevention and control and relevant technical specifications of the State, repair in-use motor vehicles and non-road mobile machinery to ensure their compliance with emission standards. The transport, ecology and environment, and other relevant authorities shall strengthen supervision and administration in accordance with the law within the scope of their respective responsibilities.
Owners of motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery shall not pass emission inspections for motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery through fraudulent means such as temporary replacement, tampering with, disabling, or falsifying emission control systems. Maintenance entities for motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery shall not provide such maintenance services. It is prohibited to damage, remove, tamper with, disable, or falsify emission control systems of motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery.
Article 227 The State shall establish and improve the environmental protection recall system for motor vehicles and non-road mobile machinery.
Where producers or importers become aware that motor vehicles or non-road mobile machinery fail to comply with air pollutant emission standards or result in unreasonable emissions of air pollutants due to design or manufacturing defects, they shall conduct recalls. If they fail to do so, the market regulatory authority under the State Council shall, together with the ecology and environment authority under the State Council, order recalls.
Article 228 Where in-use heavy-duty trucks, vessels, non-road mobile machinery, and other such equipment have not been equipped with emission control systems in accordance with relevant provisions, or where installed emission control systems fail to comply with applicable requirements, and emissions fail to meet standards, emission control systems meeting applicable requirements shall be additionally installed or replaced, or other effective measures shall be adopted.
Article 229 Where in-use motor vehicles, non-road mobile machinery, and other such equipment emit air pollutants in excess of applicable standards, they shall be repaired; where emissions still fail to comply with national emission standards after repair or adoption of pollution control technologies, mandatory scrapping shall be carried out. Owners thereof shall deliver motor vehicles, non-road mobile machinery, and other such equipment to scrapped vehicle recycling and dismantling enterprises, which shall carry out registration, dismantling, destruction, and other treatment in accordance with State provisions.
The State encourages and supports the early retirement of high-emission motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery.
Article 230 Local people's governments at or above the county level may, in light of air quality conditions, designate and publish areas prohibiting the use of high-emission non-road mobile machinery.
Article 231 Vessel inspection institutions shall conduct emission inspections of vessel engines and related equipment. Only vessels that pass inspections and comply with national emission standards may operate.
Article 232 Non-road mobile machinery inspection institutions shall conduct emission inspections of in-use non-road mobile machinery. Only machinery that passes inspections and complies with national emission standards may operate.
Article 233 It is prohibited to produce, import, or sell devices used to tamper with, interfere with, or falsify emission inspection data of motor vehicles, vessels, non-road mobile machinery, and their engines, or inspection equipment used to facilitate false emission inspections.
Article 234 Inland waterway vessels and river-sea direct vessels shall use fuel complying with applicable standards. Ocean-going vessels shall, after berthing at ports, use fuel complying with requirements for air pollutant control.
Article 235 Shore power facilities shall be planned, designed, and constructed with newly constructed terminals in accordance with relevant provisions; existing terminals shall progressively retrofit shore power facilities in accordance with relevant provisions. Vessels meeting conditions for shore power use shall use shore power in accordance with State provisions when berthing at ports, except where clean and low-carbon energy is used. Port operators and shore power suppliers possessing shore power supply capacity shall provide shore power in accordance with State provisions to vessels meeting conditions for shore power use.
Article 236 It is prohibited to produce, import, or sell fuels and nitrogen oxide reducing agents for motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery that fail to comply with applicable standards. It is prohibited to sell fuels not intended for use in motor vehicles and vessels for use in motor vehicles, non-road mobile machinery, inland waterway vessels, and river-sea direct vessels. Motor vehicles, non-road mobile machinery, inland waterway vessels, and river-sea direct vessels shall not use fuels not intended for use in motor vehicles and vessels.
Article 237 The content of toxic and hazardous substances in engine oils, nitrogen oxide reducing agents, fuels, lubricant additives, and other additives, as well as other air pollution prevention and control indicators, shall comply with relevant standards, shall not impair the effectiveness or durability of emission control systems of motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery, and shall not increase emissions of new air pollutants.
Article 238 The State actively advances prevention and control of air pollution from civil aircraft and encourages the adoption of effective measures during the design, production, and use processes to reduce emissions of air pollutants.
Civil aircraft shall comply with relevant engine emission requirements under airworthiness standards prescribed by the civil aviation authority under the State Council.
Air pollutant emissions from in-use railway diesel locomotives shall comply with national emission standards.
Section 4 Prevention and Control of Dust Pollution
Article 239 Local people's governments at all levels shall strengthen management of construction activities and transport, maintain road cleanliness, control the stockpiling of materials and excavated earth, expand the areas of green spaces, water surfaces, wetlands, and paved ground surfaces, and prevent and control dust pollution.
The housing and urban-rural development, city appearance and environmental sanitation, transport, natural resources, and other relevant authorities shall, in accordance with the responsibilities determined by the people's governments at the corresponding levels, carry out work relating to prevention and control of dust pollution.
Article 240 Project developers shall include expenses for prevention and control of dust pollution in project costs and specify the responsibilities of construction contractors for prevention and control of dust pollution in construction contracts. Construction contractors shall formulate specific implementation plans for prevention and control of dust pollution from construction activities.
Construction contractors engaged in housing construction, municipal infrastructure construction, river regulation, building demolition, and other such activities shall file with authorities responsible for supervision and administration of dust pollution prevention and control.
Construction contractors shall install rigid enclosures at construction sites and adopt effective dust prevention and suppression measures such as covering, segmented operations, time-scheduled construction, water spraying for dust suppression, and washing of ground surfaces and vehicles. Construction and demolition waste such as excavated earth and construction soil shall be promptly removed and transported away; and they shall be covered with enclosed dust-proof netting if stockpiled on-site. Construction and demolition waste such as excavated earth shall undergo resource utilization treatment.
Construction contractors shall publicly display at construction sites such information as dust pollution prevention and control measures, responsible persons, and regulatory authorities.
Where construction land cannot temporarily commence construction, project developers shall cover exposed ground surfaces; where construction does not commence for more than three months, greening, paving, or covering measures shall be adopted.
Article 241 Vehicles and vessels transporting bulk or fluid materials such as coal, garbage, excavated earth, sand and gravel, soil, and mortar shall adopt enclosed transport or other effective measures to prevent spillage of materials from causing dust pollution, and shall travel along prescribed routes.
Loading and unloading of materials shall adopt enclosed operations, spraying, or other measures to prevent and control dust pollution.
Local people's governments at or above the county level shall strengthen cleaning and sanitation management of roads, squares, parking lots, and other public places, promote mechanized cleaning powered by clean energy and other scientifically sound low-dust operational methods, and prevent and control dust pollution.
Article 242 Relevant authorities shall, in accordance with planning requirements, organize the implementation of greening or permeable paving for exposed ground surfaces along municipal rivers and riverbanks, on public land, and on other exposed urban ground surfaces.
Article 243 Materials prone to generating dust pollution, such as coal, coal gangue, coal slag, coal ash, cement, lime, gypsum, sand, and iron ore, shall be stored in enclosed conditions; where enclosure is not feasible, tightly sealed barriers no lower than the height of the stockpiled materials shall be installed, and effective covering measures shall be adopted to prevent and control dust pollution.
Terminals, mines, landfills, and spoil disposal sites shall implement zoned operations and adopt effective measures to prevent and control dust pollution.
Section 5 Prevention and Control of Air Pollution from Agricultural and Other Sources
Article 244 It is prohibited to spray highly toxic or severely toxic pesticides on trees, flowers, and plants in densely populated areas.
Article 245 People's governments at all levels and relevant authorities thereof including the agriculture and rural affairs authorities shall encourage and support the adoption of advanced and applicable technologies for comprehensive utilization of straw, fallen leaves, and other such materials as fertilizers, feed, energy resources, industrial raw materials, and edible mushroom substrates, and shall increase fiscal subsidies for agricultural machinery used for straw incorporation into fields, integrated collection, and other such activities.
County-level people's governments shall organize the establishment and improvement of service systems for the collection, storage, transport, disposal, and comprehensive utilization of straw, and shall adopt fiscal subsidies and other measures to support rural collective economic organizations, specialized farmers' cooperatives, enterprises, and other such entities in carrying out services for the collection, storage, transport, disposal, and comprehensive utilization of straw.
Article 246 Local people's governments at all levels shall scientifically and precisely strengthen the organization, guidance, and management of the burning of straw, fallen leaves, and other such materials. It is prohibited to openly burn straw, fallen leaves, and other substances generating smoke and dust pollution in densely populated areas, around airports, near major transport routes, and in other areas and during periods designated by people's governments at or above the provincial level.
Article 247 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with the health authority under the State Council, formulate and publish a catalog of toxic and hazardous air pollutants and update it in a timely manner according to the degree of harm and impact of air pollutants on public health and the ecological environment, and implement risk management.
Enterprises, and public institutions discharging toxic and hazardous air pollutants listed in the catalog specified in the preceding paragraph shall, in accordance with State provisions, establish environmental risk early warning systems, conduct regular monitoring of discharge outlets and the surrounding environment, assess environmental risks, inspect for hidden environmental safety risks, and adopt effective measures to prevent environmental risks.
Article 248 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators discharging persistent organic pollutants into the atmosphere, as well as operators of waste incineration facilities, shall, in accordance with State provisions, adopt technologies, methods, and processes conducive to reducing emissions of persistent organic pollutants, equip themselves with effective purification facilities, and ensure emissions comply with applicable standards.
Article 249 People's governments at all levels and their relevant authorities shall, in formulating territorial spatial plans and related plans, conduct coordinated planning and rationally arrange land use and construction layout to prevent and reduce odor pollution.
Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators generating odorous gases during production and business activities shall scientifically select sites, establish reasonable protective distances, and install purification facilities or adopt other effective measures to prevent the discharge of odorous gases.
Article 250 Local people's governments at all levels shall strengthen guidance regarding the layout and siting of catering service establishments and provide notice of prohibited site selection requirements during the registration of business entities.
Business operators in the catering service industry discharging cooking fume pollutants shall install pollution prevention and control facilities such as cooking fume purification facilities and maintain their normal operation in accordance with relevant provisions. It is prohibited to newly construct, reconstruct, or expand catering service projects generating cooking fumes, odors, or exhaust gases in residential buildings, mixed residential-commercial buildings without dedicated flues, or commercial floors adjacent to residential floors within mixed residential-commercial buildings.
Business operators in the catering service industry discharging cooking fume pollutants shall adopt effective measures to ensure pollutant emissions comply with applicable standards and prevent pollution to the normal living environment of nearby residents.
No entity or individual may openly barbecue food or provide sites for open-air barbecuing of food during periods or within areas prohibited by local people's governments.
Article 251 It is prohibited to burn asphalt, felt, rubber, plastics, leather, garbage, and other substances generating toxic and harmful smoke, dust, and odorous gases in densely populated areas and other areas requiring special protection in accordance with the law.
It is prohibited to produce, sell, or set off fireworks and firecrackers that fail to comply with quality standards. No entity or individual may set off fireworks and firecrackers during periods or within areas prohibited by local people's governments at or above the county level.
Article 252 The State encourages and advocates civilized and green sacrificial activities.
Crematoria shall install pollution prevention and control facilities such as dust removal facilities and maintain their normal operation, to prevent adverse impacts on the surrounding environment.
Article 253 Business operators engaged in service activities such as garment dry cleaning and motor vehicle repair shall, in accordance with relevant State standards or requirements, install pollution prevention and control facilities such as odor and exhaust gas treatment facilities and maintain their normal operation, to prevent adverse impacts on the surrounding environment.
Article 254 The State encourages and supports the production and use of substitutes for ozone-depleting substances, and shall progressively reduce and ultimately cease the production and use of ozone-depleting substances.
The State shall implement total quantity control and quota management for the production, use, import, and export of ozone-depleting substances. Specific measures shall be formulated by the State Council.
Chapter V Joint Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in Key Regions
Article 255 The State shall establish and improve mechanisms for joint prevention and control of air pollution in key regions, and coordinate air pollution prevention and control work within such regions as a whole. The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, based on the zoning of main functional areas, regional air quality conditions, and the transmission and diffusion patterns of air pollution, designate national key regions for air pollution prevention and control and submit them to the State Council for approval.
People's governments of relevant provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government within national key regions for air pollution prevention and control shall designate leading local people's governments, convene joint meetings on a regular basis, carry out joint prevention and control of air pollution in accordance with the requirements of unified planning, unified standards, unified monitoring, and unified prevention and control measures, and implement responsibilities for air pollution prevention and control targets. The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall strengthen guidance and supervision.
Provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may, with reference to the first paragraph of this Article, designate key regions for air pollution prevention and control within their respective administrative regions.
Article 256 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with relevant authorities and the people's governments of relevant provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government within national key regions for air pollution prevention and control, formulate action plans for joint prevention and control of air pollution in key regions based on the economic and social development and environmental carrying capacity of such regions, specify control targets, optimize regional economic layout, coordinate transport management, develop clean and low-carbon energy, propose key prevention and control tasks and measures, and promote improvement of air quality in key regions.
Article 257 The development and reform authority under the State Council shall, together with the ecology and environment authority under the State Council, further tighten requirements relating to pollution prevention and control and energy consumption in light of the actual industrial development and air quality conditions of national key regions for air pollution prevention and control.
People's governments of relevant provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government within national key regions for air pollution prevention and control shall implement stricter motor vehicle air pollutant emission standards, unify inspection methods and emission limits for in-use motor vehicles, and ensure the coordinated supply of compliant vehicle fuels.
Article 258 Where plans for industrial parks, development zones, regional industrial development, or other matters that may cause serious air pollution in national key regions for air pollution prevention and control are prepared, the planning authorities shall consult with the people's governments of the relevant provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government within the key region, or with the relevant authorities thereof.
Where the relevant provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government within national key regions for air pollution prevention and control construct projects that may have significant impacts on the air quality of neighboring provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, relevant information shall be promptly communicated and consultations shall be conducted.
Consultation opinions and the status of their adoption shall serve as important bases for the review or approval of ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms.
Article 259 Newly constructed, reconstructed, and expanded coal-consuming projects within national key regions for air pollution prevention and control shall implement equivalent or reduced coal substitution.
Article 260 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall organize the establishment and improvement of mechanisms for sharing information relating to air quality monitoring and air pollution source monitoring within national key regions for air pollution prevention and control, utilize monitoring, simulation, satellite technologies, aerial surveys, remote sensing, and other new technologies to analyze sources of air pollution and trends in changes thereof within key regions, and disclose such information to the public.
Chapter VI Response to Heavy Pollution Weather
Article 261 The State shall establish and improve systems for monitoring and early warning of heavy pollution weather.
The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with the meteorology and other relevant authorities under the State Council and the people's governments of the relevant provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government within national key regions for air pollution prevention and control, establish and improve mechanisms for monitoring and early warning of heavy pollution weather in key regions and align standards for early warning classifications.
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Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No. 70
March 12, 2026
The Ecological and Environmental Code of the People's Republic of China, adopted at the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on March 12, 2026, is hereby issued and shall come into force on August 15, 2026.
Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China
Ecological and Environmental Code of the People's Republic of China
(Adopted at the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress on March 12, 2026)
Contents
Book One General Part
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Supervision and Administration
Section 1 Supervision and Administration Systems and Working Mechanisms
Section 2 Supervision and Administration Systems
Chapter III Planning and Eco-environmental Zoning-based Regulation
Chapter IV Standards and Monitoring
Chapter V Ecological and Environmental Impact Assessment
Section 1 General Rules
Section 2 Ecological and Environmental Impact Assessment of Plans
Section 3 Ecological and Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Projects
Chapter VI Ecological Conservation Compensation
Chapter VII Response to Ecological and Environmental Emergencies
Chapter VIII Safeguard Measures
Chapter IX Information Disclosure and Public Participation
Book Two Pollution Prevention and Control
Part One General Provisions
Chapter I General Rules
Chapter II Pollutant Discharge Permit Administration
Part Two Air Pollution Prevention and Control
Chapter III General Rules
Chapter IV Measures for Prevention and Control of Air Pollution
Section 1 Prevention and Control of Air Pollution from Coal Combustion and Other Energy Sources
Section 2 Prevention and Control of Industrial Air Pollution
Section 3 Prevention and Control of Air Pollution from Motor Vehicles, Vessels, and Other Sources
Section 4 Prevention and Control of Dust Pollution
Section 5 Prevention and Control of Air Pollution from Agricultural and Other Sources
Chapter V Joint Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in Key Regions
Chapter VI Response to Heavy Pollution Weather
Part Three Water Pollution Prevention and Control
Chapter VII General Rules
Chapter VIII Measures for Prevention and Control of Water Pollution
Section 1 Prevention and Control of Industrial Water Pollution
Section 2 Prevention and Control of Urban Water Pollution
Section 3 Prevention and Control of Agricultural and Rural Water Pollution
Section 4 Prevention and Control of Water Pollution from Vessels
Chapter IX Protection of Drinking Water Sources and Other Special Water Bodies
Chapter X Prevention and Control of Water Pollution in Major River Basins
Part Four Marine Pollution Prevention and Control
Chapter XI General Rules
Chapter XII Prevention and Control of Marine Pollution by Land-based Pollutants
Chapter XIII Prevention and Control of Marine Pollution from Engineering Projects
Chapter XIV Prevention and Control of Marine Pollution from Dumping of Wastes
Chapter XV Prevention and Control of Marine Pollution by Vessels
Part Five Soil Pollution Prevention and Control
Chapter XVI General Rules
Chapter XVII Soil Pollution Prevention
Chapter XVIII Soil Pollution Risk Management and Remediation
Section 1 General Requirements
Section 2 Soil Pollution Risk Management and Remediation of Agricultural Land
Section 3 Soil Pollution Risk Management and Remediation of Construction Land
Part Six Prevention and Control of Solid Waste Pollution
Chapter XIX General Rules
Chapter XX Prevention and Control of Industrial Solid Waste Pollution
Chapter XXI Prevention and Control of Municipal Solid Waste Pollution
Chapter XXII Prevention and Control of Pollution from Construction and Demolition Waste, Agricultural Solid Waste, and Other Solid Waste
Chapter XXIII Prevention and Control of Hazardous Waste Pollution
Part Seven Prevention and Control of Noise Pollution
Chapter XXIV General Rules
Chapter XXV Prevention and Control of Industrial Noise Pollution
Chapter XXVI Prevention and Control of Construction Noise Pollution
Chapter XXVII Prevention and Control of Transportation Noise Pollution
Chapter XXVIII Prevention and Control of Community Noise Pollution
Part Eight Prevention and Control of Radioactive Pollution
Chapter XXIX General Rules
Chapter XXX Prevention and Control of Radioactive Pollution from Nuclear Facilities
Chapter XXXI Prevention and Control of Radioactive Pollution from Utilization of Nuclear Technology
Chapter XXXII Prevention and Control of Radioactive Pollution from the Development and Utilization of Uranium and Thorium Ores and Associated Radioactive Minerals
Chapter XXXIII Prevention and Control of Pollution from Radioactive Waste
Part Nine Risk Management of Chemical Substance Pollution and Prevention and Control of Electromagnetic Radiation and Light Pollution
Chapter XXXIV Risk Management of Chemical Substance Pollution
Chapter XXXV Prevention and Control of Electromagnetic Radiation Pollution
Chapter XXXVI Prevention and Control of Light Pollution
Book Three Ecological Conservation
Chapter I General Rules
Chapter II Ecosystem Conservation
Section 1 Forests
Section 2 Grasslands
Section 3 Wetlands
Section 4 Oceans and Islands
Section 5 Rivers and Lakes
Section 6 Deserts
Chapter III Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Natural Resources
Section 1 Land Resources
Section 2 Mineral Resources
Section 3 Water Resources
Section 4 Fishery Resources
Section 5 Other Natural Resources
Chapter IV Species Conservation
Section 1 Wildlife Conservation
Section 2 Wild Plant Conservation
Section 3 Prevention and Control of Invasive Alien Species
Chapter V Protection of Important Geographic Units
Section 1 Protected Areas
Section 2 Important River Basins and Regions, Including the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
Chapter VI Prevention and Control of Ecological Degradation
Section 1 Soil and Water Conservation
Section 2 Desertification Prevention and Control
Chapter VII Ecological Restoration
Book Four Green and Low-Carbon Development
Chapter I General Rules
Chapter II Development of the Circular Economy
Section 1 General Rules
Section 2 Cleaner Production
Section 3 Waste Recycling and Recovery
Section 4 Green Consumption
Chapter III Energy Conservation and Green and Low-Carbon Transition
Section 1 General Rules
Section 2 Energy Conservation
Section 3 Green and Low-Carbon Energy Transition
Chapter IV Climate Change Response
Section 1 General Rules
Section 2 Climate Change Mitigation and Carbon Dioxide Peaking and Carbon Neutrality
Section 3 Climate Change Adaptation
Section 4 International Cooperation
Book Five Legal Liability and Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions on Legal Liability
Section 1 General Rules
Section 2 Liable Parties
Section 3 Pursuit of Liability
Chapter II Specific Provisions on Legal Liability
Section 1 Violations of Provisions on Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Administration
Section 2 Violations of Provisions on Ecological and Environmental Impact Assessment Administration
Section 3 Violations of Provisions on Pollutant Discharge Permit Administration
Section 4 Violations of Provisions on Air Pollution Prevention and Control
Section 5 Violations of Provisions on Water Pollution Prevention and Control
Section 6 Violations of Provisions on Marine Pollution Prevention and Control
Section 7 Violations of Provisions on Soil Pollution Prevention and Control
Section 8 Violations of Provisions on Prevention and Control of Solid Waste Pollution
Section 9 Violations of Provisions on Noise Pollution Prevention and Control
Section 10 Violations of Provisions on Prevention and Control of Radioactive Pollution
Section 11 Violations of Provisions on Risk Management of Chemical Substance Pollution, and Prevention and Control of Electromagnetic Radiation and Light Pollution
Section 12 Violations of Provisions on Ecological Conservation Management
Section 13 Violations of Provisions on Green and Low-Carbon Development Management
Section 14 Other Violations
Chapter III Supplementary Provisions
Book One General Part
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Code is enacted in accordance with the Constitution to protect the ecological environment, prevent and control pollution and other public nuisances, safeguard public health and ecological and environmental rights and interests, maintain ecological security, promote green and low-carbon development, build ecological civilization, comprehensively promote the building of a Beautiful China, accelerate the modernization featuring harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, and achieve the sustainable development of the Chinese nation.
Article 2 For the purposes of this Code, "ecological environment" refers to the aggregate of naturally formed and artificially modified natural spaces, natural elements, and their interconnections and interactions that affect human survival and development as well as ecosystem functions, including the atmosphere, water, oceans, land, mineral resources, forests, mountains, grasslands, wetlands, glaciers, plateaus, deserts, wildlife, natural relics, cultural relics, protected areas, cities, and rural areas.
Article 3 This Code shall apply to activities related to ecological and environmental protection, including pollution prevention and control, ecological conservation, and green and low-carbon development, conducted within the territory of the People's Republic of China and other sea areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China.
Where any activity conducted outside the territory of the People's Republic of China and other sea areas under its jurisdiction causes or may cause environmental pollution or ecological damage within the territory of the People's Republic of China or other sea areas under its jurisdiction, the relevant provisions of this Code shall apply.
Article 4 Ecological and environmental protection shall uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China, implement Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, establish the concept of respecting, conforming to, and protecting nature, uphold the principle that a sound ecological environment constitutes the most inclusive public welfare, improve and implement institutional mechanisms for the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and protect the ecological environment under the strictest systems and the strictest rule of law.
Article 5 Conserving resources and protecting the ecological environment are basic state policies of China.
The State shall adopt economic, technological, and other policy measures conducive to protecting the ecological environment and promoting harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, coordinate industrial structure adjustment, pollution prevention and control, ecological conservation, and response to climate change, advance in a coordinated manner carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and economic growth, and advance ecological priority, resource conservation and intensive utilization, and green and low-carbon development.
Article 6 Ecological and environmental protection shall adhere to the principles of prevention first, systematic governance, ecological priority, green development, public participation, and pursuit of liability for damage.
Article 7 All entities and individuals shall have the obligation to protect the ecological environment.
Article 8 People's governments at all levels shall strengthen ecological and environmental protection, properly handle the relationship between high-quality development and high-level protection, and, in light of ecological and environmental protection objectives and remediation tasks, adopt effective measures to improve the quality of the ecological environment.
Local people's governments at all levels shall be responsible for ecological and environmental protection and the quality of the ecological environment within their respective administrative regions and the sea areas under their administration.
Article 9 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall adopt effective measures to prevent and reduce environmental pollution and ecological damage, conserve resources and ensure their intensive utilization, control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, fulfill obligations for green and low-carbon development, and bear liability in accordance with the law for the damage caused.
Article 10 Citizens shall enhance their awareness of ecological and environmental protection, adopt simple, moderate, green, and low-carbon lifestyles, consciously fulfill their obligations for ecological and environmental protection, comply with ecological and environmental laws and regulations, and cooperate in the implementation of ecological and environmental protection measures.
Article 11 The State supports research, development, and application of ecological and environmental science and technology, strengthens scientific and technological support and talent development for ecological and environmental protection, and promotes the application of information technology, digital technology, artificial intelligence, and other technologiesprovided that safety is ensured, so as to improve the scientific and technological level of ecological and environmental protection.
Article 12 People's governments at all levels and their relevant authorities shall strengthen publicity and awareness-raising activities on ecological and environmental protection, carry out publicity and education on the rule of law in ecological and environmental protection, promote ecological culture, and enhance public awareness of ecological and environmental protection and legal literacy.
Education administrative departments and schools shall incorporate ecological and environmental laws and regulations as well as knowledge of ecological and environmental protection into school curricula, and cultivate students' awareness of ecological and environmental protection and their legal literacy.
News media shall disseminate ecological and environmental laws and regulations and knowledge of ecological and environmental protection, and exercise media supervision over ecological and environmental violations.
The State encourages grassroots mass self-governing organizations, social organizations, volunteers in ecological and environmental protection, and others to carry out publicity on ecological and environmental laws and regulations and knowledge of ecological and environmental protection, and foster a sound social ethos of protecting the ecological environment and building ecological civilization.
Article 13 Entities and individuals that have made remarkable achievements in ecological and environmental protection shall be commended and rewarded in accordance with State provisions.
Article 14 The State shall strengthen international cooperation in the field of ecological and environmental protection, perform obligations under international treaties concluded or acceded to by the People's Republic of China, support international exchanges and cooperation in ecological and environmental protection, actively participate in the research and formulation of international rules on ecological and environmental protection, actively articulate the philosophy, propositions, and successful practices of ecological and environmental rule of law with Chinese characteristics, and promote the building of a fair and equitable global environmental governance system featuring cooperation and mutual benefit.
Article 15 August 15 each year is designated as National Ecology Day. The State shall carry out publicity and education activities on ecological civilization in various forms.
Chapter II Supervision and Administration
Section 1 Supervision and Administration Systems and Working Mechanisms
Article 16 People's governments at or above the county level shall organize, coordinate, and urge relevant authorities to perform their duties and responsibilities of supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection in accordance with the law.
Article 17 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, within the scope of its functions and duties, exercise unified supervision and administration over ecological and environmental protection nationwide, including unified policy planning and standard formulation, unified monitoring and assessment, unified supervision and law enforcement, and unified inspection and accountability. Ecology and environment authorities under local people's governments shall, within the scope of their functions and duties, exercise unified supervision and administration over ecological and environmental protection within their respective administrative regions.
The natural resources authority under the State Council shall, within the scope of its functions and duties, exercise supervision and administration over the development, utilization, and protection of natural resources nationwide, and, upon authorization by the State Council, uniformly perform the duties of the owner of natural resource assets owned by the whole people, and uniformly perform duties relating to territorial spatial use control and ecological conservation and restoration. Natural resources authorities under local people's governments shall, within the scope of their functions and duties, exercise supervision and administration over the development, utilization, and protection of natural resources, as well as the development and protection of territorial space within their respective administrative regions.
Relevant authorities under people's governments at or above the county level, including those responsible for development and reform, industry and information technology, housing and urban-rural development, transport, water resources, agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and grassland, as well as ecological and environmental protection authorities of the military, shall, within the scope of their respective functions and duties, exercise supervision and administration over ecological and environmental protection.
Article 18 The State shall establish and improve a system of lists of responsibilities for ecological and environmental protection, and clarify the duties and responsibilities of relevant authorities under the State Council and authorities under local people's governments in the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection.
Article 19 Provinces, cities, counties, and townships shall establish and improve the river and lake chief system and the forest chief system in accordance with the law. River and lake chiefs at all levels shall be responsible for work related to the management and protection of rivers and lakes within their respective administrative regions; forest chiefs at all levels shall be responsible for work related to the protection and development of forest and grassland resources within their respective administrative regions.
Article 20 Local people's governments at or above the county level shall, in light of actual needs, establish coordination and linkage mechanisms for ecological and environmental protection, strengthen coordination and cooperation among authorities, and advance ecological and environmental protection within their respective administrative regions.
Article 21 The State shall establish and improve coordination mechanisms for joint protection of the ecological environment in key areas, river basins, and sea areas that span administrative regions, and implement unified planning, unified standards, unified monitoring, and unified protection measures.
The ecological and environmental protection spanning administrative regions other than those specified in the preceding paragraph shall be resolved by the people's government at the higher level or resolved through consultation among the relevant local people's governments.
Article 22 The State shall improve coordination mechanisms for ecological security, adopt effective measures to enhance capabilities in risk assessment and evaluation, monitoring and early warning, emergency response and handling, and establish a comprehensive, multi-level, and efficient ecological security protection system, and coordinate the advancement of ecological security work.
Article 23 The State shall establish and improve mechanisms for sharing ecological and environmental information, enhance information-sharing capacity, and strengthen the sharing of ecological and environmental information.
People's governments at or above the county level shall promote the development of platforms for sharing ecological and environmental information, and relevant authorities shall promptly organize the uploading of such information and update it dynamically.
Section 2 Supervision and Administration Systems
Article 24 The State shall adhere to region-specific, differentiated, and precise regulation, implement ecological and environmental supervision and administration systems featuring integrated management of aboveground and underground areas, coordinated land and marine governance, and regional coordination, and strengthen coordination among supervision and administration systems relating to planning, standards, monitoring, and other matters.
Article 25 People's governments at all levels and their relevant authorities shall strengthen capacity building for ecological and environmental protection supervision and administration, and improve the informatization, digitalization, and intelligentization of ecological and environmental protection supervision and administration.
Article 26 Relevant authorities under the State Council and local people's governments at or above the county level shall, when organizing the formulation of economic and technological policies and measures, fully consider their impact on the ecological environment and solicit opinions from relevant parties and experts.
Article 27 The State shall implement a system of responsibility for ecological and environmental protection targets and a system for assessment and evaluation, and incorporate the fulfillment of ecological and environmental protection targets into assessment and evaluation criteria. Assessment and evaluation work shall enhance relevance and effectiveness and resolutely guard against formalism. Assessment results shall be disclosed to the public.
Article 28 The State shall establish and improve the ecological and environmental protection inspection system and organize comprehensive inspections of the fulfillment of responsibilities for ecological civilization development and ecological and environmental protection by relevant parties. Ecological and environmental protection inspections shall operate under a two-level inspection system at the central level and at the level of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government.
Article 29 Entities subject to inspection shall voluntarily accept ecological and environmental protection inspections and actively cooperate with inspection work.
Upon receipt of ecological and environmental protection inspection feedback opinions, entities subject to inspection shall organize the formulation of rectification plans, specifying, for each item, the responsible entities for implementation, rectification objectives, rectification timelines, key measures, and acceptance authorities for the issues identified in the inspection feedback.
Accountability shall be pursued in accordance with State provisions for major ecological and environmental issues and dereliction of duty discovered during ecological and environmental protection inspections and rectification.
Article 30 People's governments at or above the county level shall annually report to the people's congress at the corresponding level or its standing committee on the state of the ecological environment and the completion of ecological and environmental protection targets, and shall promptly report major ecological and environmental incidents to the standing committee of the people's congress at the corresponding level, and accept supervision in accordance with the law.
Article 31 The State shall strengthen the judicial protection for the ecological environment.
People's courts shall strengthen ecological and environmental adjudication and advance the development of specialized adjudication mechanisms for ecological and environmental matters.
People's procuratorates shall strengthen ecological and environmental procuratorial work and reinforce procuratorial supervision.
Article 32 The State shall improve systems for compensation for ecological and environmental damage and for public interest litigation concerning the ecological environment, in order to safeguard national interests and the public interest of society.
Article 33 Administrative authorities, supervisory authorities, adjudicatory authorities, and procuratorial authorities shall strengthen coordination and cooperation, establish and improve mechanisms for case referral and information sharing, and pursue legal liability in accordance with the law for unlawful acts causing environmental pollution and ecological damage.
Article 34 The State shall implement natural resource asset accountability audits upon departure from office, and conduct audits on the performance by leading officials of responsibilities relating to the management of natural resource assets and ecological and environmental protection.
Article 35 The State shall strengthen ecological conservation and restoration, adhere to integrated protection and restoration of mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, lakes, grasslands, and deserts, and implement systematic governance centered on natural recovery while combining natural recovery with artificial restoration.
Article 36 The State shall improve the system framework for main functional zones and optimize the territorial spatial development pattern in accordance with the different orientations of urbanized areas, major agricultural production areas, key ecological function zones, and other areas.
Article 37 The State shall improve systems for total resource management and comprehensive conservation, avoid resource waste, and improve resource utilization efficiency.
Article 38 The State shall improve the property rights system and management system framework for natural resource assets, improve the entrusted agency mechanism for ownership of natural resource assets owned by the whole people, and promote the paid use of natural resources.
Article 39 The State shall improve mechanisms for realizing the value of ecological products, develop diversified pathways for realizing the value of ecological products, and advance the ecological industrialization and industrial ecological transformation.
Article 40 In the development and utilization of natural resources, resources shall be developed rationally, conserved and used intensively and efficiently, environmental pollution and ecological destruction shall be prevented, GHG emissions shall be reduced, and plans for the ecological and environmental protection shall be formulated and implemented in accordance with the law.
Article 41 The State shall coordinate the governance of water resources, the water environment, and aquatic ecosystems, and strengthen protection of the aquatic ecological environment.
The State shall implement a rigid constraint system for water resources, adhere to determining urban development, land use, population scale, and industrial development in accordance with water availability, promote the scientific and rational distribution of population and cities, establish a modern industrial system compatible with the carrying capacity of water resources, and safeguard national water security.
Article 42 The State shall strengthen biodiversity conservation, establish and improve coordination mechanisms for biodiversity conservation and systems for biodiversity investigation, monitoring, assessment, and protection, and rationally plan and develop a spatial system for biodiversity conservation.
The introduction of alien species and the research, development, and utilization of biotechnology shall be conducted with effective measures to prevent damage to biodiversity.
Article 43 The State shall establish a protected areas system with national parks as the mainstay, nature reserves as the foundation, and various types of natural parks as supplements, to ensure systematic protection of important ecosystems, natural relics, natural landscapes, and biodiversity.
Article 44 The State shall advance the development of ecological security shelterbelts in regions including the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Ecological Security Shield Area, the Yangtze River Key Ecological Area, the Yellow River Key Ecological Area, the Northeast Forest Belt, the Northern Sand Prevention Belt, the Southern Hilly and Mountainous Belt, and coastal zones, and strengthen ecological and environmental protection of important rivers and lakes including the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Huai River, Hai River, Pearl River, Songhua River, Liao River, Dongting Lake, Poyang Lake, Tai Lake, Hongze Lake, and Chao Lake.
Article 45 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, in accordance with the status of the marine ecological environment and requirements for quality improvement, together with the development and reform, natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, transport, water resources, fisheries and fishery administration, forestry and grassland, and other relevant authorities under the State Council, as well as coast guard agencies, designate key sea areas for national ecological and environmental governance and the areas subject to their management and control, formulate comprehensive governance action plans, and implement them upon approval by the State Council.
Local people's governments at or above the level of a city divided into districts (hereinafter "districted-city level") in coastal areas shall, in accordance with the comprehensive governance action plans, formulate implementation plans for the sea areas under their administration, adopt special control measures tailored to local conditions, carry out comprehensive governance, and advance in a coordinated manner the governance of key sea areas and the development of Beautiful Bays.
Article 46 People's governments at all levels shall strengthen protection of the agricultural ecological environment, promote the application of new technologies for protection of the agricultural ecological environment, strengthen monitoring and early warning for agricultural pollution sources, coordinate relevant authorities in adopting effective measures to prevent and control soil pollution and land desertification, acidification, salinization, degradation, rocky desertification, and land subsidence, and to prevent and control ecological imbalances such as destruction of vegetation, soil and water loss, eutrophication of water bodies, depletion of water sources, extinction of germplasm resources, and invasion of alien species, and promote integrated prevention and control of plant diseases and insect pests.
People's governments at all levels shall improve public services for rural ecological and environmental protection, promote comprehensive improvement of the rural ecological environment, and continuously improve the rural living environment.
Article 47 Urban and rural development shall, in light of local natural ecological characteristics, protect vegetation, waters, natural landscapes, cultural relics, ancient and famous trees, etc., and strengthen the construction and management of urban parks and green spaces.
Article 48 The State shall establish and improve systems for monitoring, investigation, and risk assessment concerning the ecological environment and health; encourage and organize research on the impacts of ecological and environmental quality on public health, and adopt effective measures to prevent and control diseases related to environmental pollution and ecological destruction.
Article 49 The State shall implement a phase-out system for technologies, processes, equipment, materials, and products that seriously pollute the environment, damage the ecology, or otherwise cause serious harm.
The development and reform authority under the State Council shall, together with relevant authorities, determine the phase-out periods for technologies, processes, equipment, materials, and products that seriously pollute the environment, damage the ecology, or otherwise cause serious harm, and include them in the national catalog of comprehensive industrial policies.
Producers, importers, sellers, and users shall cease producing, importing, selling, and using equipment, materials, and products listed in the catalog specified in the preceding paragraph within the prescribed time limit. Adopters of technologies and processes shall cease adopting technologies and processes listed in the catalog specified in the preceding paragraph within the prescribed time limit.
Equipment, materials, and products that have been phased out shall not be transferred to others for use.
Article 50 Authorities under the State Council responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection, as well as the people's governments of relevant provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government in key regions, river basins, and sea areas, may organize relevant authorities to carry out joint law enforcement, law enforcement across administrative regions, river basins, and sea areas, and cross-jurisdictional law enforcement.
Article 51 Authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection shall have the power to conduct on-site inspections, in accordance with the law, of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators that cause environment pollution or ecological damage, as well as of ecological and environmental technical service institutions. Entities subject to inspection shall truthfully report relevant circumstances and provide necessary materials. Authorities and their staff conducting on-site inspections shall keep confidential the trade secrets, personal privacy, and personal information of entities subject to inspection.
Article 52 Where enterprises, public institutions, or other producers and business operators violate laws or regulations, causing or potentially causing consequences such as serious environmental pollution or ecological damage, or where relevant evidence may be destroyed or concealed, authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection may, in accordance with the law, seal up or seize relevant premises, vessels, facilities, equipment, tools, and articles.
Article 53 Offices established by ecology and environment authorities under people's governments at the districted-city level may, in their own names and in accordance with the law, conduct on-site inspections, implement sealing-up and seizure measures, undertake substitute performance, and impose administrative penalties.
Article 54 The State shall establish an ecological and environmental credit-based regulatory system.
Authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection shall, in accordance with the law, record relevant ecological and environmental violation information concerning enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators in credit records.
Where enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators rectify their dishonest conduct, eliminate adverse impacts, and satisfy the criteria for credit restoration, they may apply for credit restoration, and relevant State authorities shall carry out credit restoration in accordance with regulations.
Article 55 Where activities conducted outside the territory of the People's Republic of China and other sea areas under its jurisdiction cause or may cause environmental pollution or ecological damage within the territory of the People's Republic of China or other sea areas under its jurisdiction, the relevant authorities and agencies shall have the authority to take necessary measures.
Chapter III Planning and Eco-environmental Zoning-based Regulation
Article 56 The State shall establish and improve a national planning system led by national development plans, based on territorial spatial plans, supported by special-purpose plans and regional plans, and jointly composed of national and local plans. Coordination and alignment among these plans shall be strengthened to ensure planning guides, directs, and constrains ecological and environmental protection.
Article 57 People's governments at or above the county level shall incorporate ecological and environmental protection into the national economic and social development plan.
Article 58 The State shall establish and improve a unified and aligned territorial spatial use control and planning permit system covering the entire territory and all categories Territorial spatial use control shall be implemented on a zoning and category basis in accordance with territorial spatial plans. Activities involving the development and utilization of territorial space shall comply with territorial spatial use control requirements and obtain planning permits in accordance with the law.
Article 59 Territorial spatial plans shall scientifically and systematically coordinate the arrangement of functional spaces for agriculture, ecology, urban development, and other purposes; delineate cultivated land and permanent basic farmland, ecological conservation redlines, and urban development boundaries; and optimize the structure and layout of territorial space.
Special-purpose plans involving territorial spatial utilization shall align with territorial spatial plans.
Article 60 The State shall establish and improve the ecological conservation redline management system, giving priority to including areas with extremely important ecological functions and ecologically highly sensitive or fragile areas within ecological conservation redlines, under which strict protection measures shall be implemented.
Activities involving the development and utilization of natural resources or construction activities affecting the ecology and environment shall strictly observe ecological conservation redlines and shall not cause damage to the ecological environment.
People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall strengthen supervision and administration over human activities within ecological conservation redlines and regularly assess protection effectiveness.
Article 61 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with relevant authorities, formulate the national ecological and environmental protection plan in accordance with national development plans, and submit it to the State Council for approval before promulgation.
The ecology and environment authorities under local people's governments at or above the districted-city level shall, together with relevant authorities, formulate ecological and environmental protection plans for their respective administrative regions in accordance with the requirements of the national ecological and environmental protection plan, and submit them to the people's governments at the corresponding level for approval and promulgation.
The ecological and environmental protection plans shall include targets, tasks, and safeguard measures relating to pollution prevention and control, ecological conservation, and response to climate change.
Article 62 Relevant local people's governments in key regions, river basins, and sea areas that fail to meet national ecological and environmental quality standards shall formulate plans for achieving standards within prescribed time limits, improvement plans, and implementation plans thereof in accordance with the law, and adopt effective measures to achieve standards and improve ecological and environmental quality within the prescribed time limit. The plans for achieving standards within prescribed time limits, improvement plans, and implementation plans thereof shall be promptly disclosed to the public.
Article 63 The ecology and environment, development and reform, natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, water resources, agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and grassland, and other relevant authorities may, within the scope of their respective responsibilities, formulate the plans for the relevant ecological and environmental field in light of actual needs.
Article 64 The State may, in light of actual needs, formulate regional plans for key regions identified in national development plans, contiguous regions spanning administrative regions with close economic and social linkages, and specific regions undertaking major strategic tasks, to guide regional ecological and environmental protection and coordinated development.
Article 65 In formulating plans in the field of ecology and environment, opinions from relevant authorities, experts, and other parties shall be solicited. After implementation of the plans, the authorities responsible for plan formulation shall organize monitoring, analysis, and evaluation in accordance with State provisions.
Article 66 The State shall establish and improve the system of eco-environmental zoning-based regulation.
Local people's governments at or above the districted-city level shall formulate and adjust eco-environmental zoning-based regulation schemes in light of the ecological and environmental conditions in their respective administrative regions, and shall publish and implement such schemes after filing them with the ecology and environment authority under the people's government at the next higher level.
Eco-environmental zoning-based regulation schemes shall align with territorial spatial plans.
Article 67 Eco-environmental zoning-based regulation schemes shall implement objectives concerning ecological conservation redlines, environmental quality bottom lines, and upper limits on resource utilization; delineate units subject to priority protection, key regulation, and general regulation; and specify corresponding eco-environmental admittance lists. Production and construction activities conducted in violation of the provisions of eco-environmental admittance lists are prohibited.
Chapter IV Standards and Monitoring
Article 68 The State shall advance the development of the standards system in the field of ecology and environment, strengthen coordination and alignment among standards, and give full play to the supporting role of standards in ecological and environmental protection.
Article 69 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall formulate national ecological and environmental quality standards.
People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may formulate local ecological and environmental quality standards for items not specified in national ecological and environmental quality standards; for items already specified in national ecological and environmental quality standards, they may formulate local ecological and environmental quality standards that are more stringent than national ecological and environmental quality standards. Local ecological and environmental quality standards shall be filed with the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 70 The ecology and environment, development and reform, industry and information technology, natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, transport, water resources, agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and grassland, standardization, and other relevant authorities under the State Council shall, within the scope of their respective responsibilities, formulate standards relating to pollution prevention and control, ecological conservation, green and low-carbon development, and other matters, in accordance with the law.
Article 71 Standards in the field of ecology and environment shall be formulated for the purposes of safeguarding public health and protecting the ecological environment, shall be aligned with economic and social development, and shall be scientific and reasonable.
Article 72 In formulating standards in the field of ecology and environment, experts shall be organized to conduct review and assessment, and opinions from relevant authorities, industry associations, enterprises, public institutions, and the public shall be solicited to improve the scientific nature of the standards.
Article 73 Authorities responsible for formulating standards in the field of ecology and environment shall promptly publish the full text of such standards on their websites for free public access and download.
Article 74 The implementation of standards in the field of ecology and environment shall be evaluated on a regular basis, and such standards shall be revised or repealed where appropriate based on evaluation results.
Article 75 The State encourages and supports research on ecological and environmental benchmarks.
The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall formulate ecological and environmental benchmarks as needed to safeguard public health and protect the ecological environment.
Article 76 The State shall establish and improve the ecological and environmental monitoring system.
The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with relevant authorities, formulate ecological and environmental monitoring specifications, establish an ecological and environmental monitoring network featuring coordinated land-sea coverage, integrated space-air-ground monitoring, vertical coordination, and information sharing, uniformly plan the establishment of national ecological and environmental quality monitoring stations, advance integrated monitoring, coordinated monitoring, and routine monitoring, establish and improve mechanisms for sharing monitoring data, and strengthen the management of ecological and environmental monitoring.
The ecology and environment, natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, transport, water resources, agriculture and rural affairs, meteorology, forestry and grassland, disease prevention and control, and other relevant authorities shall carry out work related to ecological and environmental monitoring within the scope of their respective responsibilities.
Article 77 The establishment of various ecological and environmental monitoring stations shall comply with the requirements of laws, regulations, and relevant monitoring specifications.
Ecological and environmental monitoring shall employ monitoring facilities and equipment that comply with the provisions of laws, administrative regulations, and national standards, and shall comply with relevant monitoring specifications.
It is prohibited to produce, import, sell, or use monitoring facilities and equipment that do not comply with laws, administrative regulations, and national standards.
Article 78 Ecological and environmental monitoring institutions, enterprises, and public institutions subject to pollutant discharge permit administration, and those with statutory monitoring obligations shall establish and improve systems for monitoring data quality management in accordance with the law.
The monitoring institutions, enterprises, and public institutions specified in the preceding paragraph, as well as the persons in charge thereof, shall be responsible for the authenticity, accuracy, and completeness of monitoring data.
Article 79 Ecological and environmental monitoring institutions shall possess appropriate facilities, equipment, technical personnel, technical capabilities, and management capabilities, and shall complete filing procedures with relevant authorities in accordance with the law.
Article 80 It is prohibited to falsify ecological and environmental monitoring data, or instruct others to falsify such data, by interfering with sampling, substituting samples, altering monitoring conditions, conducting false monitoring, tampering with or forging records, or other means.
It is prohibited to interfere with or damage ecological and environmental monitoring facilities or equipment by occupying, destroying, relocating, or altering them without authorization, or by any other means, or to instruct another person to do so.
Article 81 People's governments at or above the provincial level shall organize relevant authorities or entrust professional institutions to conduct investigations and evaluations of ecological and environmental conditions, and establish and improve monitoring and early warning mechanisms for the carrying capacity of the ecological environment.
Chapter V Ecological and Environmental Impact Assessment
Section 1 General Rules
Article 82 For the purposes of this Code, "ecological and environmental impact assessment" refers to the methods and system of analyzing, predicting, and assessing the potential ecological and environmental impacts resulting from the implementation of plans and construction projects, proposing countermeasures and measures to prevent or mitigate adverse ecological and environmental impacts, and conducting follow-up monitoring.
The State shall strengthen ecological and environmental impact assessment of GHG emissions. Specific measures and implementation steps shall be prescribed by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 83 Ecological and environmental impact assessments shall be conducted in accordance with the law in the formulation of plans concerning development and utilization and for the construction of projects that may affect the ecological environment.
Development and utilization plans for which ecological and environmental impact assessments have not been conducted in accordance with the law shall not be organized for implementation; construction projects for which ecological and environmental impact assessments have not been conducted in accordance with the law shall not commence construction.
Article 84 Ecological and environmental impact assessments shall be objective, open, and impartial, shall comprehensively consider the possible impacts of the implementation of plans or construction projects on various ecological and environmental factors and the ecosystems constituted thereby, and shall provide a scientific basis for decision-making.
The State encourages relevant entities, experts, and the public to participate in ecological and environmental impact assessments in accordance with the law.
Article 85 The State shall strengthen the development of foundational databases and assessment indicator systems for ecological and environmental impact assessment, encourage and support scientific research on methods and technical specifications for ecological and environmental impact assessment, establish necessary information-sharing systems for ecological and environmental impact assessment, and improve the scientific nature of ecological and environmental impact assessment.
The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with relevant authorities, organize the establishment and improvement of foundational databases and assessment indicator systems for ecological and environmental impact assessment.
Section 2 Ecological and Environmental Impact Assessment of Plans
Article 86 Relevant authorities under the State Council, local people's governments at or above the districted-city level and their relevant authorities shall, in formulating territorial spatial plans and plans for the construction, development, and utilization of regions, river basins, and sea areas, organize ecological and environmental impact assessments and prepare chapters or explanations on ecological and environmental impacts as part of such plans.
The chapters or explanations on ecological and environmental impacts in plans shall analyze, predict, and assess the possible ecological and environmental impacts resulting from implementation of the plans, propose countermeasures and measures to prevent or mitigate adverse ecological and environmental impacts, and be submitted together with the draft plans to the planning approval authorities as constituent parts thereof.
Approval authorities shall not approve draft plans that do not contain chapters or explanations on ecological and environmental impacts.
Article 87 Relevant authorities under the State Council, local people's governments at or above the districted-city level and their relevant authorities shall, in the process of organizing the formulation of special-purpose plans relating to industry, agriculture, forestry, energy, water conservancy, transport, urban and industrial park development, tourism, and natural resource development, organize ecological and environmental impact assessments and submit ecological and environmental impact reports to the authorities responsible for approving such special-purpose plans.
Guiding plans among the special-purpose plans specified in the preceding paragraph shall undergo ecological and environmental impact assessment in accordance with Article 86 of this Code.
Article 88 The specific scope of plans subject to ecological and environmental impact assessment pursuant to Articles 86 and 87 of this Code shall be prescribed by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council together with relevant authorities and submitted to the State Council for approval.
People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may, in light of local conditions, require ecological and environmental impact assessments for plans formulated by county-level people's governments within their respective jurisdictions. Specific measures shall be formulated by provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government with reference to the provisions of this Section.
Article 89 Ecological and environmental impact reports for special-purpose plans shall include the following:
(1) Analysis, prediction, and assessment of the possible impacts of implementation of such plans on the ecological environment;
(2) Countermeasures and measures to prevent or mitigate adverse ecological and environmental impacts; and
(3) Conclusions of the ecological and environmental impact assessment.
Article 90 Where special-purpose plans may cause adverse ecological and environmental impacts and directly involve public ecological and environmental rights and interests, the authorities responsible for formulating such plans shall, before submitting the draft plans for approval, hold demonstration meetings or hearings, or otherwise solicit opinions from relevant entities, experts, and the public on the draft ecological and environmental impact reports, except where disclosure is prohibited by State provisions.
The formulation authorities shall carefully consider the opinions of relevant entities, experts, and the public on the draft ecological and environmental impact reports, and shall attach explanations on whether such opinions are adopted when submitting the ecological and environmental impact reports.
Article 91 When submitting draft special-purpose plans for approval, the authorities responsible for formulating such plans shall submit the ecological and environmental impact reports together with the draft plans to the approval authorities for review; where ecological and environmental impact reports are not submitted, the approval authorities shall not grant approval.
Article 92 Before approving draft special-purpose plans or making decisions thereon, people's governments at or above the districted-city level shall first have their ecology and environment authorities convene review panels composed of representatives of relevant authorities and experts to review the ecological and environmental impact reports and issue written review opinions.
Experts participating in the review panels specified in the preceding paragraph shall be randomly selected from lists of experts in relevant fields included in the expert pool established in accordance with regulations of the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Measures for the review of ecological and environmental impact reports for special-purpose plans approved by relevant authorities under people's governments at or above the provincial level shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council together with relevant authorities.
Article 93 Where review panels recommend revisions, the authorities responsible for formulating special-purpose plans shall revise and improve the draft plans in accordance with the conclusions of the ecological and environmental impact reports and the review opinions, and shall explain whether and how the conclusions and review opinions have been adopted; where they are not adopted, reasons shall be given.
When approving draft special-purpose plans, people's governments at or above the districted-city level or relevant authorities under people's governments at or above the provincial level shall use the conclusions of ecological and environmental impact reports and review opinions as important bases for decision-making.
Where the conclusions of ecological and environmental impact reports or review opinions are not adopted in the approval process, explanations shall be provided and placed on file for future reference.
Article 94 After implementation of plans with significant ecological and environmental impacts, the formulation authorities shall promptly organize follow-up evaluation of ecological and environmental impacts, report the evaluation results to the approval authorities, and circulate them to the ecology and environment authorities and other relevant authorities; where obvious adverse ecological and environmental impacts are discovered, improvement measures shall be promptly proposed.
Section 3 Ecological and Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Projects
Article 95 The State shall implement classified administration of ecological and environmental impact assessment for construction projects according to the degree of their ecological and environmental impacts.
Project developers shall organize the preparation of ecological and environmental impact reports, ecological and environmental impact report forms, or complete ecological and environmental impact registration forms in accordance with the following provisions:
(1) Where significant ecological and environmental impacts may be caused, an ecological and environmental impact report shall be prepared to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the ecological and environmental impacts generated;
(2) Where less significant ecological and environmental impacts may be caused, an ecological and environmental impact report form shall be prepared to conduct analysis or specialized assessment of the ecological and environmental impacts generated; and
(3) Where ecological and environmental impacts are minimal and it is unnecessary to prepare an ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form, an ecological and environmental impact registration form shall be completed.
The catalog for classified administration of ecological and environmental impact assessment for construction projects shall be formulated and published by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 96 An ecological and environmental impact report for a construction project shall include the following:
(1) An overview of the construction project;
(2) The current state of the ecological environment surrounding the construction project;
(3) Analysis, prediction, and assessment of the possible impacts of the construction project on the ecological environment;
(4) Ecological and environmental protection measures for the construction project and technical and economic demonstration thereof;
(5) Economic cost-benefit analysis of the impacts of the construction project on the ecological environment;
(6) Recommendations concerning ecological and environmental monitoring and emissions management for implementation of the construction project;
(7) Conclusions of the ecological and environmental impact assessment; and
(8) Other contents prescribed by law.
The contents and formats of ecological and environmental impact report forms and ecological and environmental impact registration forms shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 97 Ecological and environmental impact assessment for construction projects shall avoid overlap with ecological and environmental impact assessment for plans.
Where a plan constitutes an integral construction project and ecological and environmental impact assessment is conducted for the construction project, ecological and environmental impact assessment for the plan shall not be conducted.
Where a plan that has already undergone ecological and environmental impact assessment contains specific construction projects, the conclusions of the ecological and environmental impact assessment for the plan shall serve as important bases for ecological and environmental impact assessment of the construction projects, and the contents of ecological and environmental impact assessment for the construction projects shall be simplified in accordance with review opinions on the ecological and environmental impact assessment for the plan.
Article 98 Project developers may entrust technical entities to conduct ecological and environmental impact assessment for their construction projects and prepare ecological and environmental impact reports or ecological and environmental impact report forms for such projects; where project developers possess the technical capability for ecological and environmental impact assessment, they may independently conduct ecological and environmental impact assessment for their construction projects and prepare ecological and environmental impact reports or ecological and environmental impact report forms for such projects.
The preparation of ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects shall comply with relevant State provisions concerning standards and technical specifications for ecological and environmental impact assessment.
Administrative measures for the preparation of ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 99 Technical entities entrusted to prepare ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects shall independently, objectively, and impartially conduct business activities in accordance with the law, establish and improve quality control systems, and ensure that the ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms they issue are objective, authentic, and accurate.
Technical entities and personnel entrusted to prepare ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects shall possess good credit records and shall not have any interest relationship with the ecology and environment authorities or other relevant approval authorities responsible for approving such reports and report forms. Personnel in key positions such as preparation and review shall possess relevant professional technical competence and professional experience.
Technical entities entrusted to prepare ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects shall file with the ecology and environment authorities. Ecology and environment authorities shall strengthen supervision and regulation of technical entities conducting ecological and environmental impact assessment activities. Specific measures shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 100 Project developers shall be responsible for the contents and conclusions of ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects, and technical entities entrusted to prepare such reports and report forms shall bear appropriate responsibility for the ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms they prepare.
Ecology and environment authorities under people's governments at or above the districted-city level shall strengthen supervision, administration, and quality assessment of entities and personnel preparing ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects.
Ecology and environment authorities responsible for approving ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects shall conduct credit-based regulation in accordance with the law regarding relevant unlawful acts committed by preparation entities, lead preparers, and principal preparers.
No entity or individual may designate technical entities for project developers to prepare ecological and environmental impact reports or ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects.
Article 101 Except where disclosure is prohibited by State provisions, for construction projects that may cause significant ecological and environmental impacts and require the preparation of ecological and environmental impact reports, project developers shall, before submitting ecological and environmental impact reports for approval, hold demonstration meetings or hearings, or otherwise explain relevant circumstances to the public likely to be affected and fully solicit opinions from relevant entities, experts, and the public.
Ecological and environmental impact reports submitted by project developers for approval shall be accompanied by explanations on whether opinions from relevant entities, experts, and the public have been adopted.
Article 102 Ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects shall be submitted by project developers to ecology and environment authorities with approval authority in accordance with relevant provisions for approval.
Ecology and environment authorities shall make approval decisions and notify project developers in writing within 60 days from the date of receipt of ecological and environmental impact reports and within 30 days from the date of receipt of ecological and environmental impact report forms, respectively.
The State shall implement record-filing administration for ecological and environmental impact registration forms.
No fees shall be charged for approval or review of ecological and environmental impact reports or ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects, or for record-filing of ecological and environmental impact registration forms.
Article 103 Upon receipt of ecological and environmental impact reports for construction projects, ecology and environment authorities shall disclose the full text thereof, except where disclosure is prohibited by State provisions; if it is discovered that project developers have failed to adequately solicit public opinions, ecology and environment authorities shall order project developers to do so.
Article 104 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall be responsible for approving ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for the following construction projects:
(1) Construction projects of a special nature such as nuclear facilities;
(2) Construction projects spanning the administrative regions of provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government;
(3) Construction projects approved by the State Council or by relevant authorities authorized by the State Council; and
(4) Other construction projects prescribed by laws or administrative regulations.
Approval authority for ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects other than those specified in the preceding paragraph shall be prescribed by people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government and filed with the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Where a construction project may cause adverse ecological and environmental impacts across administrative regions and relevant ecology and environment authorities disagree on the conclusions of the ecological and environmental impact assessment for the project, the ecological and environmental impact report and ecological and environmental impact report form shall be approved by the common higher-level ecology and environment authority.
Article 105 Ecology and environment authorities shall make decisions not to approve ecological and environmental impact reports or ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects falling under any of the following circumstances:
(1) The type, site selection, layout, scale, or other aspects of the construction project do not comply with ecological and environmental laws, regulations, or relevant statutory plans;
(2) Ecological and environmental quality in the relevant region, river basin, or sea area where the construction project is located has failed to meet ecological and environmental quality standards, and the measures proposed for the construction project cannot meet the requirements for ecological and environmental quality improvement;
(3) Pollution prevention and control measures adopted for the construction project cannot ensure that pollutant emissions meet applicable emission standards, or necessary measures to prevent and control ecological damage have not been adopted;
(4) Reconstruction, expansion, or technological transformation projects fail to propose effective prevention and control measures for the original environmental pollution and ecological damage associated with the projects; or
(5) The ecological and environmental impact reports or ecological and environmental impact report forms for the construction project contain serious quality problems such as obviously inaccurate basic data, major defects, omissions, or false contents, or incorrect or unreasonable ecological and environmental impact assessment conclusions.
Article 106 After the ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form for a construction project has been approved, where major changes occur in the nature, scale, location, production processes, or measures for pollution prevention and ecological conservation of the project, the project developer shall resubmit the ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form for approval.
Where construction of a project commences more than five years after the approval of its ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form, the report or report form shall be resubmitted to the original approval authority for re-examination; the original approval authority shall notify the project developer in writing of its review opinion within ten days from the date of receipt of the ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form.
Article 107 Where an ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form for a construction project has not been reviewed by the competent approval authority in accordance with law, has not been approved upon review, or has not been approved upon re-examination by the original approval authority, the project developer shall not commence construction.
Article 108 During the construction and operation of construction projects, project developers shall implement ecological and environmental protection countermeasures and measures proposed in ecological and environmental impact reports, ecological and environmental impact report forms, and approval opinions issued by approval authorities.
Article 109 Where circumstances arising during the construction or operation of a construction project are inconsistent with its approved ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form, the project developer shall conduct a post-assessment of ecological and environmental impacts, adopt improvement measures, and file the post-assessment results and the improvement measures with the original approval authority for the ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form and the construction project approval authority. The original approval authority for the ecological and environmental impact report or ecological and environmental impact report form may also require the project developer to conduct a post-assessment of ecological and environmental impacts and adopt improvement measures.
Article 110 Ecology and environment authorities shall conduct follow-up inspections of ecological and environmental impacts arising after construction projects are put into production or use. Where serious environmental pollution or ecological damage is caused, the causes and liabilities shall be ascertained.
Chapter VI Ecological Conservation Compensation
Article 111 The State shall establish and improve the ecological conservation compensation system and provide compensation through mechanisms such as vertical fiscal compensation, interregional horizontal compensation, and market-based compensation, to regions, entities, and individuals that carry out ecological and environmental protection in accordance with regulations or agreements. In accordance with the integrity, systematic nature, and inherent laws of ecosystems, the State shall establish and improve a sustainable ecological conservation compensation mechanism featuring government leadership, participation by enterprises and society, and market-oriented operation, to promote the integrated protection of the ecological environment.
Ecological conservation compensation may take various forms, including monetary compensation, counterpart cooperation, industrial transfer, personnel training, joint development of industrial parks, and purchase of ecological products and services.
Article 112 People's governments at or above the county level shall establish stable mechanisms for investment in ecological conservation compensation funds and, in accordance with the law, broaden funding channels for ecological conservation compensation through multiple means.
Article 113 The State shall provide compensation through fiscal transfer payments and other means, to regions, entities, and individuals that undertake the protection of important ecological and environmental elements, as well as to regions, entities, and individuals that carry out ecological and environmental protection in ecologically important areas such as key ecological function zones, ecological conservation redlines, and protected areas designated in accordance with the law.
The central government shall implement classified compensation through central fiscal funds based on categories including forests, grasslands, wetlands, deserts, oceans, water resources, cultivated land, and other important ecological and environmental elements such as aquatic biological resources and terrestrial wildlife resources prescribed by laws, administrative regulations, and State provisions. Relevant local people's governments may, on the basis of classified compensation by the central government and in accordance with the principles governing the allocation of fiscal powers and expenditure responsibilities between the central and local governments, establish classified compensation systems tailored to local conditions and increase compensation for entities and individuals that undertake the protection of important ecological and environmental elements.
The central government shall arrange transfer payments for key ecological function zones and gradually increase the scale of such transfer payments in light of fiscal capacity. Differentiated compensation shall be implemented in transfer payments for key ecological function zones based on factors such as ecological spillover effects, the importance of ecological functions, and ecological and environmental sensitivity and fragility, and support shall be increased for regions with a relatively high proportion of ecological conservation redlines.
Relevant local people's governments shall ensure the allocation and use of ecological conservation compensation funds and ensure that such funds are used for ecological conservation compensation.
Article 114 The State encourages, guides, and promotes the establishment of ecological conservation compensation mechanisms between the people's governments of beneficiary regions and protection regions through consultation and other means, and supports interregional horizontal ecological conservation compensation. Based on the needs of ecological and environmental protection, people's governments at higher levels may organize and coordinate interregional horizontal ecological conservation compensation among people's governments at lower levels.
Where interregional horizontal ecological conservation compensation is carried out in key regions with especially important ecological functions across provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, autonomous prefectures, or districted cities, the central and provincial governments may provide guidance and fiscal support. Where remarkable results are achieved in interregional horizontal ecological conservation compensation, the development and reform, finance, and other relevant authorities under the State Council may provide relevant support in areas such as planning, funding, and project arrangements.
Article 115 The State shall fully leverage the role of market mechanisms in ecological conservation compensation and promote the market-oriented development of ecological conservation compensation.
The State encourages social forces such as enterprises and public welfare organizations, as well as local people's governments, to carry out ecological conservation compensation through means such as the purchase of ecological products and services in accordance with market rules.
The State encourages and guides private capital to establish market-oriented ecological conservation compensation funds and participate in ecological conservation compensation in an orderly manner in accordance with the law.
Article 116 The State shall improve the monitoring support system for ecological conservation compensation, establish and improve the statistical system for ecological conservation compensation, improve the standards system for ecological conservation compensation, and provide technical support for ecological conservation compensation work.
Chapter VII Response to Ecological and Environmental Emergencies
Article 117 People's governments at all levels and their relevant authorities, enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall, in accordance with the law, carry out work relating to prevention and preparedness, monitoring and early warning, emergency response and handling, investigation and assessment, and post-event recovery for ecological and environmental emergencies.
Article 118 Ecological and environmental emergencies shall be graded into four levels: exceptionally major, major, relatively major, and general, based on factors such as the degree of social harm and scope of impact. Standards for grading ecological and environmental emergencies shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council together with relevant authorities, and shall be published and implemented upon approval by the State Council.
Article 119 The State shall establish and improve a responsibility system for response to ecological and environmental emergencies featuring tiered responsibility, local administration as the primary principle, and interdepartmental coordination, rigorously prevent and control ecological and environmental risks, protect ecologically and environmentally sensitive targets, and respond to various ecological and environmental emergencies in a timely, appropriate, and scientific manner.
Article 120 The ecology and environment, emergency management, and other relevant authorities shall closely cooperate, strengthen information sharing and coordinated linkage, and jointly ensure effective response to ecological and environmental emergencies.
Article 121 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall, in accordance with the law, improve risk prevention and control measures for ecological and environmental emergencies, conduct inspections for potential hazards, and promptly eliminate potential hazards.
Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall, in accordance with State provisions, reserve necessary supplies and equipment for ecological and environmental emergencies, regularly conduct emergency drills, and make emergency preparedness arrangements. Where an ecological and environmental emergency occurs or may occur, enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall immediately adopt response measures, cut off or control pollution sources, prevent expansion of harm, promptly notify parties likely to be harmed, report to the ecology and environment, emergency management, and other relevant authorities, and accept investigation and handling.
Article 122 People's governments at all levels and their relevant authorities, enterprises, and public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall, in the course of emergency response to natural disasters, accident disasters, and public health incidents, adopt necessary measures to avoid or reduce harm to the ecological environment.
Article 123 The State Council shall organize the formulation and implementation of the national contingency plan for ecological and environmental emergencies. Local people's governments at or above the county level shall formulate contingency plans for ecological and environmental emergencies within their respective administrative regions and file them in accordance with relevant provisions.
Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall formulate contingency plans for ecological and environmental emergencies in accordance with State provisions and file them with the ecology and environment authorities and other relevant authorities.
Article 124 People's governments at or above the county level shall establish and improve monitoring and early warning mechanisms for ecological and environmental emergencies and organize the formulation of early warning plans. Where damage to the ecological environment may affect public health or ecological security, warning information shall be promptly released in accordance with the law and emergency measures shall be initiated.
Ecology and environment authorities shall strengthen collection, analysis, and assessment of risk information that may lead to ecological and environmental emergencies. Where assessment indicates that an ecological and environmental emergency may occur, they shall promptly submit recommendations for release of warning information to the people's governments at the corresponding level.
Article 125 Where an ecological and environmental emergency involves or may involve adjacent administrative regions, the people's government at the place where the emergency occurs and its ecology and environment authority shall promptly notify the people's governments and ecology and environment authorities at the corresponding level in the adjacent administrative regions.
People's governments receiving such notification shall, in accordance with State provisions, promptly initiate emergency response and adopt coordinated emergency response measures.
Article 126 After emergency response to an ecological and environmental emergency has been completed, the relevant people's government shall immediately organize assessment of the ecological and environmental impacts and losses caused by the emergency and promptly publish the assessment results.
The assessment results shall serve as important bases for investigation and handling of the ecological and environmental emergency, compensation for damage, ecological restoration, and other related work.
Chapter VIII Safeguard Measures
Article 127 The State shall adopt fiscal, tax, pricing, procurement, financial, industrial, and other policies and measures conducive to protection of the ecological environment.
Article 128 The State Council and local people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the principles governing the allocation of powers and expenditure responsibilities, incorporate funds required for ecological and environmental protection into government budgets at the corresponding level, increase fiscal investment in ecological and environmental protection, optimize allocation of fiscal resources in the field of ecological civilization development, ensure that the scale of investment is commensurate with development tasks, and improve the efficiency of the use of fiscal funds.
Article 129 The State shall, in accordance with the law, grant tax incentives to entities and individuals participating in ecological and environmental protection.
The State encourages and advocates donations of property by all sectors of society for ecological and environmental protection and shall grant tax incentives in accordance with the law.
Article 130 The State shall improve pricing formation mechanisms in fields such as natural resources, sewage and waste treatment, and water and energy use, and shall implement differentiated pricing policies in accordance with the law for industries characterized by high resource consumption and heavy pollution.
Article 131 State authorities and other public institutions using fiscal funds shall give priority to procuring and using products, equipment, facilities, and services conducive to protection of the ecological environment, including those that conserve energy, water, land, materials, and mineral resources.
Article 132 The State shall strengthen financial support for ecological and environmental protection and continuously promote the regulated and sound development of green financial products and services such as green credit, green bonds, green insurance, and green trusts.
Article 133 The State encourages and supports the development of ecological and environmental protection industries, including ecological and environmental protection technologies and equipment, resource conservation and intensive utilization, and ecological and environmental services.
Article 134 The State shall promote the establishment of market trading systems for resource and environmental factors, advance market-based allocation of resource and environmental factors, and give full play to the role of market mechanisms.
Article 135 The State shall promote advanced and applicable technologies, processes, and equipment, reduce resource consumption and the generation and emission of pollutants and GHGs, and promote comprehensive utilization of waste and harmless treatment of pollutants.
Article 136 Where enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators undergo production transformation, relocation, or closure for purposes of protecting the ecological environment in accordance with relevant provisions, the people's governments shall provide support therefor.
Chapter IX Information Disclosure and Public Participation
Article 137 Citizens, legal persons, and other organizations shall, in accordance with the law, have the right to access ecological and environmental information and to participate in and supervise ecological and environmental protection.
Authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection shall disclose ecological and environmental information in accordance with the law, improve procedures for public participation, and facilitate participation in and supervision of ecological and environmental protection by citizens, legal persons, and other organizations.
Article 138 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall uniformly release information on national ecological and environmental quality, monitoring information on key pollution sources, and other major ecological and environmental information. Ecology and environment authorities under people's governments at or above the provincial level shall regularly publish bulletins on the state of the ecological environment.
Authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection shall disclose, in accordance with the law, information concerning ecological and environmental quality, ecological and environmental monitoring, ecological and environmental emergencies, ecological and environmental administrative licensing, administrative penalties, and other matters.
Article 139 Authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection shall strengthen coordination and communication to ensure that disclosed ecological and environmental information is accurate and consistent.
Article 140 The State encourages enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators to voluntarily disclose relevant ecological and environmental information.
Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to key pollutant discharge permit administration and others legally required to disclose ecological and environmental information shall, in accordance with the law, disclose ecological and environmental information such as pollutant discharge information and GHG emissions information in a timely, truthful, accurate, and complete manner.
Article 141 The State encourages and guides citizens, legal persons, and other organizations to participate in ecological and environmental protection in accordance with the principles of legality, orderliness, voluntariness, and convenience.
Article 142 The State encourages and guides citizens, legal persons, and other organizations to use products, technologies, and processes conducive to protection of the ecological environment, reduce the generation of waste, and promote recycling and reuse of waste.
Article 143 In the preparation of plans or formulation of standards in the field of ecology and environment, the conduct of ecological and environmental impact assessment, and other related activities, hearings, public solicitation of comments, and other such means shall be adopted in accordance with law to safeguard the public's right to participate in ecological and environmental protection.
Article 144 The State encourages citizens, legal persons, and other organizations to supervise public affairs relating to ecological and environmental protection.
Article 145 Authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection shall publish efficient and convenient reporting channels such as reporting hotlines and email addresses to facilitate public reporting.
Where citizens, legal persons, or other organizations discover acts by any entity or individual that cause environmental pollution or ecological damage, they shall have the right to report such acts to authorities responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection.
Where citizens, legal persons, or other organizations discover that local people's governments at any level or authorities or agencies responsible for the supervision and administration of ecological and environmental protection fail to perform their duties in accordance with the law, they shall have the right to report such matters to superior authorities or supervisory authorities.
Article 146 Authorities receiving reports shall promptly handle such reports and keep confidential the relevant information of informants; where reports are made under real names, feedback on handling results and other relevant information shall be provided.
Where an informant reports their own employing entity, such entity shall not rescind or modify labor contracts or employment contracts, or otherwise retaliate against the informant.
Article 147 The State encourages social organizations and volunteers to engage in public interest activities relating to ecological and environmental protection in accordance with the law.
Where acts causing environmental pollution or ecological damage harm the public interest, social organizations meeting the following conditions may file civil public interest litigation with the people's courts in accordance with the law:
(1) They are registered with the civil affairs authority under a people's governments at or above the districted-city level in accordance with the law; and
(2) They have specialized in public interest activities relating to ecological and environmental protection continuously for five years or more and have no record of violations of law.
Where social organizations that meet the conditions specified in the preceding paragraph file civil public interest litigation with the people's courts, the people's courts shall accept such litigation in accordance with the law.
Social organizations filing litigation shall not seek economic benefits through litigation.
Book Two Pollution Prevention and Control
Part One General Provisions
Chapter I General Rules
Article 148 This Book shall apply to the prevention and control of environmental pollution.
Article 149 Pollution prevention and control shall be based on the principles of targeted, science-based, and law-based pollution control and uphold overall planning, source prevention and control, classified administration, and social co-governance. Coordinated governance of multiple pollutants and across regions shall be strengthened, and supervision and administration throughout the entire process shall be enhanced, so as to promote synergistic gains in pollution reduction and carbon reduction, continuously improve ecological and environmental quality, and safeguard public health.
Article 150 Entities and individuals discharging pollutants shall adopt effective measures to prevent and control environmental pollution arising from air pollution, water pollution, marine pollution, soil pollution, solid waste pollution, noise pollution, radioactive pollution, as well as pollution caused by chemical substances, electromagnetic radiation, light, and other forms of pollution generated in production, daily life, and other activities.
Article 151 The discharge of pollutants shall comply with pollutant discharge standards, total emission control indicators for key pollutants, pollutant discharge permit administration, and the requirements of relevant laws, regulations, and rules.
Article 152 Enterprises, and public institutions discharging pollutants shall establish responsibility systems for pollution prevention and control and clarify the responsibilities of the persons in charge of the entities and relevant persons.
Article 153 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall formulate national pollutant discharge standards.
People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may formulate local pollutant discharge standards for items not specified in national pollutant discharge standards; for items already specified in national pollutant discharge standards, they may formulate local pollutant discharge standards that are more stringent than national pollutant discharge standards. Local pollutant discharge standards shall be filed with the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 154 Pollutant discharge standards shall be formulated on the basis of ecological and environmental quality standards and economic and technological conditions, and reflect the characteristics of pollutant discharges and acceptable ecological and environmental risks, while scientifically and reasonably determining pollutant discharge control requirements.
Article 155 The State shall implement a system for total emission control of key pollutants.
Total emission control indicators for key pollutants shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council after soliciting opinions from relevant authorities and the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and shall be submitted together with the development and reform authority under the State Council to the State Council for approval and implementation. People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall allocate and implement the total emission control indicators issued by the State Council and control or reduce total emissions of key pollutants within their respective administrative regions.
Specific measures for determining and allocating total emission control indicators shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council together with relevant authorities.
Article 156 People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may, in light of the ecological and environmental quality conditions of their respective administrative regions and the needs of pollution prevention and control, implement total emission control over other key pollutants in addition to those determined by the State.
Article 157 Enterprises, and public institutions shall comply with the total emission control indicators for key pollutants allocated to them.
Article 158 For regions that exceed total emission control indicators for key pollutants or fail to achieve ecological and environmental quality targets, ecology and environment authorities under people's governments at or above the provincial level shall suspend approval of ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms for construction projects that will increase the total emission volume of key pollutants in such regions.
Article 159 Ecology and environment authorities under people's governments at or above the provincial level shall, together with relevant authorities, conduct regulatory talks with the principal persons in charge of local people's governments at or above the county level and their relevant authorities in regions where environmental pollution problems are prominent, pollution prevention and control is ineffective, and public complaints are intense, and require them to promptly undertake rectification by adopting effective measures. Information on regulatory talks and rectification shall be disclosed to the public.
Article 160 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall organize and carry out statistical investigations of emission sources in accordance with the law, and establish and improve methodological systems for emission source statistical accounting and systems for data quality control. The State shall periodically organize and conduct national censuses of pollution sources.
Article 161 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with relevant authorities, establish and improve systems for pollution damage assessment.
Article 162 Pollution prevention and control facilities in construction projects shall be designed, constructed, and put into operation simultaneously with the principal project.
Pollution prevention and control facilities shall comply with the requirements of approved ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms and shall not be dismantled or left idle without authorization.
Before construction projects are put into production or use, project developers shall, in accordance with State provisions, conduct acceptance inspections of the supporting pollution prevention and control facilities constructed for such projects.
Article 163 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators discharging pollutants shall establish and use pollutant discharge outlets (hereinafter referred to as "discharge outlets") in accordance with laws and regulations and the provisions of the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 164 It is prohibited to discharge pollutants by evading regulatory supervision through means such as concealed pipes, seepage wells, seepage pits, injection, fissures, karst caves, tampering with or fabricating monitoring data, temporary suspension of production for the purpose of evading on-site inspections, opening emergency discharge channels under non-emergency circumstances, or abnormal operation of pollution prevention and control facilities.
It is prohibited to dump, stack, or store solid waste and other pollutants in rivers, lakes, canals, channels, reservoirs, beaches, and bank slopes below their highest water levels, or other locations prescribed by laws and regulations.
Article 165 People's governments at all levels shall make overall plans for the development of urban and rural wastewater treatment facilities and supporting pipeline networks, facilities and sites for the collection, transport, and disposal of solid waste, and other pollution prevention and control facilities, ensure their normal operation, and improve the level of development of urban and rural pollution prevention and control facilities.
Article 166 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall periodically publish guiding catalogs of technologies, processes, and equipment for pollution prevention and control.
Article 167 The State shall gradually promote trading of pollutant discharge allowances for key air pollutants, water pollutants, and other pollutants, establish and improve systems for trading pollutant discharge allowances based on total emission control indicators for key pollutants, and strengthen supervision and administration throughout the entire process of trading pollutant discharge allowances.
Article 168 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators that directly discharge taxable pollutants into the environment shall pay environmental protection tax in accordance with the law.
Article 169 The State encourages the purchase of environmental pollution liability insurance.
Article 170 People's governments at all levels shall arrange funds in fiscal budgets to support the protection of rural drinking water source areas, treatment of domestic sewage and disposal of domestic garbage and other waste, prevention and control of agricultural non-point source pollution, prevention and control of pollution from livestock and poultry breeding and slaughtering, prevention and control of pollution from aquaculture, prevention and control of soil pollution, and remediation of pollution from rural industrial and mining activities.
Article 171 People's governments at all levels, the agriculture and rural affairs authorities, and other relevant authorities and agencies, shall guide agricultural producers and business operators in engaging in scientific planting and breeding, in scientifically, rationally, and safely using pesticides, veterinary drugs, feed and feed additives, fertilizers, and other agricultural inputs, and in scientifically disposing of agricultural waste such as agricultural plastic films, crop straw, and packaging waste of agricultural inputs; strengthen control over pollutants discharged from agricultural production and business activities; and prevent agricultural non-point source pollution.
It is prohibited to apply solid waste or wastewater that fails to comply with agricultural standards and ecological and environmental protection standards to farmland. Effective measures shall be adopted in the application of pesticides, fertilizers, and other agricultural inputs and irrigation activities to prevent heavy metals and other toxic and hazardous substances from polluting the environment.
The site selection, construction, and administration of livestock and poultry farms, designated slaughtering enterprises, and other such entities shall comply with the provisions of laws and regulations. Livestock and poultry farms shall improve precision feeding practices and strengthen comprehensive management of livestock and poultry manure and wastewater. Entities and individuals engaged in livestock and poultry breeding and slaughtering shall adopt effective measures to promptly collect, store, transport, harmlessly treat, and utilize as resources waste such as livestock and poultry manure and carcasses, so as to prevent environmental pollution.
County-level people's governments shall be responsible for organizing the disposal of rural domestic waste.
Article 172 The State shall strengthen systematic governance in regions with prominent agricultural non-point source pollution and improve the effectiveness of prevention and control of agricultural non-point source pollution.
Article 173 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with relevant authorities, determine key regions and key industries for prevention and control of heavy metal pollution and submit them to the State Council for approval. Local people's governments at or above the districted-city level in key regions shall, in accordance with State provisions, organize the formulation and implementation of plans for prevention and control of heavy metal pollution. Enterprises in key industries shall regularly inspect for potential hazards and rectify them, and adopt effective measures to prevent and control heavy metal pollution.
Chapter II Pollutant Discharge Permit Administration
Article 174 The State shall establish and improve a stationary pollution source supervision and administration system centered on the pollutant discharge permit system, and specific measures shall be formulated by the State Council.
Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration shall obtain pollutant discharge permits in accordance with relevant provisions. No pollutants may be discharged without obtaining a pollutant discharge permit.
Article 175 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration shall be subject to classified pollutant discharge permit administration based on factors such as the amount of pollutants generated and discharged and the degree of impact on the ecological environment:
(1) Where the amount of pollutants generated or discharged or the degree of impact on the ecological environment is relatively significant, key pollutant discharge permit administration shall apply; and
(2) Where the amount of pollutants generated and discharged and the degree of impact on the ecological environment are relatively minor, simplified pollutant discharge permit administration shall apply.
The catalog specifying the scope, implementation steps, and administration categories of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration shall be proposed by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council, submitted to the State Council for approval, and released for implementation.
In formulating the catalog specifying the scope, implementation steps, and administration categories of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration, opinions from relevant authorities, industry associations, enterprises, public institutions, and the public shall be solicited.
Article 176 The following enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall obtain pollutant discharge permits:
(1) Enterprises, and public institutions discharging industrial waste gas or toxic and hazardous air pollutants, and entities engaged in production and operation of coal-fired heat sources for centralized heating facilities;
(2) Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators directly or indirectly discharging industrial wastewater or medical wastewater into water bodies;
(3) Entities operating centralized municipal wastewater treatment facilities;
(4) Coastal engineering and marine engineering entities directly discharging industrial wastewater or medical wastewater into the ocean;
(5) Entities generating industrial solid waste;
(6) Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators discharging industrial noise;
(7) Entities engaged in the development and utilization of associated radioactive minerals that discharge radioactive liquid waste or generate radioactive solid waste;
(8) Enterprises, and public institutions operating Category I electromagnetic radiation facilities, and enterprises, and public institutions operating Category II electromagnetic radiation facilities that are subject to pollutant discharge permit administration in accordance with the law; and
(9) Other enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration in accordance with laws and administrative regulations.
Article 177 Ecology and environment authorities under people's governments at or above the districted-city level shall strengthen supervision and administration of pollutant discharge permits.
Article 178 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall apply for pollutant discharge permits to the ecology and environment authorities under local people's governments at or above the districted-city level where their production and business operation premises are located.
Where pollutant discharge permits are required for marine engineering projects, applications shall be submitted to the ecology and environment authority under the State Council or to marine area agencies dispatched by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 179 Pollutant discharge permits shall serve as the principal basis for ecological and environmental supervision and administration of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration.
Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration shall comply with the requirements of pollutant discharge permits, operate and maintain pollution prevention and control facilities in accordance with relevant provisions, establish ecological and environmental management systems, and strictly control pollutant discharges.
Article 180 Pollutant discharge permits shall be issued to enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration that satisfy the following conditions:
(1) They have legally obtained approval documents for ecological and environmental impact reports or ecological and environmental impact report forms, or have completed record-filing procedures for ecological and environmental impact registration forms;
(2) Pollutant discharges comply with requirements such as pollutant discharge standards; discharges of key pollutants comply with the technical specifications for application and issuance of pollutant discharge permits, the approval documents for ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms, and the total emission control indicators for key pollutants; and where the production and business operation premises of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration are located in regions, river basins, or sea areas that have not attained national ecological and environmental quality standards, they shall also comply with special requirements of relevant local people's governments for improving ecological and environmental quality;
(3) Pollution prevention and control facilities adopted can satisfy requirements such as permitted discharge concentrations or comply with feasible pollution prevention and control technologies;
(4) Monitoring points, indicators, frequency, and other aspects of self-monitoring plans comply with national self-monitoring specifications; and
(5) Other conditions prescribed by laws and administrative regulations.
Article 181 A pollutant discharge permit shall contain the following information:
(1) The locations and number of discharge outlets, methods of pollutant discharge, discharge destinations, etc.;
(2) The categories of pollutants discharged, permitted discharge concentrations, permitted discharge volumes, permitted discharge limits, etc.;
(3) Links involving the generation and discharge of pollutants, pollution prevention and control facilities and requirements for their operation and maintenance, requirements for standardized construction of discharge outlets, etc.;
(4) Requirements prohibiting or restricting pollutant discharges during special periods; and
(5) Other information prescribed by laws and administrative regulations.
Article 182 The validity period of a pollutant discharge permit shall be five years. During the validity period of a pollutant discharge permit, enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration that fall under any of the following circumstances shall reapply for a pollutant discharge permit:
(1) Construction, reconstruction, or expansion of pollutant-discharging projects;
(2) Changes in production and business operation premises, the locations of discharge outlets, methods of pollutant discharge, or discharge destinations;
(3) Increases in the number of discharge outlets or in the categories, concentrations, or quantities of pollutants discharged; or
(4) Other circumstances prescribed by laws and administrative regulations.
Article 183 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration shall, in accordance with the requirements of pollutant discharge permits and relevant standards and specifications, lawfully conduct self-monitoring, establish management ledgers, and preserve original monitoring records and management ledgers.
The retention period for original monitoring records and management ledgers shall not be less than five years.
Article 184 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to key pollutant discharge permit administration shall, in accordance with State provisions, install, use, and maintain automatic pollutant discharge monitoring equipment; conduct surveillance and automatic monitoring; connect such equipment to the surveillance equipment of ecology and environment authorities; ensure the normal operation of automatic monitoring equipment; and preserve original monitoring records. Specific measures for monitoring shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Where enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to key pollutant discharge permit administration detect abnormalities in data transmitted by automatic pollutant discharge monitoring equipment, they shall promptly report such abnormalities to ecology and environment authorities and inspect and repair the equipment. Where ecology and environment authorities detect abnormalities in data transmitted by automatic pollutant discharge monitoring equipment of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to key pollutant discharge permit administration, they shall promptly conduct investigations.
Article 185 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators subject to pollutant discharge permit administration shall, in accordance with relevant provisions, disclose to the public information on pollutant discharges such as the categories, concentrations, and volumes of pollutants discharged, the construction and operation of pollution prevention and control facilities, and self-monitoring data, and shall accept public supervision.
Article 186 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators whose amount of pollutants generated and discharged and degree of impact on the ecological environment are all minimal shall complete pollutant discharge registration forms and shall not be subject to pollutant discharge permit administration. The validity period of pollutant discharge registration forms shall be five years.
The catalog specifying the scope of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators required to complete pollutant discharge registration forms shall be formulated and released by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council. In formulating the catalog specifying the scope of enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators required to complete pollutant discharge registration forms, opinions from relevant authorities, industry associations, enterprises, public institutions, and the public shall be solicited.
Part Two Air Pollution Prevention and Control
Chapter III General Rules
Article 187 This Part shall apply to the prevention and control of air pollution.
Article 188 For the purposes of this Code, "air pollution" refers to phenomena whereby the introduction of certain substances into the atmosphere alters its chemical, physical, or other characteristics, thereby endangering public health or damaging the ecological environment, and causes deterioration of air quality.
Article 189 Prevention and control of air pollution shall take improvement of air quality as the objective, transform the mode of economic development, optimize the industrial structure and layout, and adjust the energy and transport structure.
Prevention and control of air pollution shall strengthen comprehensive prevention and control of air pollution arising from coal combustion, industry, motor vehicles and vessels, non-road mobile machinery, fugitive dust, agriculture, and other sources; promote joint regional prevention and control of air pollution; and implement coordinated control of air pollutants such as particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and ammonia, as well as GHGs.
Article 190 Local people's governments at or above the districted-city level shall formulate plans and adopt effective measures to control or gradually reduce emissions of air pollutants, to ensure that air quality attains prescribed standards and progressively improves.
Article 191 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall exercise unified supervision and administration over air pollution prevention and control nationwide. Ecology and environment authorities under local people's governments shall exercise unified supervision and administration over air pollution prevention and control within their respective administrative regions.
Other relevant authorities under people's governments at or above the county level shall exercise supervision and administration over air pollution prevention and control within the scope of their respective responsibilities.
Article 192 People's governments of municipalities directly under the Central Government, districted cities, and counties in regions that fail to attain national air quality standards shall promptly formulate plans for attaining air quality standards within prescribed time limits, adopt effective measures, and attain air quality standards within the time limits prescribed by people's governments at or above the provincial level.
Article 193 Plans for attaining air quality standards within prescribed time limits formulated by people's governments of municipalities directly under the Central Government and districted cities shall be filed with the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 194 Plans for attaining air quality standards within prescribed time limits shall be evaluated and revised in a timely manner in accordance with the requirements for air pollution prevention and control and economic and technological conditions.
Article 195 Quality standards for products such as coal, petroleum coke, biomass fuels, coatings containing VOCs, fireworks and firecrackers, and boilers shall specify requirements for air pollution prevention and control.
Fuel quality standards shall comply with national requirements for control of air pollutants and shall be coordinated with and implemented simultaneously with national air pollutant emission standards for motor vehicles and vessels and non-road mobile machinery.
Article 196 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall organize monitoring of air quality and air pollution sources, and organize the development and management of the national air quality and air pollution source monitoring network.
Ecology and environment authorities under local people's governments at or above the districted-city level shall be responsible for organizing the development and management of monitoring networks for air quality and air pollution sources within their respective administrative regions, and for conducting monitoring of air quality and air pollution sources.
Article 197 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators shall, in accordance with State provisions, monitor the industrial waste gas and toxic and hazardous air pollutants they discharge and preserve original monitoring records. Specific measures for monitoring shall be formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Article 198 Ecology and environment authorities shall promptly monitor air pollutants generated by environmental pollution emergencies and disclose monitoring information to the public.
Article 199 The State encourages and supports analysis of the sources of air pollution and trends in changes thereof, and gives full play to the supporting role of science and technology in air pollution prevention and control.
Article 200 Prevention and control of air pollution from marine engineering projects shall not be governed by this Part.
Chapter IV Measures for Prevention and Control of Air Pollution
Section 1 Prevention and Control of Air Pollution from Coal Combustion and Other Energy Sources
Article 201 Relevant authorities under the State Council and local people's governments at all levels shall optimize methods of coal utilization and reduce emissions of air pollutants generated during the production, storage, transport, use, and conversion of coal.
Article 202 The State shall promote coal washing and processing, reduce the sulfur and ash content of coal, and restrict the mining of coal with high sulfur and ash content. Supporting coal washing facilities shall be constructed simultaneously with newly constructed coal mines to ensure that the sulfur and ash content of coal attains prescribed standards; existing coal mines shall construct supporting coal washing facilities within prescribed time limits, except where the coal mined is low in sulfur and ash content or where washing is unnecessary in accordance with the requirements of coal-fired power plants that have attained emission standards.
It is prohibited to mine coal containing radioactive substances, arsenic, and other toxic and hazardous substances in excess of prescribed standards.
Article 203 Where coalbed methane is exploited and utilized, emissions of coalbed methane shall comply with relevant standards and specifications.
Article 204 It is prohibited to import, sell, or use coal that fails to comply with quality standards. The use of high-quality coal is encouraged.
Entities storing materials such as coal, coal gangue, coal slag, and coal ash shall adopt fire prevention measures to prevent air pollution.
Article 205 Local people's governments at all levels shall adopt effective measures to strengthen management of scattered coal, prohibit the sale of coal that fails to comply with quality standards for scattered coal, and encourage and support measures such as substitution with clean and low-carbon energy and centralized heating to prevent and control air pollution caused by the combustion of scattered coal.
Article 206 Petroleum refining enterprises shall produce fuels in accordance with fuel quality standards.
It is prohibited to import, sell, or use petroleum coke that fails to comply with quality standards.
Article 207 Local people's governments at or above the districted-city level may designate and publish areas where the use of highly polluting fuels is prohibited and, in accordance with air quality improvement requirements, progressively expand the scope of such areas. The catalog of highly polluting fuels shall be determined by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Within areas where the use of highly polluting fuels is prohibited, the sale and use of highly polluting fuels are prohibited; the construction or expansion of facilities using highly polluting fuels is prohibited, and existing facilities shall, within the time limit prescribed by local people's governments at or above the districted-city level, switch to natural gas, shale gas, liquefied petroleum gas, electricity, or other clean and low-carbon energy sources.
Article 208 Urban development shall be planned in a holistic manner. In areas using coal-fired heating, cogeneration of heat and power and centralized heating shall be promoted. Within areas covered by centralized heating pipeline networks, the construction or expansion of decentralized coal-fired heating boilers is prohibited; existing coal-fired heating boilers that fail to attain emission standards shall be dismantled within the time limits prescribed by local people's governments at or above the districted-city level.
Article 209 Market regulation authorities under people's governments at or above the county level shall, together with ecology and environment authorities, conduct supervision and inspection regarding compliance with air pollution prevention and control standards or requirements in the production, importation, sale, and use of boilers; boilers that fail to comply with air pollution prevention and control standards or requirements shall not be produced, imported, sold, or used.
Article 210 Coal-fired power plants and other coal-consuming entities shall adopt clean production processes, construct supporting dust removal, desulfurization, denitrification, and other facilities, or adopt technological transformation or other measures to control emissions of air pollutants.
The State encourages coal-consuming entities to adopt advanced technologies and facilities for coordinated control of air pollutants, including dust removal, desulfurization, denitrification, and mercury removal technologies and facilities, so as to reduce emissions of air pollutants.
Section 2 Prevention and Control of Industrial Air Pollution
Article 211 Enterprises in industries such as iron and steel, building materials, non-ferrous metals, petroleum, and the chemical industry that emit dust, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides during production processes shall adopt clean production processes, construct supporting dust removal, desulfurization, denitrification, and other facilities, or adopt technological transformation or other measures to control emissions of air pollutants.
Article 212 The State encourages and supports key industries such as iron and steel, cement, and coking, as well as coal-fired boilers, in adopting technologies such as ultra-low emission technologies to reduce emissions of air pollutants.
Article 213 Relevant authorities under the State Council shall, within the scope of their respective responsibilities, formulate standards for limits on VOC content in raw and auxiliary materials and products containing VOCs, and standards for raw and auxiliary materials and products with low VOC content.
Where raw and auxiliary materials or products containing volatile organic compounds are produced, imported, sold, or used, their VOC content shall meet the applicable quality standards or requirements.
The State encourages the production, importation, sale, and use of raw and auxiliary materials and products that are low-toxic and contain low levels of VOCs. Industrial coating enterprises and other such entities shall use raw and auxiliary materials and products with low VOC content in accordance with relevant provisions.
Article 214 The production and use of raw and auxiliary materials and products containing VOCs shall, in accordance with State provisions, be conducted in enclosed spaces or equipment with pollution prevention and control facilities installed and used, or effective measures shall be adopted to reduce exhaust gas emissions.
Article 215 The State shall establish and improve a labeling system for products with low VOC content. Producers of products with low VOC content shall label such products in accordance with relevant provisions.
Article 216 Enterprises in petroleum, chemical, and other industries that manufacture or use organic solvents shall adopt effective measures to carry out routine maintenance and repair of pipelines and equipment, reduce leaks of material, and promptly collect and treat leaked materials.
Oil depots, gas stations, crude oil and refined oil terminals, vessels transporting crude oil and refined oil, tank trucks, railway tank cars, and other such facilities and means of transport shall install vapor recovery devices in accordance with State provisions and ensure their normal operation.
Article 217 Enterprises in industries such as iron and steel, building materials, non-ferrous metals, petroleum, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and mining, as well as other industrial production enterprises, shall strengthen refined management, adopt measures such as centralized collection and treatment, and strictly control emissions of dust and gaseous pollutants.
Industrial production enterprises shall adopt measures such as enclosure, screening, covering, cleaning, and water spraying to reduce emissions of dust and gaseous pollutants generated during the storage, transfer, and loading and unloading of internal materials.
Article 218 Combustible gases generated by industrial production, waste landfilling, and other activities shall be recovered and utilized; where recovery and utilization are not feasible, the gases shall be treated to prevent and control pollution.
Where combustible gas recovery and utilization facilities cannot operate normally, they shall be promptly repaired or replaced. Where the discharge of combustible gases is truly necessary during periods in which recovery and utilization facilities cannot operate normally, the discharged combustible gases shall be fully combusted or other measures to control emissions of air pollutants shall be adopted, and reports shall be submitted to the local ecology and environment authorities. Repair or replacement shall be completed within prescribed time limits as required.
Section 3 Prevention and Control of Air Pollution from Motor Vehicles, Vessels, and Other Sources
Article 219 The State advocates green travel, reasonably controls the number of fuel-powered motor vehicles in accordance with urban planning, vigorously develops urban public transport, and increases the proportion of travel by public transport.
The State adopts fiscal, tax, government procurement, and other measures to promote the application of energy-saving, environmentally friendly, and new-energy motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery, restrict the development of motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery with high fuel consumption and high emissions, and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels.
People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may, in regions where conditions permit, implement in advance the emission limits for the corresponding stages of national motor vehicle air pollutant emission standards and file them with the ecology and environment authority under the State Council.
Local people's governments at or above the county level shall strengthen and improve urban traffic management, optimize road layout, and ensure the continuity and smooth passage of sidewalks and non-motor vehicle lanes.
Article 220 Key entities with extensive use of heavy-duty trucks shall, in accordance with State provisions, incorporate emissions management for transport and loading and unloading activities into their pollution prevention and control responsibility systems, and strengthen prevention and control of air pollution from heavy-duty trucks.
Article 221 Motor vehicles, vessels, non-road mobile machinery, and their engines shall not emit air pollutants in excess of applicable standards.
It is prohibited to produce, import, or sell motor vehicles, vessels, non-road mobile machinery, or their engines that fail to comply with air pollutant emission standards.
Article 222 Enterprises that produce motor vehicles, non-road mobile machinery, and their engines shall conduct emission inspections of newly manufactured motor vehicles, non-road mobile machinery, and their engines. Only those passing inspection may be released for sale. Inspection information shall be disclosed to the public and filed with ecology and environment authorities.
Ecology and environment authorities under people's governments at or above the provincial level may strengthen supervision and inspection of the air pollutant emission conditions and operation of emission control systems of newly manufactured, imported, and sold motor vehicles, non-road mobile machinery, and their engines through on-site inspections, sampling inspections, and other means. The industry and information technology, transport, market regulation, customs, and other relevant authorities shall cooperate accordingly.
Article 223 In-use motor vehicles shall undergo regular emission inspections conducted by motor vehicle emission inspection institutions in accordance with relevant provisions. Only those passing inspection may be driven on roads. Traffic management authorities under public security authorities shall not issue certificates of passing safety and technical inspection to motor vehicles that fail to pass emission inspections.
Ecology and environment authorities may conduct supervisory sampling inspections of the air pollutant emission conditions and operation of emission control systems of in-use motor vehicles at locations where motor vehicles are centrally parked, repaired, or used for heavy-duty truck operations; under conditions that do not affect normal traffic flow, they may conduct supervisory sampling inspections of the air pollutant emission conditions and operation of emission control systems of motor vehicles traveling on roads through technical means such as non-contact road monitoring. Traffic management authorities under public security authorities shall cooperate accordingly.
For the purposes of this Code, "emission control systems" refer to systems installed on motor vehicles, vessels, non-road mobile machinery, and other such equipment, including pollution control systems, emission diagnostic systems, and remote emissions management terminals.
Article 224 Ecology and environment authorities shall, together with the transport, housing and urban-rural development, agriculture and rural affairs, water resources, and other relevant authorities, conduct supervision and inspection of the air pollutant emission conditions and operation of emission control systems of in-use non-road mobile machinery; and those failing to meet emission requirements shall not be used.
Maritime safety authorities and fisheries and fishery administration authorities shall, within the scope of their respective responsibilities, conduct supervision and inspection of the air pollutant emission conditions and operation of emission control systems of vessels; and those failing to meet emission requirements shall not be used.
Article 225 Motor vehicle and non-road mobile machinery emission inspection institutions shall obtain metrological certification in accordance with the law, use motor vehicle and non-road mobile machinery emission inspection equipment that has passed statutory verification, conduct emission inspections of motor vehicles and non-road mobile machinery in accordance with specifications formulated by the ecology and environment authority under the State Council, and connect with ecology and environment authorities to realize real-time sharing of inspection data. Motor vehicle and non-road mobile machinery emission inspection institutions and the persons in charge thereof shall be responsible for the authenticity, accuracy, and completeness of inspection data.
Ecology and environment authorities and authorities responsible for certification and accreditation supervision and administration shall, within the scope of their respective responsibilities, conduct supervision and inspection of emission inspection activities conducted by motor vehicle and non-road mobile machinery emission inspection institutions.
Article 226 Producers and importers of motor vehicles and non-road mobile machinery shall disclose to the public information concerning emission inspections, pollution control technologies, and relevant maintenance technologies for the motor vehicle models and non-road mobile machinery models they produce or import.
Motor vehicle and non-road mobile machinery maintenance entities shall, in accordance with requirements for air pollution prevention and control and relevant technical specifications of the State, repair in-use motor vehicles and non-road mobile machinery to ensure their compliance with emission standards. The transport, ecology and environment, and other relevant authorities shall strengthen supervision and administration in accordance with the law within the scope of their respective responsibilities.
Owners of motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery shall not pass emission inspections for motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery through fraudulent means such as temporary replacement, tampering with, disabling, or falsifying emission control systems. Maintenance entities for motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery shall not provide such maintenance services. It is prohibited to damage, remove, tamper with, disable, or falsify emission control systems of motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery.
Article 227 The State shall establish and improve the environmental protection recall system for motor vehicles and non-road mobile machinery.
Where producers or importers become aware that motor vehicles or non-road mobile machinery fail to comply with air pollutant emission standards or result in unreasonable emissions of air pollutants due to design or manufacturing defects, they shall conduct recalls. If they fail to do so, the market regulatory authority under the State Council shall, together with the ecology and environment authority under the State Council, order recalls.
Article 228 Where in-use heavy-duty trucks, vessels, non-road mobile machinery, and other such equipment have not been equipped with emission control systems in accordance with relevant provisions, or where installed emission control systems fail to comply with applicable requirements, and emissions fail to meet standards, emission control systems meeting applicable requirements shall be additionally installed or replaced, or other effective measures shall be adopted.
Article 229 Where in-use motor vehicles, non-road mobile machinery, and other such equipment emit air pollutants in excess of applicable standards, they shall be repaired; where emissions still fail to comply with national emission standards after repair or adoption of pollution control technologies, mandatory scrapping shall be carried out. Owners thereof shall deliver motor vehicles, non-road mobile machinery, and other such equipment to scrapped vehicle recycling and dismantling enterprises, which shall carry out registration, dismantling, destruction, and other treatment in accordance with State provisions.
The State encourages and supports the early retirement of high-emission motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery.
Article 230 Local people's governments at or above the county level may, in light of air quality conditions, designate and publish areas prohibiting the use of high-emission non-road mobile machinery.
Article 231 Vessel inspection institutions shall conduct emission inspections of vessel engines and related equipment. Only vessels that pass inspections and comply with national emission standards may operate.
Article 232 Non-road mobile machinery inspection institutions shall conduct emission inspections of in-use non-road mobile machinery. Only machinery that passes inspections and complies with national emission standards may operate.
Article 233 It is prohibited to produce, import, or sell devices used to tamper with, interfere with, or falsify emission inspection data of motor vehicles, vessels, non-road mobile machinery, and their engines, or inspection equipment used to facilitate false emission inspections.
Article 234 Inland waterway vessels and river-sea direct vessels shall use fuel complying with applicable standards. Ocean-going vessels shall, after berthing at ports, use fuel complying with requirements for air pollutant control.
Article 235 Shore power facilities shall be planned, designed, and constructed with newly constructed terminals in accordance with relevant provisions; existing terminals shall progressively retrofit shore power facilities in accordance with relevant provisions. Vessels meeting conditions for shore power use shall use shore power in accordance with State provisions when berthing at ports, except where clean and low-carbon energy is used. Port operators and shore power suppliers possessing shore power supply capacity shall provide shore power in accordance with State provisions to vessels meeting conditions for shore power use.
Article 236 It is prohibited to produce, import, or sell fuels and nitrogen oxide reducing agents for motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery that fail to comply with applicable standards. It is prohibited to sell fuels not intended for use in motor vehicles and vessels for use in motor vehicles, non-road mobile machinery, inland waterway vessels, and river-sea direct vessels. Motor vehicles, non-road mobile machinery, inland waterway vessels, and river-sea direct vessels shall not use fuels not intended for use in motor vehicles and vessels.
Article 237 The content of toxic and hazardous substances in engine oils, nitrogen oxide reducing agents, fuels, lubricant additives, and other additives, as well as other air pollution prevention and control indicators, shall comply with relevant standards, shall not impair the effectiveness or durability of emission control systems of motor vehicles, vessels, and non-road mobile machinery, and shall not increase emissions of new air pollutants.
Article 238 The State actively advances prevention and control of air pollution from civil aircraft and encourages the adoption of effective measures during the design, production, and use processes to reduce emissions of air pollutants.
Civil aircraft shall comply with relevant engine emission requirements under airworthiness standards prescribed by the civil aviation authority under the State Council.
Air pollutant emissions from in-use railway diesel locomotives shall comply with national emission standards.
Section 4 Prevention and Control of Dust Pollution
Article 239 Local people's governments at all levels shall strengthen management of construction activities and transport, maintain road cleanliness, control the stockpiling of materials and excavated earth, expand the areas of green spaces, water surfaces, wetlands, and paved ground surfaces, and prevent and control dust pollution.
The housing and urban-rural development, city appearance and environmental sanitation, transport, natural resources, and other relevant authorities shall, in accordance with the responsibilities determined by the people's governments at the corresponding levels, carry out work relating to prevention and control of dust pollution.
Article 240 Project developers shall include expenses for prevention and control of dust pollution in project costs and specify the responsibilities of construction contractors for prevention and control of dust pollution in construction contracts. Construction contractors shall formulate specific implementation plans for prevention and control of dust pollution from construction activities.
Construction contractors engaged in housing construction, municipal infrastructure construction, river regulation, building demolition, and other such activities shall file with authorities responsible for supervision and administration of dust pollution prevention and control.
Construction contractors shall install rigid enclosures at construction sites and adopt effective dust prevention and suppression measures such as covering, segmented operations, time-scheduled construction, water spraying for dust suppression, and washing of ground surfaces and vehicles. Construction and demolition waste such as excavated earth and construction soil shall be promptly removed and transported away; and they shall be covered with enclosed dust-proof netting if stockpiled on-site. Construction and demolition waste such as excavated earth shall undergo resource utilization treatment.
Construction contractors shall publicly display at construction sites such information as dust pollution prevention and control measures, responsible persons, and regulatory authorities.
Where construction land cannot temporarily commence construction, project developers shall cover exposed ground surfaces; where construction does not commence for more than three months, greening, paving, or covering measures shall be adopted.
Article 241 Vehicles and vessels transporting bulk or fluid materials such as coal, garbage, excavated earth, sand and gravel, soil, and mortar shall adopt enclosed transport or other effective measures to prevent spillage of materials from causing dust pollution, and shall travel along prescribed routes.
Loading and unloading of materials shall adopt enclosed operations, spraying, or other measures to prevent and control dust pollution.
Local people's governments at or above the county level shall strengthen cleaning and sanitation management of roads, squares, parking lots, and other public places, promote mechanized cleaning powered by clean energy and other scientifically sound low-dust operational methods, and prevent and control dust pollution.
Article 242 Relevant authorities shall, in accordance with planning requirements, organize the implementation of greening or permeable paving for exposed ground surfaces along municipal rivers and riverbanks, on public land, and on other exposed urban ground surfaces.
Article 243 Materials prone to generating dust pollution, such as coal, coal gangue, coal slag, coal ash, cement, lime, gypsum, sand, and iron ore, shall be stored in enclosed conditions; where enclosure is not feasible, tightly sealed barriers no lower than the height of the stockpiled materials shall be installed, and effective covering measures shall be adopted to prevent and control dust pollution.
Terminals, mines, landfills, and spoil disposal sites shall implement zoned operations and adopt effective measures to prevent and control dust pollution.
Section 5 Prevention and Control of Air Pollution from Agricultural and Other Sources
Article 244 It is prohibited to spray highly toxic or severely toxic pesticides on trees, flowers, and plants in densely populated areas.
Article 245 People's governments at all levels and relevant authorities thereof including the agriculture and rural affairs authorities shall encourage and support the adoption of advanced and applicable technologies for comprehensive utilization of straw, fallen leaves, and other such materials as fertilizers, feed, energy resources, industrial raw materials, and edible mushroom substrates, and shall increase fiscal subsidies for agricultural machinery used for straw incorporation into fields, integrated collection, and other such activities.
County-level people's governments shall organize the establishment and improvement of service systems for the collection, storage, transport, disposal, and comprehensive utilization of straw, and shall adopt fiscal subsidies and other measures to support rural collective economic organizations, specialized farmers' cooperatives, enterprises, and other such entities in carrying out services for the collection, storage, transport, disposal, and comprehensive utilization of straw.
Article 246 Local people's governments at all levels shall scientifically and precisely strengthen the organization, guidance, and management of the burning of straw, fallen leaves, and other such materials. It is prohibited to openly burn straw, fallen leaves, and other substances generating smoke and dust pollution in densely populated areas, around airports, near major transport routes, and in other areas and during periods designated by people's governments at or above the provincial level.
Article 247 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with the health authority under the State Council, formulate and publish a catalog of toxic and hazardous air pollutants and update it in a timely manner according to the degree of harm and impact of air pollutants on public health and the ecological environment, and implement risk management.
Enterprises, and public institutions discharging toxic and hazardous air pollutants listed in the catalog specified in the preceding paragraph shall, in accordance with State provisions, establish environmental risk early warning systems, conduct regular monitoring of discharge outlets and the surrounding environment, assess environmental risks, inspect for hidden environmental safety risks, and adopt effective measures to prevent environmental risks.
Article 248 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators discharging persistent organic pollutants into the atmosphere, as well as operators of waste incineration facilities, shall, in accordance with State provisions, adopt technologies, methods, and processes conducive to reducing emissions of persistent organic pollutants, equip themselves with effective purification facilities, and ensure emissions comply with applicable standards.
Article 249 People's governments at all levels and their relevant authorities shall, in formulating territorial spatial plans and related plans, conduct coordinated planning and rationally arrange land use and construction layout to prevent and reduce odor pollution.
Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and business operators generating odorous gases during production and business activities shall scientifically select sites, establish reasonable protective distances, and install purification facilities or adopt other effective measures to prevent the discharge of odorous gases.
Article 250 Local people's governments at all levels shall strengthen guidance regarding the layout and siting of catering service establishments and provide notice of prohibited site selection requirements during the registration of business entities.
Business operators in the catering service industry discharging cooking fume pollutants shall install pollution prevention and control facilities such as cooking fume purification facilities and maintain their normal operation in accordance with relevant provisions. It is prohibited to newly construct, reconstruct, or expand catering service projects generating cooking fumes, odors, or exhaust gases in residential buildings, mixed residential-commercial buildings without dedicated flues, or commercial floors adjacent to residential floors within mixed residential-commercial buildings.
Business operators in the catering service industry discharging cooking fume pollutants shall adopt effective measures to ensure pollutant emissions comply with applicable standards and prevent pollution to the normal living environment of nearby residents.
No entity or individual may openly barbecue food or provide sites for open-air barbecuing of food during periods or within areas prohibited by local people's governments.
Article 251 It is prohibited to burn asphalt, felt, rubber, plastics, leather, garbage, and other substances generating toxic and harmful smoke, dust, and odorous gases in densely populated areas and other areas requiring special protection in accordance with the law.
It is prohibited to produce, sell, or set off fireworks and firecrackers that fail to comply with quality standards. No entity or individual may set off fireworks and firecrackers during periods or within areas prohibited by local people's governments at or above the county level.
Article 252 The State encourages and advocates civilized and green sacrificial activities.
Crematoria shall install pollution prevention and control facilities such as dust removal facilities and maintain their normal operation, to prevent adverse impacts on the surrounding environment.
Article 253 Business operators engaged in service activities such as garment dry cleaning and motor vehicle repair shall, in accordance with relevant State standards or requirements, install pollution prevention and control facilities such as odor and exhaust gas treatment facilities and maintain their normal operation, to prevent adverse impacts on the surrounding environment.
Article 254 The State encourages and supports the production and use of substitutes for ozone-depleting substances, and shall progressively reduce and ultimately cease the production and use of ozone-depleting substances.
The State shall implement total quantity control and quota management for the production, use, import, and export of ozone-depleting substances. Specific measures shall be formulated by the State Council.
Chapter V Joint Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in Key Regions
Article 255 The State shall establish and improve mechanisms for joint prevention and control of air pollution in key regions, and coordinate air pollution prevention and control work within such regions as a whole. The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, based on the zoning of main functional areas, regional air quality conditions, and the transmission and diffusion patterns of air pollution, designate national key regions for air pollution prevention and control and submit them to the State Council for approval.
People's governments of relevant provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government within national key regions for air pollution prevention and control shall designate leading local people's governments, convene joint meetings on a regular basis, carry out joint prevention and control of air pollution in accordance with the requirements of unified planning, unified standards, unified monitoring, and unified prevention and control measures, and implement responsibilities for air pollution prevention and control targets. The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall strengthen guidance and supervision.
Provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may, with reference to the first paragraph of this Article, designate key regions for air pollution prevention and control within their respective administrative regions.
Article 256 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with relevant authorities and the people's governments of relevant provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government within national key regions for air pollution prevention and control, formulate action plans for joint prevention and control of air pollution in key regions based on the economic and social development and environmental carrying capacity of such regions, specify control targets, optimize regional economic layout, coordinate transport management, develop clean and low-carbon energy, propose key prevention and control tasks and measures, and promote improvement of air quality in key regions.
Article 257 The development and reform authority under the State Council shall, together with the ecology and environment authority under the State Council, further tighten requirements relating to pollution prevention and control and energy consumption in light of the actual industrial development and air quality conditions of national key regions for air pollution prevention and control.
People's governments of relevant provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government within national key regions for air pollution prevention and control shall implement stricter motor vehicle air pollutant emission standards, unify inspection methods and emission limits for in-use motor vehicles, and ensure the coordinated supply of compliant vehicle fuels.
Article 258 Where plans for industrial parks, development zones, regional industrial development, or other matters that may cause serious air pollution in national key regions for air pollution prevention and control are prepared, the planning authorities shall consult with the people's governments of the relevant provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government within the key region, or with the relevant authorities thereof.
Where the relevant provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government within national key regions for air pollution prevention and control construct projects that may have significant impacts on the air quality of neighboring provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, relevant information shall be promptly communicated and consultations shall be conducted.
Consultation opinions and the status of their adoption shall serve as important bases for the review or approval of ecological and environmental impact reports and ecological and environmental impact report forms.
Article 259 Newly constructed, reconstructed, and expanded coal-consuming projects within national key regions for air pollution prevention and control shall implement equivalent or reduced coal substitution.
Article 260 The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall organize the establishment and improvement of mechanisms for sharing information relating to air quality monitoring and air pollution source monitoring within national key regions for air pollution prevention and control, utilize monitoring, simulation, satellite technologies, aerial surveys, remote sensing, and other new technologies to analyze sources of air pollution and trends in changes thereof within key regions, and disclose such information to the public.
Chapter VI Response to Heavy Pollution Weather
Article 261 The State shall establish and improve systems for monitoring and early warning of heavy pollution weather.
The ecology and environment authority under the State Council shall, together with the meteorology and other relevant authorities under the State Council and the people's governments of the relevant provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government within national key regions for air pollution prevention and control, establish and improve mechanisms for monitoring and early warning of heavy pollution weather in key regions and align standards for early warning classifications.
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