The Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Pollution, released in 1987, is the basic law in the air pollution prevention and control field, and was last revised in 2000. In the end of 2014, on the twelfth session of the 12th NPC Standing Committee, the People’s Republic of China Law on Air Pollution Prevention and Control (Revised Draftfor Comments) was deliberated and put out for public comments.
As a think-tank platform focusing on the air pollution management, Clean Air Alliance of China (CAAC) worked out the report of The Integrated Suggestions for the Revisions of “China’s Air Law” (hereinafter referred to as “report”), in cooperation with relevant organizations and experts. The report includes three parts: 1) ten key issues for the air law revision, 2) seven special articles, and 3) two collections of the suggestions from local EPBs and NGOs.
The ten key issues for the air law amendment are as follows:
· Establisha dynamic and long-term mechanism to evaluate and update air quality standards ;
· Strengthen national and local systems for air quality attainment;
· Establish a mechanism that ensures emission standards for air pollutants are updated continuously;
· Improve the discharge permit system and strengthen regulatory system for pollutant sdischarge by enterprises;
· Increase the penalty imposed on enterprises for non-compliance;
· Strengthen mechanism for joint regional prevention and control of air pollution ;
· Encourage information disclosure and public participation
· Establish mechanism for encouraging local governments to take the lead on implementing more stringent mobile source emission standards;
· Strengthen the State Council environmental department’s supervision system over oil quality standards;
· Establish mechanisms for supervising and inspecting vehicle compliance with requirements for environmental protection and mechanism for recalling vehicles failing to meet standard.
Seven special articles were also formed according to the ten key issues. These special articles discuss the key points and importance of each recommendation, and then propose specific suggestions for the air law revision. Mr. Xie Hongxing, the director of CAAC Secretariat, emphasized that the principal consideration for the air law revision is to provide a sufficient legal basis for the implementation of relevant environment management mechanisms. In this report, ten key issues for the air law revision and seven special articles were also proposed according to this principal consideration.
With the support from the cooperation platform of CAAC, this report also collects suggestions from some local EPBs, NGOs and international specialists on the air law revision. The suggestions from local EPBs were formed and summarized based on the discussions from 80 city air management delegates who attended in Clean Air City Network training held by Foreign Economic Cooperation Office (FECO) MEP. The suggestions include several topics, such as response mechanism for air pollution episodes, discharge permit system, and law enforcement. The suggestions from NGOs, including the SEE Foundation, the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), Friends of Nature etc., mainly focused on the information disclosure and public participation.
The report was co-edited by CAAC Secretariat, the Energy Foundation, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP). Experts from the Beijing Normal University, the International Council on Clean Transportation(ICCT) and other institutions also supported the compilation of special articles.
