PRC Environmental Impact Assessment Law

(Promulgated on October 28 2002 and effective as of September 1 2003.)

PART ONE: GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1: This Law is enacted in order to carry out a sustainable development strategy, to prevent adverse impact on the environment after the implementation of plans and construction projects, and to promote harmonious development of the economy, society and environment.

Article 2: The environmental impact assessment referred to in this Law means a method and system for analyzing, forecasting and assessing the potential impact on the environment after implementation of plans and construction projects, for putting forward strategies and measures to prevent or alleviate adverse impacts on the environment, and for carrying out follow-up and monitoring.

Article 3: Plans drawn up within the scope specified in Article 9 hereof, and construction projects impacting the environment in the territory of the People's Republic of China or other maritime areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China, shall have an environmental impact assessment carried out in accordance with this Law.

Article 4: Environmental impact assessment must be objective, open and fair, and comprehensively consider the potential impact after implementation of plans or construction projects on all types of environmental factors and the ecosystem constituted by such factors, in order to provide a scientific basis for decision-making.

Article 5: The State encourages relevant work units, experts and the public to participate in environmental impact assessments in appropriate ways.

Article 6: The State strengthens the establishment of a fundamental database and assessment index system for environmental impact assessment, encourages and supports scientific research into the methods and technical standards of environmental impact assessment, establishes necessary environmental impact assessment information-sharing systems, and raises the scientific nature of environmental impact assessments.

The State Council administrative department in charge of environmental protection, together with relevant State Council departments, shall organize the establishment and improvement of an environmental impact assessment fundamental database and assessment indication system.

PART TWO: PLAN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Article 7: Relevant departments of the State Council, people's governments at or above the level of municipalities (with districts) and their relevant departments, for plans of which they have organized the drafting, on land use, plans of exploration, utilization and development in the areas, river basins and sea areas, shall in the course of drafting organize and conduct environmental impact assessments and shall provide writings or explanations on the environmental impact of these plans.

The environmental impact writings or explanations of the plans shall provide analysis, forecasts and assessment on potential environmental impact after plan implementation, and set forth countermeasures and steps that prevent or alleviate adverse environmental impacts. Then these writings or explanations shall be part of the draft plans and be submitted to the plan examination and approval authority.

The examination and approval authority will not examine and approve any draft plans without environmental impact writings or explanations.

Article 8: The relevant departments of the State Council, people's governments at or above level of municipalities (with districts), and their relevant departments shall organize and conduct environmental impact assessments on relevant Special Plans concerning industry, agriculture, pasturage, forestry, energy, water conservancy, communication, urban construction, tourism and exploration of natural resources (hereinafter called the "Special Plans") prepared by them before the drafts of such Special Plans are submitted for examination and approval, and shall submit environmental impact reports to the authority responsible for examining and approving such Special Plans.

Guidance plans among the Special Plans listed in the preceding paragraph shall go through environmental impact assessment in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 hereof.

Article 9: The specific scope of plans for which environmental impact assessment is specified to be conducted in accordance with the provisions of Articles 7 and 8 hereof shall be specified by the State Council administrative department in charge of environmental protection jointly with the relevant departments of the State Council, and shall be reported to the State Council for approval.

Article 10: Environmental impact reports for Special Plans shall include the following contents:

(i) analysis, forecast and assessment on the potential environmental impact after implementation of the plans;

(ii) measures and countermeasures to prevent or alleviate adverse environmental impacts; and

(iii) an environmental impact assessment conclusion.

Article 11: Towards Special Plans that may possibly cause adverse environmental impact and involve environmental rights and interests of the public, the Special Plan drafting organ shall, before the drafts of such plans are submitted for examination and approval, hold evidentiary meetings or testimony hearings or adopt other forms of soliciting opinions on the environmental impact report from relevant work units, experts and the public. But cases in which secrecy is required by State regulations are excepted.

The Special Plan drafting organ shall conscientiously consider the opinions of relevant work units, experts and the public on the drafts of the environmental impact report, and shall attach the explanations of its acceptance or non-acceptance of such opinions to the environmental impact report submitted for examination.

Article 12: The Special Plan drafting organ shall, when submitting the draft of the plan for approval, attach the environmental impact report and send it to the examination and approval authority for examination. The examination and approval authority shall not examine and approve a draft plan without an attached environmental impact report.

Article 13: Before the people's government at or above the level of municipalities (with districts) examines and approves the draft of a Special Plan and makes a decision, it shall first designate the administrative department in charge of environmental protection administration designated by the people's government, or other department, to assemble representatives of relevant departments and experts to form an examination group to conduct examination of the environmental impact report. The examination group shall provide written opinions.

The experts participating in the examination group as specified in the preceding paragraph shall be determined by random selection from the expert list of the corresponding profession in the expert database established according to the stipulations of the State Council administrative department in charge of environmental protection.

For environmental impact reports of draft Special Plans of which the relevant departments of the people's governments at provincial level and above are in charge of examination and approval, examination methods shall be formulated by the State Council administrative department in charge of environmental protection, together with relevant State Council departments.

Article 14: When examining and approving the draft Special Plans, the relevant department of the people's governments at or above the level of municipalities (with districts) or the people's governments at provincial level and above, shall make the conclusion of the environmental impact report and the examination opinion thereon an important basis for decision-making.

In the event that the relevant authority does not adopt the conclusion and examination opinions of the environmental impact report in examining and approving the draft plans, it shall make an explanation and record it for future reference.

Article 15: After the implementation of a plan having major impact on the environment, the drafting authority shall promptly organize a follow-up assessment of the environmental impact and report the assessment result to the examination and approval authority. If it is discovered that there is an obvious adverse impact on the environment, measures for improvement shall be put forward in good time.

PART THREE: CONSTRUCTION PROJECT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Article 16: The State carries out construction project environmental impact assessment classification administration based on the extent of environmental impact of the construction projects.

The construction work unit shall organize the preparation of an environmental impact report, environmental impact report form or fill in and submit an environmental impact registration form (hereinafter collectively referred to as "Environmental Impact Assessment Documents") according to the following stipulations:

(i) in case of a major potential environmental impact, an environmental impact report shall be drawn up and a comprehensive assessment of any resulting environmental impact shall be carried out;

(ii) in case of light potential environmental impact, an environmental impact report form shall be drawn up and an analysis or special assessment of the resulting environmental impact shall be carried out;

(iii) in case of very small environmental impact, it is not necessary to carry out an environmental impact assessment, but an environmental impact registration form shall be filled in and submitted;

A construction project environmental impact assessment classification administration catalogue will be drawn up and announced by the State Council administrative department in charge of environmental protection.

Article 17: An environmental impact report for construction projects shall include the following contents:

(i) overview of the construction project;

(ii) status quo of the surrounding environment of the construction project;

(iii) analysis, forecast and assessment of the potential environmental impact of the construction project;

(iv) measures taken by the construction project for environmental protection as well as technical and economic demonstrations;

(v) analysis of economic gains and loss of the construction project's environmental impact;

(vi) recommendations for implementing environmental monitoring of the construction projects; and

(vii) conclusion of the environmental impact assessment.

For construction projects relating to water and soil preservation, there also must be a water and soil preservation proposal approved by the administrative department in charge of water supply.

The content and format of environmental impact report forms and environmental impact registration forms will be determined by the State Council administrative department in charge of environmental protection.

Article 18: Construction project environmental impact assessments shall avoid duplicating plan environmental impact assessments.

A plan that is made into a single complete construction project will have an environmental impact assessment carried out as a construction project, and will not have a plan environmental impact assessment carried out.

A construction work unit may simplify the environmental impact assessment contents for specific construction projects that have been included in plans that have already gone through environmental impact assessment.

Article 19: Organizations accepting entrustment to provide technical services to construction project environmental impact assessments, after going through verification of qualifications by the State Council administrative department in charge of environmental protection, will be issued with a qualification certificate and will provide services to environmental impact assessments according to their grading and assessment scopes as set forth in the qualification certificate and will be accountable for the assessment conclusions. The qualification terms and administrative rules for an organization providing technical services to a construction project environmental impact assessment will be formulated by the State Council administrative department in charge of environmental protection.

The State Council administrative department in charge of environmental protection shall announce the list of organizations that have obtained qualification certificates to provide technical services to construction project environmental impact assessments.

Organizations providing technical services to construction project environmental impact assessments shall not have any related interests with the administrative department in charge of environmental protection responsible for examination and approval of construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents or with other relevant examination and approval authorities.

Article 20: The environmental impact report or environmental impact report form in Environmental Impact Assessment Documents shall be prepared by an organization with corresponding environmental impact assessment qualifications.

No work unit or individual shall designate, for any construction work unit, the organization responsible for preparing the environmental impact assessment for its construction projects.

Article 21: Except in conditions where secrecy is required by State stipulations, for construction projects that may have a major impact on the environment and for construction projects for which an environmental impact report is required, the construction work unit shall, prior to the submission for approval of the construction project environmental impact report, hold evidentiary meetings or testimony hearings or adopt other forms of soliciting the opinions of relevant work units, experts and the public.

Explanations of adoption or rejection of the opinions of relevant work units, experts and the public shall be attached to the environmental impact report submitted by the construction work unit for approval.

Article 22: Construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents shall be submitted by the construction work unit to the administrative department in charge of environmental protection having examination and approval authority in accordance with stipulations of the State Council; if the construction project has an industry department in charge, the environmental impact report or environmental impact report form shall, after going through preliminary examination by the industry department in charge, be submitted to the administrative department in charge of environmental protection having examination and approval authority, to be examined and approved.

Examination and approval of marine environmental impact reports for oceanic construction projects shall be handled in accordance with the PRC Marine Environment Protection Law.

The examination and approval authority shall make an examination and approval decision and give written notice to the construction work unit within 60 days after receipt of an environmental impact report, within 30 days after receipt of an environmental impact report form, or within 15 days after receipt of an environmental impact registration form, respectively.

No fees shall be received or collected for the preliminary examination, or examination and approval, of construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents.

Article 23: The State Council administrative department in charge of environmental protection shall be responsible for examination and approval of Environmental Impact Assessment Documents for the following construction projects:

(i) construction projects of nuclear facilities and top-secret projects and with other special characteristics;

(ii) construction projects that straddle the borders of administrative regions of provinces, autonomous regions or municipalities directly under the central government;

(iii) construction projects approved by the State Council or the relevant department authorized by the State Council.

Limits on examination and approval authority over construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents other than those set forth in the above paragraph will be determined by the people's government of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government.

In the event that a construction project may cause an adverse impact on the environment straddling administrative regions, and the relevant administrative departments in charge of environmental protection come to different conclusions in their environmental impact assessments of such a project, then its Environmental Impact Assessment Documents will be examined and approved by the relevant administrative department in charge of environmental protection at the joint next level higher up.

Article 24: After construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents go through examination and approval, if any major changes occur in the nature, scale, location or adopted manufacturing technique or measures for preventing pollution and ecological damage, the construction work unit shall re-submit for approval the construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents.

In the event that work begins on a construction project more than five years from the date of approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment Documents for such a project, the Environmental Impact Assessment Documents shall be re-submitted for renewed examination and verification of Environmental Impact Assessment Documents. The original approval authority shall, within 10 days after receipt of the Environmental Impact Assessment Documents for the construction project from the construction work unit, give written notice of its opinion to the construction work unit.

Article 25: Where construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents are not examined by the examination and approval authority stipulated by law or are not approved after examination, such examination and approval authority shall not approve its construction and the construction work unit shall not begin work on construction.

Article 26: In the course of a construction project, the construction work unit shall simultaneously implement the countermeasures and steps for environmental protection raised in the environmental impact report, the environmental impact report form and the examination and approval opinions of the examination and approval authority of the Environmental Impact Assessment Documents.

Article 27: In the course of the construction and operation of a project, if conditions arise that are inconsistent with Environmental Impact Assessment Documents that have gone through examination and approval, the construction work unit shall organize a post-assessment of the environmental impact, adopt corrective measures, and report for the record to the original examination and approval authority of the Environmental Impact Assessment Documents and construction project approval authority. The original examination and approval authority of the Environmental Impact Assessment Documents may also instruct the construction work unit to prepare a post-assessment of environmental impact and take corrective measures.

Article 28: The administrative department in charge of environmental protection shall conduct follow-up inspections on the environmental impact after the construction projects have gone into operation or utilization, and shall make a thorough investigation into the reasons and responsibility for the creation of serious environmental pollution or ecological damage. If it is due to the reason that the construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents prepared by the organization providing environmental impact assessment technical services are untrue, such organization shall be investigated for legal responsibility in accordance with Article 33 hereof; if it is due to the reason that the staff of the approval authority neglected or breached their duties, or approved construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents that should not be approved according to law, they shall be investigated for legal responsibility in accordance with Article 35 of herein.

PART FOUR: LEGAL LIABILITY

Article 29: In the event that a plan drafting organ violates the provisions hereof, commits fraud or neglects its duty when organizing the environmental impact assessment, causing the environmental impact assessment to be seriously untrue, the person in charge who is directly responsible and other directly responsible persons shall receive administrative penalties according to law from higher level authorities or supervisory authorities.

Article 30: In the event that a plan approval authority, in violation of the provisions hereof, approves a draft plan in which the writings or explanations on environmental impact required by the law to be written are not written, or approves a draft Special Plan in which the environmental impact report required by law to be attached is not attached, the person in charge who is directly responsible and other directly responsible persons shall receive administrative penalties according to law from higher level authorities or supervisory authorities.

Article 31: In the event that a construction work unit fails to submit the construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents for approval in accordance with the law or fails to re-submit for approval of the construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents or to apply for renewed examination and verification of Environmental Impact Assessment Documents in accordance with Article 24 hereof and begins work on construction without authorization, the administrative department in charge of environmental protection that has the examination and approval authority over the construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents shall instruct the work unit to stop construction and to carry out the supplemental formalities within a time limit and, if the time limit is exceeded without subsequently handling the formalities, may impose a fine of Rmb50,000 to Rmb200,000, and administrative penalties according to law, on the person in charge who is directly responsible and other directly responsible persons in the construction work unit.

In the event that the construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents do not go through examination and approval, or do not gain the consent of the original examination and approval authority upon renewed examination and verification, and the construction work unit begins work on construction without authorization, the administrative department in charge of environmental protection with examination and approval authority over such construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents shall instruct the work unit to stop construction, and may impose a fine of Rmb50,000 to Rmb200,000, and administrative penalties according to law, on the person in charge who is directly responsible and other directly responsible persons in the construction work unit.

If the construction work unit of an oceanic construction project commits illegal acts set forth in the above two paragraphs, it will be punished in accordance with the PRC Marine Environment Protection Law.

Article 32: If a construction project fails to carry out an environmental impact assessment as required by the law, or the Environmental Impact Assessment Documents have not gone through examination and approval according to law, and the examination and approval authority, without authorization, approves the construction project, the person in charge who is directly responsible and other directly responsible persons shall receive administrative penalties according to law from higher level authorities or supervisory authorities; if a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.

Article 33: If an organization entrusted to provide construction project environmental impact assessment technical services neglects its duty or commits fraud in the course of the environmental impact assessment, causing Environmental Impact Assessment Documents to be untrue, the administrative department in charge of environmental protection that grants qualification for environmental impact assessments may reduce the organ's grade of qualification or suspend its qualification certificate, as well as penalize it with a fine of one to three times the charges received; if a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.

Article 34: If the authority in charge of preliminary examination, examination and verification, or examination and approval of construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents receives or collects expenditures in the course of examination and approval, its higher authorities or supervisory authorities will order refunds; and, if circumstances are serious, will impose administrative penalties according to law on the person in charge who is directly responsible and other directly responsible persons.

Article 35: If the staff of the administrative department in charge of environmental protection or other departments practise favouritism, abuse their powers, neglect their duty, or illegally approve construction project Environmental Impact Assessment Documents, they will receive administrative penalties in accordance with the law; if a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility will be investigated according to law.

PART FIVE: SUPPLEMENTARY PROVISIONS

Article 36: The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government may, in accordance with the actual circumstances in each area, require an environmental impact assessment to be carried out for the plans prepared by the people's governments at the county level under their jurisdiction. Specific procedures will be established by provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government with reference to Part Two hereof.

Article 37: Procedures for construction project environmental impact assessments for military facilities will be established by the Central Military Commission in accordance with the principles hereof.

Article 38: This Law shall come into force as of September 1 2003.

1 Unofficial Translation, © Coudert Brothers LLP.

Reproduction permitted with proper credit, including: "© Coudert Brothers LLP".