In August 2018, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) put forward legislative amendment suggestions on the Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste of People’s Republic of China (Revised Draft) (hereinafter referred to as the Draft), including 9 general suggestions and 24 specific suggestions.

On April 29th, 2020, the new Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste (hereinafter referred to as the New Solid Waste Law) was revised and adopted by the Seventeenth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China and will come into force from September 1st, 2020. Compared with the previous "Solid Waste Law" (2nd Draft), the "New Solid Waste Law" has some changes and additions, but it still fully adopts the legislative suggestions of CBCGDF, mainly including:

1. Detailed definition of solid waste.

CBCGDF proposal is clearly defined in the supplementary provisions, and it has received a good response. The new "Solid Waste Law" not only defines solid waste, industrial solid waste, agricultural solid waste, and hazardous waste but also defines the construction waste.

2. Clear the responsibility for pollution.

CBCGDF suggests that it should make clear the responsibility of solid waste pollution, that is, the principle of “the one who damages should be responsible”, and realize “the one who pollutes should be responsible”. Article 5 of the new “Solid Waste Law” clearly stipulates: “the prevention and control of environmental pollution by solid waste shall adhere to the principle of pollution responsibility.”

3. Enhance the awareness of the whole society to participate in solid waste prevention and control.

CBCGDF put forward suggestions: “it is hoped that the awareness of the whole society’s participation in the prevention and control of solid waste pollution will be enhanced in an all-round way, and the participation of the public should be given full play.” Article 11 of the new “Solid Waste Law” clearly stipulates: “state organs, social organizations, enterprises and institutions, grass-roots mass autonomous organizations and news media shall strengthen publicity, education and scientific popularization of prevention and control of environmental pollution by solid waste, and enhance the public awareness of prevention and control of environmental pollution by solid waste. Schools shall carry out the popularization and education of knowledge on the classification of domestic waste and the prevention and control of environmental pollution by other solid waste.”

4. Set up provisions for whistleblower protection.

CBCGDF proposed that "should give full play to the supervision role of the public and the news media, encourage the reporting of illegal acts, and provide good protection and encouragement mechanism for whistleblowers". Article 31 of the new "Solid Waste Law" stipulates: "the department receiving the report shall handle and keep the relevant information of the informant confidential in a timely manner; reward shall be given to those who report under the real name and verify the truth. If the informer reports the unit to which he belongs, the unit shall not retaliate against the informer by rescinding or changing the labor contract or by other means."

5. Strengthening information disclosure and public participation.

CBCGDF suggested that “we should strengthen the provisions of information disclosure and public participation, support the establishment of a special platform for releasing relevant information, introduce social supervision, on the one hand, urge the government departments to administrate according to law and strengthen supervision. On the other hand, to ensure the whole process of solid waste treatment is transparent, open and traceable, which forces enterprises to fulfill their environmental responsibilities, eliminate pollution impact, and at the same time reduce the legal risk of improper disposal of enterprises.” The new “Solid Waste Law” gives a clear response in Articles 28, 29, 31 and 36, and provides specific provisions for information disclosure and public participation.

6. Pay attention to the pollution of rural agricultural solid waste.

CBCGDF put forward in the proposal that the Urban-Rural Coordination of the draft is not balanced, and there are few provisions related to rural agricultural pollution. At present, the pollution situation in rural agriculture is very serious. It is suggested that a single chapter or a single section should be set up to pay attention to the pollution of rural agriculture. The new "Solid Waste Law" has stipulated special chapters on solid waste, such as the construction industry and agriculture, in chapter five to regulate the pollution of agricultural and rural solid waste.

7. Standardize the new type of solid waste pollution.

In view of new solid waste pollution sources such as take out platform and online shopping express, CBCGDF proposed to make effective specifications in the proposal. Article 63 of the new “Solid Waste Law” has made clear provisions.

8. Amendment to the provisions of the import waste clause.

CBCGDF suggested that there should be space for the import of solid waste to avoid a "one size fits all" situation. The new Solid Waste Law has been amended in articles 23, 24, and 25.

9. Clarifying environmental public interest litigation and compensation litigation of ecological environment damage.

This is the focus clause in the legal provisions of the Draft. CBCGDF suggested that the Draft should clarify the boundary between public interest litigation and ecological environment damage compensation litigation, and the relationship should be straightened out. Articles 121 and 122 of the new "Solid Waste Law" respectively stipulate environmental public interest litigation and ecological environmental damage compensation litigation involving solid waste pollution. It is important to accept the suggestions of CBCGDF in the legal provisions on compensation litigation for ecological environment damage and to include the behavior of "damaging social public interest" into the category of environmental public interest litigation, rather than the compensation for ecological environment damage. This is a major change. In this way, environmental public interest litigation and ecological environmental damage compensation litigation develop in parallel to avoid cross or even collision.

(Photo credit: CBCGDF)

Original Chinese article:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/xkO6aen-1QwFee7lIuf8hQ

By / Xue Tongtong Modified / Maggie