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INTERIM REGULATIONS ON GIVING PUNISHMENTS FOR ILLEGAL ACTS AND DISCIPLINARY OFFENCES IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Ministry of Supervision, State Environmental Protection Administration

Ministry of Supervision and State Environmental Protection Administration

No.10

The Interim Regulations on Giving Punishments for Illegal Acts and Disciplinary Offences in Environmental Protection, adopted at the 14th ministerial meeting of the Ministry of Supervision on December 31, 2005 and at the 20th executive meeting of the State Environmental Protection Administration on October 27, is hereby promulgated and shall go into effect as of the date of promulgation.

Li Zhilun, Minister of the Ministry of Supervision

Zhou Shengxian, Director of the State Environmental Protection Administration

February 20, 2006

Interim Regulations on Giving Punishments for Illegal Acts and Disciplinary Offences in Environmental Protection

Article 1

These Regulations are formulated so as to strengthen the environmental protection, punish illegal acts and disciplinary offences in environmental protection and promote the implementation of laws and regulations on environmental protection, subject to the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Administrative supervision, and other relevant laws and regulations.

Article 2

These Regulations shall be applicable to State administrative organs and their personnel, as well as personnel appointed by State administrative organs to work in enterprises that commit illegal acts and disciplinary offences in environmental protection, and shall be given punishments as a result.

Where having specified provisions on giving punishments for illegal acts and disciplinary offences in environmental protection, laws as well as administrative rules and regulations shall be observed.

Article 3

Where State administrative organs have committed illegal acts and disciplinary offences in environmental protection, the appointing and dismissing organs or supervisory organs shall, within their limits of administrative authority, give administrative sanctions to persons in charge who have direct responsibility and other persons with direct responsibility, and to personnel of State administrative organs who commit illegal acts and disciplinary offences in environmental protection (hereinafter collectively referred to as persons with direct responsibility).

Where the enterprises have committed illegal acts and disciplinary offences in environmental protection, the appointing and dismissing organs or supervisory organs shall, within their limits of administrative authority, give disciplinary actions to personnel which are appointed by State administrative organs to work in enterprises committing illegal acts and disciplinary offences in environmental protection, among persons in charge of such enterprises who have direct responsibility and other persons with direct responsibility, according to law.

Article 4

Where State administrative organs and their personnel commit any of the following acts, persons with direct responsibility shall be given warnings, have demerits or serious demerits on their record; if circumstances are comparatively serious, they shall be degraded; in serious cases, they shall be removed from their office:

(1)

refusing to comply with environmental protection laws and regulations, as well as decisions and orders made by people's governments on environmental protection;

(2)

formulating provisions or taking actions which conflict with environmental protection, laws, regulations and rules, as well as national environmental protection policies, and still failing to make corrections after such conflicts are pointed out to be remedied;

(3)

violating pertinent State industrial policies, thus polluting the environment or disrupting ecological balance;

(4)

failing to eliminate through competition the backward production technology, processes, equipment or products, all of which seriously pollute the environment, in accordance with provisions stipulated by the State;

(5)

failing to order enterprises and institutions, which cause serious environmental pollution, to prevent and control such pollution within a stipulated period, or failing to outlaw the said enterprises and institutions, order the said enterprises and institutions to close down or suspend their production, in accordance with provisions concerned; and

(6)

failing to prepare emergency plans for environmental pollution and disruption of ecological balance, pursuant to State provisions.

Article 5

Where State administrative organs and their personnel commit any of the following acts, persons with direct responsibility shall be given warnings, have demerits or serious demerits on their record; if circumstances are comparatively serious, they shall be degraded; in serious cases, they shall be removed from their office:

(1)

practicing frauds or conducting dereliction of duty upon organizing environmental impact assessments, thus causing serious inconformity of such assessments to facts, or giving no explanations to the compilation of environmental impact chapters not according to law, or failing to legally submit the planning scheme of an environmental impact report for approval;

(2)

failing to conduct the examination or approval of environmental impact assessment documents for construction projects subject to legal requirements or conducting the same examination and approval in violation of legal procedures, or collecting charges in serious cases, upon the said examination and approval;

(3)

approving discretionarily the construction of a certain project or discretionarily and in person applying for permits of land requisition, construction and registration, business license, production (use) permit for such project, if no due environmental impact assessment is conducted according to law or no environmental impact assessment documents are approved;

(4)

failing to follow provisions concerned to issue a discharge permit, permit for operation of dangerous wastes, permit for operation of units disposing medical wastes in a centralized manner, permit for nuclear and radioactive safety and other environmental protection permits, or failing to applying for environmental protection approval documents in conformity with provisions;

(5)

violating laws by approving the reduction, exemption or delayed payment of pollutant discharges; and

(6)

committing other acts of granting licenses or conducting examination and approval in violation of provisions on environmental protection.

Article 6

Where State administrative organs and their personnel commit any of the following acts, persons with direct responsibility shall be given warnings, have demerits or serious demerits on their record; if circumstances are comparatively serious, they shall be degraded; in serious cases, they shall be removed from their office:

(1)

canceling natural reserves or adjusting or changing the nature, range, boundary or functional division of any natural reserve, without an approval;

(2)

carrying out visiting or tourism activities in natural reserves, without an approval;

(3)

running visiting or tourism programs which are not oriented to the protection of natural reserves; and

(4)

failing to carry out visiting or tourism activities in accordance with approved schemes.

Article 7

Where State administrative organs and their personnel that have functions and responsibilities in supervising and administering environmental protection commit any of the following acts, persons with direct responsibility shall be given warnings, have demerits or serious demerits on their record; if circumstances are comparatively serious, they shall be degraded; in serious cases, they shall be removed from their office:

(1)

giving administrative sanctions for illegal acts in environmental protection not subject to legal requirements or in violation of legal procedures;

(2)

authorizing others to exercise the right of giving administrative punishments for illegal acts in environmental protection, without any approval;

(3)

adopting compulsory measures for protection of the environment, such as illegally sealing up, seizure and so on, thus causing citizens' personal and property damages or losses to legal persons or other organizations; and

(4)

giving other administrative penalties or adopting other compulsory administrative measures in violation of provisions on environmental protection.

Article 8

Where State administrative organs and their personnel that have functions and responsibilities in supervising and administering environmental protection commit any of the following acts, persons with direct responsibility shall be given warnings, have demerits or serious demerits on their record; if circumstances are comparatively serious, they shall be degraded or removed from their office; in serious cases, they shall be dismissed:

(1)

failing to timely investigate and punish illegal acts in environmental protection as soon as they are found or after being reported the same;

(2)

failing to exercise functions in supervising and administering enterprises, which have legally obtained environmental protection permits, such as discharge permit, permit for operation of dangerous wastes, permit for nuclear and radioactive safety, etc., or environmental protection approval documents, thus causing serious consequences;

(3)

failing to report serious environmental pollution accidents or ecological damage accidents in conformity with provisions or practicing frauds in such reports or failing to take necessary measures according to law or delaying to take such measures or shifting such responsibility onto others, thus aggravating accidents or delaying the handling of such accidents;

(4)

failing to transfer some cases violating laws or disciplines on environmental protection, which ought to be transferred to pertinent organs for handling, thus providing a chance for persons contravening laws and disciplines to escape sanctions, administrative or criminal penalties free; and

(5)

committing other acts of failing to exercise functions in supervising and administering environmental protection.

Article 9

Where State administrative organs and their personnel commit any of the following acts, persons with direct responsibility shall be given warnings, have demerits or serious demerits on their record; if circumstances are comparatively serious, they shall be degraded or removed from their office:; in serious cases, they shall be dismissed:

(1)

taking advantage of their office to misappropriate, steal, swindle collected fines, pollutant discharges or other properties or using other means to keep the same for their own;

(2)

extorting properties from others with job convenience or illegally accepting others' properties and seeking advantages for them in return;

(3)

withholding or misappropriating special funds for environmental protection or using special funds for environmental protection for other purposes;

(4)

using, exchanging, selling or destroying properties which have been legally sealed up or distrained; and

(5)

withholding, or privately dividing up fines or confiscated illegal proceeds or properties, or privately dividing up so in a disguised form.

Article 10

Where State administrative organs and their personnel divulge secret information to units under inspection or harbor or connive illegal acts and disciplinary offences in environmental protection, persons with direct responsibilities shall be degraded or removed from their office; or in case of serious damages to legitimate rights and interests, as well as public interests of citizens, legal persons or other organizations, or in case of group events or conflicts, thus greatly impacting the social stability, persons with direct responsibility shall be dismissed.

Article 11

Should any of the following acts be committed by enterprises, persons appointed by State administrative organs among persons in charge of such enterprises who have direct responsibility and other persons with direct responsibility shall be degraded; if circumstances are comparatively serious, they shall be removed from their office or retained at their positions under observation; in serious cases, they shall be dismissed:

(1)

commencing the construction discretionarily by failing to go through formalities for examining and approving environmental impact assessment documents or, after being ordered to suspend the construction, still failing to effect supplementary handling of formalities for examining and approving environmental impact assessment even if given a specified period to do so;

(2)

failing to simultaneously design, construct or place into operation the environmental protection facilities, which are proposed to be constructed in support of construction projects, together with principal parts of such projects;

(3)

discretionarily dismantling, leaving idle or misusing facilities for prevention and control of environmental pollution or failing to discharge pollution in a normal manner;

(4)

contravening environmental protection laws and regulations, thereby causing environmental pollution accidents in serious cases;

(5)

failing to prepare emergency plans in accordance with pertinent State provisions or failing to timely take effective control measures upon occurrence of emergencies, thus causing serious consequences;

(6)

continuing the production as usual although after being ordered to cease doing business or close down according to law;

(7)

precluding environmental law enforcers from legally performing official functions; and

(8)

committing other acts of carrying out construction, production or business operation in violation of environmental protection laws and regulations.

Article 12

Where illegal acts and disciplinary offences in environmental protection are committed, thus involving crimes, matters shall be referred to judicial organs for handling in accordance with law.

Article 13

Where cases violating environmental protection laws and disciplines under investigation fall into the jurisdiction of the other party, either a competent administrative department for environmental protection or a supervisor organ shall timely refer such cases to the other party having jurisdiction over them.

If it is necessary to give punishments to relevant persons liable, a supervisory organ shall make a supervision decision or a supervision recommendation of giving punishments according to law.

Article 14

Should punishments be given to organizations with a function of administering public affairs under the authorization of laws and regulations, organizations entrusted by State administrative organs according to law and personnel thereof, as well as persons appointed by State administrative organs to work in other institutions, for their commission of illegal acts and disciplinary offences in environmental protection, these Regulations shall apply.

Article 15

The Ministry of Supervision and the State Environmental Protection Administration and the State Environmental Protection Administration shall be responsible for the interpretation of these Regulations.

Article 16

These Regulations shall go into effect as of the date of promulgation.

  Ministry of Supervision, State Environmental Protection Administration 2006-02-20  


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