PRC Environmental Protection Law (Revised)

(Adopted at the 8th Session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress on April 24 2014 and effective as of January 1 2015.)

PRC President's Order (No.9 of the 12th NPC)

Part One: General provisions

Article 1: This Law has been formulated in order to protect and improve the environment, prevent and treat pollution and other public hazards, ensure the health of the public, promote the achievement of ecological civilisation and promote sustainable social and economic development.

Article 2: For the purposes of this Law, the term “environment” means the whole of natural factors, both those in their natural state and those artificially modified, that affect the existence and development of humanity, including the atmosphere, water, seas, oceans, land, mineral deposits, forests, grasslands, wetlands, wildlife, natural sites, cultural relics, natural reserves, scenic spots, historical sites, and urban and rural areas.

Article 3: This Law shall apply to the territory of the People's Republic of China and territorial waters under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China.

Article 4: Environmental protection is a fundamental national policy of the state.

The state adopts economic and technical policies and measures conducive to the economical use and recycling of resources, the protection and improvement of the environment and the promotion of harmony between humanity and nature, so as to achieve a balance between social and economic development and environmental protection.

Article 5: In environmental protection, the principles of protection as preeminent, prevention as principal, comprehensive treatment, public participation and he/she/it who causes harm bears the liability are adhered to.

Article 6: Every entity and individual has an obligation to protect the environment.

Local people's governments at every level shall be responsible for the quality of the environment within their administrative regions.

Enterprises, public institutions and other producers and business operators shall prevent and mitigate environmental pollution and ecological damage, and bear liability in accordance with the law for the damage they cause.

Citizens shall strengthen their awareness of environmental protection, adopt a low carbon and frugal lifestyle and consciously perform their environmental protection obligations.

Article 7: The state supports the research, development and application of environmental protection science and technology, encourages the development of the environmental protection industry and promotes application of information technology to environmental protection and enhancement of the level of environmental protection science and technology.

Article 8: People's governments at every level shall increase their fiscal outlays for protection and improvement of the environment and the prevention and treatment of pollution and other public hazards, and enhance the efficiency with which fiscal funds are used.

Article 9: People's governments at every level shall strengthen their environmental protection publicity and popularisation work and encourage grassroots level mass autonomous organisations, social organisations and environmental protection volunteers in publicising environmental protection laws and regulations and environmental protection knowledge, so as to create a climate favourable for environmental protection.

Educational administrative departments and schools shall incorporate environmental protection knowledge in the content taught at schools so as to foster environmental protection awareness among students.

News media shall publicise environmental protection laws and regulations and environmental protection knowledge, and play a watchdog role in the monitoring of violations of environmental laws.

Article 10: The State Council's department in charge of environmental protection shall exercise centralised regulation of environmental protection work nationwide; and the competent environmental protection departments of local people's government at the county level and above shall exercise centralised regulation of environmental protection within their administrative regions.

Relevant departments of people's governments at the county level and above and military environmental protection departments shall exercise regulation of environmental protection work such as resource protection and pollution prevention and treatment in accordance with relevant laws.

Article 11: Entities and individuals that achieve outstanding results in the protection and improvement of the environment shall be rewarded by people's governments.

Article 12: June 5 each year shall be Environment Day.

Part Two: Regulation

Article 13: People's governments at the county level and above shall incorporate environmental protection work in national economic and social development planning.

The State Council's department in charge of environmental protection, in concert with relevant departments, shall prepare national environmental protection plans based on the national economic and social development plans, submit the same to the State Council for approval and publish and implement the same.

The competent environmental protection departments of local people's governments at the county level and above, in concert with relevant departments, shall prepare environmental protection plans for their administrative regions based on the requirements of the national environmental protection plans, submit the same to the people's government at the same level for approval and publish and implement the same.

Ecological protection and pollution prevention and treatment objectives, tasks and assurance measures shall be included in environmental protection plans and such plans shall be made to dovetail with main functional area plans, overall land utilisation plans, urban-rural plans, etc.

Article 14: When arranging for the formulation of economic and technical policies, relevant departments of the State Council and people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government shall fully take into consideration their impact on the environment and listen to the opinions of stakeholders and experts.

Article 15: The State Council's department in charge of environmental protection shall formulate national environmental quality standards.

With respect to projects on which national environmental quality standards are silent, people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government may formulate local environmental quality standards. With respect to projects covered in national environmental quality standards, local environmental quality standards stricter than national environmental quality standards may be formulated. Local environmental quality standards shall be submitted to the State Council's department in charge of environmental protection for the record.

The state encourages the carrying out of research on environmental benchmarks.

Article 16: The State Council's department in charge of environmental protection shall formulate national pollutant discharge/emission standards based on national environmental quality standards and in line with national economic and technical conditions.

With respect to projects on which national pollutant discharge/emission standards are silent, people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government may formulate local pollutant discharge/emission standards. With respect to projects covered in national pollutant discharge/emission standards, local pollutant discharge/emission standards stricter than national pollutant discharge/emission standards may be formulated. Local pollutant discharge/emission standards shall be submitted to the State Council's department in charge of environmental protection for the record.

Article 17: The state establishes and improves environmental monitoring systems. The State Council's department in charge of environmental protection shall formulate monitoring codes, organise monitoring networks in concert with relevant departments, centrally plan the establishment of national environmental quality monitoring stations (sites), establish a monitoring data sharing mechanism and strengthen administration of environmental monitoring.

The establishment of various industry and professional environmental quality monitoring stations (sites) shall comply with the provisions of laws and regulations and the requirements of monitoring codes.

Monitoring public institutions shall use monitoring equipment that complies with national standards and observe monitoring codes. Monitoring public institutions and their persons in charge shall be liable for the truthfulness and accuracy of monitoring data.

Article 18: People's governments at the provincial level and above shall arrange for relevant departments or appoint professional firms to survey and assess the status of the environment, and establish mechanisms for monitoring and early warning of the bearing capacity of environmental resources.

Article 19: When formulating relevant development and utilisation plans or constructing projects that will have an impact on the environment, an environmental impact assessment shall be conducted in accordance with the law.

Implementation of a development and utilisation plan for which no environmental impact assessment has been conducted in accordance with the law may not be arranged for. Construction of a project for which no environmental impact assessment has been conducted in accordance with the law may not commence.

Article 20: The state establishes cross-administrative region key area and watershed joint coordination mechanisms for environmental pollution and ecological damage prevention and treatment, and implements centralised plans, uniform standards, centralised monitoring and uniform prevention and treatment measures.

For cross-administrative region environmental pollution and ecological damage prevention and treatment other than in the regions specified in the preceding paragraph, coordination and resolution shall be carried out by the people's government at a higher level or consultations and resolution shall be carried out by the relevant local people's governments.

Article 21: The state adopts fiscal, tax, pricing, government procurement and other such policies and measures to encourage and support the development of environmental protection technology and equipment, comprehensive resource utilisation, environmental service and other such environmental protection industries.

Article 22: People's governments shall adopt fiscal, tax, pricing, government procurement and other such policies and measures in accordance with the law to encourage and support enterprises, public institutions and other producers and business operators that, from a baseline of satisfying statutory requirements in respect of pollutant discharge/emissions, further reduce their pollutant discharge/emissions.

Article 23: People's governments shall support enterprises, public institutions and other producers and business operators that change their line of production, relocate or close down in accordance with relevant provisions in order to improve the environment.

Article 24: The competent environmental protection departments of people's governments at the county level and above, the environmental inspection organisations that they engage and other departments with environmental protection regulation duties have the authority to conduct onsite inspections of enterprises, public institutions and other producers and business operators that discharge/emit pollutants. Inspectees shall truthfully reflect their circumstances and provide the necessary information. Departments and agencies conducting such inspections and their working personnel shall maintain the confidentiality of inspectees' trade secrets.

Article 25: If an enterprise, public institution or other producer or business operator violates a law or a set of regulations in discharging/emitting pollutants, causing or potentially causing serious contamination, the competent environmental protection department of the people's government at the county level or above or other department with environmental protection regulation duties may place under seal or seize the facilities and equipment causing the pollutant discharge/emission.

Article 26: The state implements a responsibility system and evaluation and assessment system for environmental protection objectives. People's governments at the county level and above shall include the fulfilment of environmental protection objectives as one of the criteria for evaluating the performance of departments with environmental protection regulation duties of the people's government at the same level and their persons in charge and of people's governments at lower levels and their persons in charge, and treat the same as an important basis for their evaluation and assessment. The results of such evaluations shall be disclosed to the public.

Article 27: A people's government at the county level or above shall report on the status of the environment and the fulfilment of environmental protection targets to the people's congress or the standing committee of the people's congress at the same level each year, report major environmental incidents in a timely manner to the standing committee of the people's congress at the same level and submit to its scrutiny in accordance with the law.

Part Three: Protection and improvement of the environment

Article 28: Local people's governments at every level shall take effective measures to improve environmental quality based on environmental protection targets and treatment tasks.

Relevant local people's governments of key regions and watersheds that have failed to satisfy national environmental quality standards shall formulate plans to satisfy the standards within a specified period of time and take measures to punctually satisfy such standards.

Article 29: The state draws ecological protection redlines for areas such as key ecological function areas and sensitive and fragile ecological environment areas, and implements strict protection thereof.

People's governments at every level shall take measures to protect and strictly prohibit the damaging of representative natural ecosystem areas of various types, natural habitat areas for rare and endangered animals and plants, important water resource conservation areas, and geological formations, famous karst cave and fossil deposit areas, glaciers, volcanoes, hot springs and other such natural sites with major scientific and cultural value as well as cultural relics and ancient and well-known trees.

Article 30: When developing and utilising natural resources, the same shall be developed in a reasonable manner, biodiversity shall be protected, ecological safety shall be ensured and a relevant plan for ecological protection, restoration and treatment shall be formulated in accordance with the law and implemented.

When introducing alien species and researching, developing and utilising biotechnologies, measures shall be taken to prevent damage to biodiversity.

Article 31: The state will establish and improve a compensation system for ecological protection.

The state will intensify fiscal transfers and payments for ecological protection areas. Relevant local people's governments shall put in place compensation funds for ecological protection and ensure that the same are used for ecological protection compensation.

The state guides the people's governments of benefiting areas and ecological protection areas in paying compensation for ecological protection through consultations or based on market rules.

Article 32: The state will strengthen the protection of the air, water, soil, etc. and establish and improve the corresponding investigation, monitoring, assessment and restoration systems.

Article 33: People's governments at every level shall strengthen protection of the agricultural environment, promote the use of new technologies for agricultural environmental protection, strengthen the monitoring and early warning of agricultural pollutant sources, arrange for relevant departments to take measures to prevent and treat soil contamination and the desertification, salinisation, depletion, rocky desertification and subsidence of land and prevent and treat vegetation destruction, water loss, soil erosion, water eutrophication, water source depletion, species extinction and other such manifestations of ecological disruption and promote the comprehensive prevention and treatment of plant pests.

People's governments at the county and township levels shall improve the level of rural environmental protection related public services and promote comprehensive remediation of the rural environment.

Article 34: The State Council and local littoral people's governments at every level shall strengthen protection of the marine environment. The discharge of pollutants and the dumping of waste into the sea, and the construction of coastal and marine projects shall comply with laws, regulations and relevant standards, and steps shall be taken to prevent and mitigate contamination of the marine environment.

Article 35: In urban and rural construction, the features of the natural environment shall be taken into consideration, vegetation, watersheds and natural attractions shall be protected and the establishment and administration of urban forests, green spaces, scenic spots and historical sites shall be strengthened.

Article 36: The state encourages and leads citizens, legal persons and other organisations in using products and recycled products that are beneficial to protecting the environment so as to reduce the generation of waste.

State departments and other organisations that use fiscal funds shall preferentially procure and use products, equipment and facilities that are beneficial to protecting the environment, such as those that save on energy, water and materials.

Article 37: People's governments at every level shall take measures to arrange for the sorting, disposal and recycling of domestic waste.

Article 38: Citizens shall observe environmental protection laws and regulations, cooperate in the implementation of environmental protection measures and sort domestic waste in accordance with provisions so as to reduce damage to the environment caused by daily life.

Article 39: The state will establish and improve systems for environment and health monitoring, investigation and risk assessment; encourage and arrange for the conduct of research on the impact of environmental quality on public health and take measures to prevent and control illnesses related to environmental contamination.

Part Four: Prevention and treatment of pollution and other public hazards

Article 40: The state promotes clean production and the recycling of resources.

The relevant departments of the State Council and local people's governments at every level shall take measures to promote the production and use of clean energy sources.

Enterprises shall preferentially use clean energy sources, adopt processes and equipment that are highly efficient in the utilisation of resources and discharge/emit a minimum of pollutants, technologies for the comprehensive utilisation of waste and treatment technologies that render pollutants harmless so as to reduce the generation of pollutants.

Article 41: Facilities for the prevention and treatment of pollution in construction projects shall be designed, constructed and brought into use simultaneously with the main works. The facilities for the prevention and treatment of pollution shall comply with the requirements of the approved environmental impact assessment documents, and may not be removed or left idle without authorisation.

Article 42: Enterprises, public institutions and other producers and business operators that discharge/emit pollutants shall take measures to prevent and treat exhaust gas, waste water, sludge, medical waste, dust, foul smelling gases, radioactive substances as well as noise, vibrations, light radiation, electromagnetic radiation and other such pollutants of and hazards to the environment generated in the course of production, construction and other activities.

An enterprise or public institution that discharges/emits pollutants shall establish an environmental protection responsibility system and make clear the responsibilities of the person in charge and relevant personnel of the entity.

Key polluters shall install and use monitoring equipment in accordance with relevant state provisions and monitoring codes, ensure that such monitoring equipment is operating normally and keep raw monitoring records.

The illegal discharge/emission of pollutants through means of avoiding regulation such as concealed pipes, seepage wells, seepage pits, perfusion or the alteration or fabrication of monitoring data or failing to normally operate facilities for the prevention and treatment of pollutants is strictly prohibited.

Article 43: Enterprises, public institutions and other producers and business operators that discharge/emit pollutants shall pay a pollutant discharge fee in accordance with relevant state provisions. All pollutant discharge fees shall be used exclusively for the prevention and treatment of environmental pollution, and no entity or individual may retain or appropriate the same or divert the same for other purposes.

Where an environmental protection tax is levied in accordance with the law, no pollutant discharge fee shall be levied.

Article 44: The state implements a system for controlling the total discharge/emission of key pollutants. The control targets for the total discharge/emission of key pollutants are issued by the State Council and broken down and implemented by the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government. While implementing national and local pollutant discharge/emission standards, enterprises and public institutions shall additionally implement the portion of the total key pollutant discharge/emission control target assigned to them.

With respect to regions that exceed the national total key pollutant discharge/emission control targets or fail to fulfil the environmental quality targets determined by the state, the competent environmental protection department of the people's government at the provincial level or above shall temporarily halt examination and approval of the environmental impact assessment documents of construction projects that would increase the total discharge/emission of key pollutants.

Article 45: The state implements, in accordance with the law, a system of administration by pollutant discharge permits.

Enterprises, public institutions and other producers and business operators subject to administration by pollutant discharge permits shall discharge/emit pollutants in accordance with the requirements of their pollutant discharge permits. In the absence of a pollutant discharge permit, pollutants may not be discharged/emitted.

Article 46: The state implements a system of eliminating processes, equipment and products that seriously contaminate the environment. No entity or individual may produce, sell, transfer or use a process, equipment or product that seriously contaminates the environment.

The import of technologies, equipment, materials and products that do not comply with Chinese provisions on environmental protection is prohibited.

Article 47: People's governments at every level, their relevant departments and enterprises and public institutions shall duly carry out the work for risk control, emergency preparation, emergency handling and post-event restoration in respect of unforeseen environmental incidents in accordance with the PRC Emergency Response Law.

People's governments at the county level and above shall establish a mechanism for public monitoring and early warning of environmental pollution and arrange for the formulation of an early warning plan. Should the environment suffer contamination that could affect the health of the public and the safety of the environment, early warning information shall be published in a timely manner in accordance with the law, and contingency measures initiated.

Enterprises and public institutions shall formulate unforeseen environmental incident contingency plans in accordance with relevant state provisions and submit the same to the competent environmental protection department and relevant departments for the record. When an unforeseen event occurs or could occur, the enterprise or public institution shall promptly take measures to deal with it, notify the entities and residents that could be harmed in a timely manner and report to the competent environmental protection department and relevant departments.

Once the contingency work for the unforeseen environmental event has concluded, the relevant people's government shall arrange for the assessment of the environmental impact and losses caused by the event and announce the assessment results to the public in a timely manner.

Article 48: Where chemicals and things containing radioactive substances are produced, stored, transported, sold, used or disposed of, relevant state provisions shall be observed so as to prevent contamination of the environment.

Article 49: People's governments at every level and their agricultural and other relevant departments and agencies shall guide agricultural producers and operators in science-based cultivation and animal raising, scientifically based reasonable application of agrochemicals, chemical fertilisers and other such agricultural inputs, and the scientifically based disposal of agricultural film, crop straw and other such agricultural wastes so as to prevent agricultural nonpoint source pollution.

The application of solid waste and wastewater not satisfying agricultural standards and environmental protection standards on agricultural fields is prohibited. When applying agrochemicals, chemical fertilisers and other such agricultural inputs and carrying out irrigation, measures shall be taken to prevent contamination of the environment by heavy metals and other toxic and hazardous substances.

The selection of sites for, and the construction and management of, livestock and poultry farms, breeding areas, designated slaughtering enterprises, etc. shall comply with relevant laws and regulations. Entities and individuals engaging in livestock and poultry raising and slaughter shall take measures to dispose of livestock and poultry manure, carcasses, wastewater and other such wastes in a scientific manner so as to prevent contamination of the environment.

People's governments at the county level are charged with arranging for the disposal of rural domestic waste.

Article 50: People's governments at every level shall allocate funds in their fiscal budgets to support environmental protection tasks such as the protection of rural drinking water sources, treatment of domestic sewage and other wastes, prevention and treatment of pollution from livestock and poultry raising and slaughter, prevention and treatment of soil contamination and treatment of rural industrial and mining pollution.

Article 51: People's governments at every level shall coordinate in a centralised manner the construction of urban and rural environmental hygiene facilities such as sewage treatment facilities and their pipe networks, the collection, transport and disposal of solid waste, facilities and sites for the centralised disposal of hazardous wastes and other public environmental protection facilities and ensure their normal operation.

Article 52: The state encourages the taking out of environmental pollution liability insurance.

Part Five: Information disclosure and public participation

Article 53: Citizens, legal persons and other organisations have the right to obtain environmental information and participate in and monitor environmental protection in accordance with the law.

The competent environmental protection departments of people's governments at the county level and above and other departments with environmental protection regulation duties shall disclose environmental information in accordance with the law, improve the public participation procedure and facilitate the participation in and monitoring of environmental protection by citizens, legal persons and other organisations.

Article 54: The State Council's department in charge of environmental protection shall centrally issue information on national environmental quality and key pollutant source monitoring and other major environmental information. The competent environmental protection departments of people's governments at the provincial level and above shall regularly issue environmental status reports.

The competent environmental protection departments of people's governments at the county level and above and other departments with environmental protection regulation duties shall disclose in accordance with the law information on environmental quality, environmental monitoring, unforeseen environmental incidents, environmental administrative permissions, administrative penalties, the levy and use of pollutant discharge fees, etc.

The competent environmental protection departments of people's governments at the county level and above and other departments with environmental protection regulation duties shall record information on the violation of environmental laws by enterprises, public institutions and other producers and business operators in public integrity files and publish the list of offenders in a timely manner.

Article 55: Key polluters shall truthfully disclose to the public the names, method of discharge/emission, discharge/emission concentration and total volume of their main pollutants, details of standard-exceeding discharge/emission and details of the construction and operation of their pollution prevention and treatment facilities, and submit themselves to public scrutiny.

Article 56: With respect to a construction project for which the preparation of an environmental impact assessment report is required in accordance with the law, the owner shall, when preparing the same, explain the situation to the public whom could be affected and fully seek their opinion.

Once it has received the environmental impact assessment report for a construction project, the department charged with the examination and approval of environmental impact assessment documents for construction projects shall disclose the entirety of the documents, save for items that involve state secrets and trade secrets. If it discovers that the opinion of the public has not been fully sought for the construction project, it shall enjoin the owner to seek public opinion.

Article 57: If a citizen, legal person or other organisation discovers that any entity or individual has contaminated the environment or caused ecological damage, he/she/it shall have the right to report the same to the competent environmental protection department or other department with environmental protection regulation duties.

If a citizen, legal person or other organisation discovers that a local people's government at any level, the competent environmental protection department of the people's government at the county level or above or other department with environmental protection regulation duties has failed to perform its duties in accordance with the law, he/she/it shall have the right to report the same to its authority at a higher level or the inspection authority.

The authority that received the report shall maintain the confidentiality of the relevant information of the person that made the report, and protect his/her/its lawful rights and interests.

Article 58: A social organisation satisfying the conditions set forth below may institute a legal action in a people's court in respect of an act that contaminates the environment, causes ecological damage or harms the public interest:

(1) is registered with the civil department of the people's government at the level of city(divided into districts) or above; and

(2) has specifically been engaged in environmental protection related public interest activities for at least five years in succession and does not have a record of violations of the law.

Where a social organisation satisfying the provisions set forth in the preceding paragraph institutes a legal action in a people's court, the people's court shall accept the same in accordance with the law.

A social organisation that institutes a legal action may not seek economic benefits through such legal action.

Part Six: Legal liability

Article 59: If an enterprise, public institution or other producer or business operator illegally discharges/emits pollutants, has been fined therefor and been ordered to rectify the situation, but refuses to do so, the administrative authority that rendered the penalty decision in accordance with the law may impose a per-day continuous penalty at the original penalty amount commencing from the day immediately following the date on which it was ordered to rectify the situation.

The penalty in the form of a fine specified in the preceding paragraph shall be handled in accordance with provisions of relevant laws and regulations determined based on factors such as the operating costs of the facilities for the prevention and treatment of environmental pollution, the direct losses caused by the illegal act or the illegal income.

Based on the actual requirements of environmental protection, additional types of illegal acts that are subject to the per-day continuous penalties specified in the first paragraph may be added to local regulations.

Article 60: If an enterprise, public institution or other producer or business operator discharges/ emits pollutants in excess of pollutant discharge/emission standards or total key pollutant discharge/emission control targets, the competent environmental protection department of the people's government at the county level or above may order it to take measures such as limiting production, or suspending production and undergoing rectification. If the circumstances are serious, subject to the approval of the people's government with the approval authority, order it to cease operations or shut down.

Article 61: If an owner commences construction without submitting an environmental impact assessment document for its construction project or without approval of the document, the department with environmental protection regulation duties shall order it to halt construction, impose a fine and may order it to restore the site to its original state.

Article 62: If a key polluter fails to disclose or fails to truthfully disclose environmental information in violation hereof, the competent environmental protection department of the people's government at the county level or above shall order it to disclose the same, impose a fine and announce the same.

Article 63: If an enterprise, public institution or other producer or business operator commits any of the acts set forth below, but the same is insufficient to constitute a criminal offence, the competent environmental protection department of the people's government at the county level or above or other relevant department shall, in addition to imposing penalties in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, transfer the case to the public security authority, which shall impose detention of not less than 10 days and not more than 15 days on the manager directly in charge and other directly responsible persons; if the circumstances are minor, it shall impose detention of not less than five days and not more than 10 days:

(1) no environmental impact assessment is conducted for a construction project in accordance with the law, an order is given to halt construction and implementation thereof is refused;

(2) pollutants are discharged/emitted without a pollutant discharge permit in violation of the law, an order is given to halt the discharge/emission of the pollutants and implementation thereof is refused;

(3) pollutants are illegally discharged/emitted by means designed to evade regulation, such as by way of concealed pipes, seepage wells, seepage pits, perfusion or the alteration or fabrication of monitoring data or failing to normally operate facilities for the prevention and treatment of pollutants; or

(4) agrochemicals the production and use of which are expressly prohibited by the state are produced or used, an order to rectify the situation has been given and such rectification is refused.

Article 64: If harm is caused due to contamination of the environment or ecological damage, liability for tort shall be borne in accordance with relevant provisions of the PRC Tort Liability Law.

Article 65: If an environmental impact assessment firm, environmental monitoring public institution or an organisation engaging in the maintenance and operation of environmental monitoring equipment and environmental pollution prevention and treatment facilities commits fraud in the course of relevant environmental service activities and bears liability for the environmental contamination and ecological damage caused, it shall, in addition to being penalised in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, bear joint and several liability with the other parties responsible for causing the environmental contamination and ecological damage.

Article 66: The period of limitation of actions for the public institution of an environmental damage suit shall be three years, counting from the date on which the concerned party learnt or ought to have learnt of the damage he/she/it suffered.

Article 67: A higher level people's government and its competent environmental protection department shall strengthen their monitoring of the environmental protection work of people's governments at a lower level and their relevant departments. If a relevant member of the working personnel is found to have committed a violation of the law, and he/she is deserving of discipline in accordance with the law, a recommendation for the disciplining of him/her shall be submitted to the authority responsible for his/her appointment and dismissal or the inspection authority.

If he/she is deserving of administrative penalties in accordance with the law and the relevant competent environmental protection department fails to impose such administrative penalties, the competent environmental protection department of the people's government at a higher level may directly render an administrative penalty decision.

Article 68: If a local people's government at any level, the competent environmental protection department of the people's government at the county level or above or another department with environmental protection regulation duties commits any of the acts set forth below, the officer directly in charge and other directly responsible persons shall be given a demerit, major demerit or demoted; if serious consequences are caused, they shall be removed from their positions or dismissed and the main person in charge shall assume responsibility and resign:

(1) it grants an administrative permission where the conditions therefor are not satisfied;

(2) it covers up a violation of environmental laws;

(3) it is required in accordance with the law to render a decision ordering the cessation of operations or shutting down, but fails to do so;

(4) it discovers, or receives a report on, a discharge/emission of pollutants in excess of standards, the discharge/emission of pollutants by means designed to evade regulation, the causing of an environmental event or the causing of ecological damage due to a failure to implement ecological protection measures, but fails to investigate and deal with the same in a timely manner;

(5) it places under seal or seizes the facilities and equipment of an enterprise, public institution or other producer or business operator in violation hereof;

(6) its alters or fabricates or procures the alteration or fabrication of monitoring data;

(7) it fails to disclose environmental information that it is required to disclose in accordance with the law;

(8) it retains or appropriates collected pollution discharge fees or diverts the same for other purposes; or

(9) it commits another violation of the law as specified in laws or regulations.

Article 69: If a violation hereof constitutes a criminal offence, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law.

Part Seven: Supplementary provisions

Article 70: This Law shall be effective as of January 1 2015.