Order of the President of the People's Republic of China 

No. 8

The Law of the People's Republic of China on Prevention and Control of Soil Contamination, adopted at the 5th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on August 31, 2018, is hereby promulgated and shall go into effect on January 1, 2019.

Xi Jinping 

President of the People's Republic of China 

                August 31, 2018

Law of the People's Republic of China on Prevention and Control of Soil Contamination 

(Adopted at the 5th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on August 31, 2018)

Contents

Chapter I     General Provisions 

Chapter II    Planning, Standards, General Survey and Monitoring 

Chapter III   Prevention and Protection 

Chapter IV   Risk Control and Remediation 

Section 1    General Provisions 

Section 2    Agricultural Land 

Section 3    Construction Land 

Chapter V   Safeguard and Supervision 

Chapter VI   Legal Liabilities 

Chapter VII  Supplementary Provision

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1   This Law is enacted for the purpose of protecting and improving the ecological environment, preventing and controlling soil contamination, safeguarding public health, promoting sustainable use of soil resources, advancing the ecological civilization, and promoting sustainable economic and social development. 

Article 2    This Law shall apply to the prevention and control of soil contamination and related activities carried out within the territory of the People's Republic of China and other sea areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China. 

For the purpose of this Law, "soil contamination" means the phenomenon in which the chemical, physical and biological properties of soil are changed as a result of anthropogenic introduction of substances into the surface soil of the land, which affects the functions and effective utilization of soil, and endangers public health or disrupts the ecological environment. 

Article 3   The prevention and control of soil contamination should adhere to the principles of prevention first, prioritizing protection, administration based on classification, putting risks under control, ensuring accountability, and public participation. 

Article 4   All organizations and individuals have the obligation to protect soil and prevent soil contamination. 

Land use right holders who engage in land development and utilization, and enterprises, public institutions and other producers and business operators which engage in the production and operation shall take effective measures to prevent and reduce soil contamination, and assume responsibility in accordance with law for any soil contamination resulted from their activity. 

Article 5   Local people's governments at all levels shall be responsible for the prevention and control of soil contamination and the safe utilization of soil within their respective administrative areas. 

The State implements a target-oriented responsibility and performance evaluation system for the prevention and control of soil contamination. The achievement of targets for preventing and controlling soil contamination will be included in the performance evaluation of the local people's governments at all levels and the persons in charge thereof, and the departments responsible for supervision and administration of soil contamination prevention and control and the persons in charge thereof in the people's governments at or above the county level. 

Article 6   The people's governments at all levels shall strengthen their leadership over the work in preventing and controlling soil contamination, and organize, coordinate with and urge the relevant departments to perform, according to law, their duties of supervising and administering soil contamination prevention and control. 

Article 7   The competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council exercises unified supervision and administration on soil contamination prevention and control across the country. The departments of agriculture and rural affairs, natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, forestry and grassland and other departments under the State Council shall supervise and administer the prevention and control of soil contamination within the scope of their respective functions and responsibilities. 

The competent departments of ecology and environment under the local people's governments shall exercise unified supervision and administration on soil contamination prevention and control within their respective administrative areas. The departments of agriculture and rural affairs, natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, forestry and grassland and other departments under the local people's governments shall supervise and administer the prevention and control of soil contamination within the scope of their respective functions and responsibilities. 

Article 8   The State establishes an information sharing mechanism for soil environment. 

The competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council shall, together with the departments of agriculture and rural affairs, natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, water resources, health, forestry and grassland and other departments under the State Council, establish a soil environment basic database and a national soil environment information platform, to realize dynamical data update and information sharing. 

Article 9   The State supports the scientific research, technological development, and technology transfer, promotion and application in the risk control, remediation and monitoring of soil contamination, encourages the industrial development of soil contamination prevention and control, strengthens the training of specialized talents, and promotes scientific and technological progress in soil contamination prevention and control. 

The State supports international exchanges and cooperation in the prevention and control of soil contamination. 

Article 10   The people's governments at all levels and their relevant departments, self-governing mass organizations and the news media shall strengthen publicity of soil contamination prevention and control, educate people of related knowledge and popularize the science, so as to raise public awareness, and guide the public to participate in soil contamination prevention and control efforts in accordance with the law.

Chapter II Planning, Standards, General Survey and Monitoring

Article 11   The people's governments at or above the county level shall incorporate the work on soil contamination prevention and control into their economic and social development planning and their environmental protection planning. 

The competent departments of ecology and environment under the local people's governments at or above the level of city divided into districts shall, together with the departments of development and reform, agriculture and rural affairs, natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, forestry and grassland and other departments at the same level, formulate the plans for soil contamination prevention and control on the basis of the requirements of the environmental protection planning, the land use purpose, and the results of general survey and monitoring of the soil contamination. The said plans shall be reported to the people's governments at the same level for approval before putting into practice. 

Article 12   The competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council shall, based on the soil contamination status, public health risks, ecological risks, and scientific and technological capacity, formulate national standards of risk control for soil contamination according to different land use purposes, and enhance the efforts in establishing a system of soil contamination prevention and control standards. 

The people's governments at the provincial level may formulate local standards of risk control for soil contamination for items that are not specified in the national standards of risk control for soil contamination. As to the items that have national standards of risk control for soil contamination, stricter local standards of risk control for soil contamination may be formulated. The local standards of risk control for soil contamination shall be submitted to the competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council for the record. 

The standards of risk control for soil contamination shall be mandatory. 

The State supports research on the background concentrations in soil and environmental quality benchmarks. 

Article 13   In order to formulate the standards of risk control for soil contamination, experts shall be organized to conduct review and demonstrations, and opinions from relevant departments, industry associations, enterprises, public institutions and the general public shall be sought. 

The implementation of the standards of risk control for soil contamination shall be regularly evaluated, and the standards shall be revised according to the evaluation results in due time. 

The competent departments of ecology and environment under the people's governments at or above the provincial level shall publish the standards of risk control for soil contamination on their websites for public access and downloading free of charge. 

Article 14   The State Council exercises unified leadership over the national survey on soil contamination. The competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council shall, together with the departments of agriculture and rural affairs, natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, and forestry and grassland and other departments under the State Council, organize a national survey on soil contamination at least every ten years. 

The relevant departments under the State Council and the local people's governments at or above the level of city divided into districts may organize and conduct detailed surveys on soil contamination according to the actual situation of their respective sectors and administrative areas. 

Article 15   The State implements a monitoring system on soil environment. 

The competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council shall formulate the norms for soil environmental monitoring, and, together with the departments of agriculture and rural affairs, natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, water resources, health, forestry and grassland and other departments under the State Council, organize a soil monitoring network, and plan the establishment of national soil environment monitoring stations (sites) in a unified manner. 

Article 16   The departments of agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and grassland under the local people's governments shall, together with the competent departments of ecology and environment and natural resources, conduct key monitoring on the following agricultural land: 

(1) in which the contaminants in the agricultural products produced exceed the limits; 

(2) which is or was used as sewage irrigation area; 

(3) which is or was used for large-scale livestock farming, or solid waste storage or landfill; 

(4) which was used as industrial or mining land or where major or extraordinarily serious contamination accidents occurred; 

(5) which is in the surrounding areas of facilities for production, storage, utilization or disposal of toxic and hazardous substances; 

(6) which conforms to other circumstances prescribed by the departments of agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and grassland, ecology and environment, and natural resources under the State Council. 

Article 17   The competent departments of ecology and environment under the local people's governments shall, together with the departments of natural resources, conduct key monitoring on following construction land: 

(1) which was used for production, utilization, storage, recycling or disposal of toxic and hazardous substances; 

(2) which was used for solid waste storage or landfill; 

(3) where major or extraordinarily serious contamination accidents occurred; and 

(4) which conforms to other circumstances prescribed by the competent departments of ecology and environment and natural resources under the State Council.

Chapter III Prevention and Protection 

Article 18   Any plan that involves land utilization or any construction project that may cause soil contamination shall be subject to environmental impact assessment according to law. The documents of the said assessment shall include the possible adverse impact on soil and the preventive measures that shall be taken. 

Article 19   Any unit or individual producing, using, storing, transporting, recycling, disposing or releasing the toxic and hazardous substances shall take effective measures to prevent leakage, runoff, spills or spreading of toxic and hazardous substances and avoid soil contamination. 

Article 20   The competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council shall, together with health and other departments under the State Council, screen and evaluate the toxic and hazardous substances in soil according to the degree of damage to public health and the ecological environment, and release a catalogue of toxic and hazardous substances in soil under priority control, and update the catalogue in due time. 

Article 21   The competent departments of ecology and environment under the local people's governments at or above the level of city divided into districts shall, in accordance with the regulations of the competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council, compile directories of organizations under priority supervision for soil contamination based on the release of toxic and hazardous substances, and disclose such directories to the public and update them in due time. 

The organizations under priority supervision for soil contamination shall perform the following obligations: 

(1) strictly control the release of toxic and hazardous substances, and report the release information to the competent department of ecology and environment on an annual basis; 

(2) establish an identification system for potential soil contamination to ensure continuous and effective prevention of leakage, runoff, spills or spreading of toxic and hazardous substances; and 

(3) formulate and implement self-monitoring plans, and report the monitoring data to the competent department of ecology and environment. 

The obligations prescribed in the preceding paragraph of this Article shall be specified in the contamination discharge permit. 

The organizations under priority supervision for soil contamination shall be responsible for the authenticity and accuracy of the monitoring data. The competent department of ecology and environment shall carry out investigations in a timely manner upon discovery of any abnormal monitoring data from the organizations under priority supervision for soil contamination. 

The competent departments of ecology and environment under the local people's governments at or above the level of city divided into districts shall regularly monitor the soil surrounding organizations under priority supervision for soil contamination. 

Article 22   Any enterprise or public institution wishing to dismantle facilities, equipment, buildings or structures shall take corresponding measures to prevent and control soil contamination. 

Any organization under priority supervision for soil contamination wishing to dismantle facilities, equipment, buildings or structures shall formulate a soil contamination prevention and control plan including contingency measures, and file it with the competent departments of ecology and environment and industry and information technology under the local people's government before implementation. 

Article 23   The competent departments of ecology and environment and natural resources under the people's governments at all levels shall strengthen their supervision and administration of soil contamination prevention and control in the mineral resource exploitation areas according to law, and exercise strict control over the release of major contaminants which may cause soil contamination in accordance with the relevant standards and total quantity control. 

Units that operate or manage tailings ponds shall, according to relevant regulations, strengthen safety administration and take measures to prevent soil contamination. Units operating or managing dilapidated, dangerous or substandard ponds, or other tailings pond in need of priority supervision shall monitor and regularly evaluate the soil contamination status according to the regulations. 

Article 24   The State encourages the adoption of new technologies and new materials in construction projects such as information, network, lightning protection and grounding projects in the sectors of construction, communications, electricity, transportation and water resources to prevent soil contamination. 

Any resistance reduction agent containing heavy metals in excess of limits shall not be used in soil. 

Article 25   The measures to prevent soil contamination shall be adopted for the construction and operation of centralized sewage treatment facilities or solid waste disposal facilities according to the laws, regulations and relevant standards. 

The competent departments of ecology and environment under the local people's governments shall regularly monitor the soil around the centralized sewage treatment facilities and solid waste disposal facilities; in case of any inconsistency with the laws, regulations or relevant standards, the said departments shall, based on the monitoring results, require the unit that operates the centralized sewage treatment facilities or solid waste disposal facilities to take corresponding improvement measures. 

The local people's governments at all levels shall, in a coordinated manner, plan and construct the household sewage and garbage treatment and disposal facilities in urban and rural areas, ensure their normal operation, and prevent soil contamination. 

Article 26   The departments of agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and grassland under the State Council shall formulate plans, improve the relevant standards and measures, strengthen the instructions and total use control over the pesticides and fertilizers used in agricultural land, and reinforce the control over the use of agricultural films. 

The department of agriculture and rural affairs under the State Council shall strengthen the registration of pesticides and fertilizers, and organize safety assessments of the impact of pesticides and fertilizers on soil environment. 

The standards for pesticides, veterinary drugs, fertilizers, feeds, agricultural films, and other agricultural inputs and their packaging, and the standards for the quality of farmland irrigation water, shall be subject to the requirements for soil contamination prevention and control. 

Article 27   The departments of agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and grassland under the local people's governments shall carry out publicity and technical training on prevention and control of soil contamination in agricultural land, support the specialized services for agricultural production, guide agricultural producers in sensibly using pesticides, veterinary drugs, fertilizers, feeds, agricultural films and other agricultural inputs, and control the use of pesticides, veterinary drugs and chemical fertilizers, among others. 

The departments of agriculture and rural affairs under the local people's governments shall encourage the agricultural producers to adopt farming practices such as combining crop planting with livestock and poultry breeding, crop rotation and fallow period for land that are favorable for soil contamination prevention, support the adoption of such practices as soil improvement and soil fertility improvement that are favorable for soil maintenance and cultivation, and support the construction of the facilities for treating and utilizing livestock and poultry excrement.