Chapter VI 

Green Development

Article 64 Relevant departments under the State Council and all local people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall, in accordance with the development plans and land and space plans for the Yangtze River basin, adjust the industrial structure, improve the distribution of industries and promote green development in the Yangtze River basin.

Article 65 The State Council and all the local people's governments in the Yangtze River basin and their relevant departments shall work together to implement the rural revitalization strategy and the new urbanization strategy, balance urban and rural infrastructure construction and industrial development, establish a sound basic public service system with universal coverage, inclusiveness and sharing, and urban-rural integration to promote the integrated development of urban and rural areas in the Yangtze River basin.

Article 66 The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall promote the upgrading and transformation of industries such as iron and steel, petroleum, chemicals, nonferrous metals, building materials and shipping, and raise their level of technology and equipment. These governments shall encourage papermaking, leather tanning, electroplating, printing and dyeing, nonferrous metals, pesticide, nitrogen fertilizer, coking, and API manufacturing enterprises to carry out clean upgrading. Enterprises shall reduce resource consumption and pollutant discharge through technological innovation.

The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall take measures to speed up the relocation and transformation of hazardous chemicals producers in key areas.

Article 67 Relevant departments under the State Council shall, in conjunction with the provincial people's governments in the Yangtze River basin, establish an assessment mechanism for the green development of development zones, and organize regular assessments of the energy-saving and intensive utilization of resources and energy, and ecological and environmental protection in various development zones.

The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall, on the basis of the assessment results, improve and adjust the industries, products and measures for energy conservation and emissions reduction in development zones.

Article 68 The State encourages and supports water-saving technological transformation in key industries and key water-using organizations in the Yangtze River basin to improve water resources utilization efficiency.

The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall strengthen the construction of water-saving cities and parks, promote the development of water-saving industries and enterprises, and speed up the construction of sponge cities where rainwater is naturally stored, permeated and purified.

Article 69 The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall, in accordance with the requirements of green development, pursue overall planning, construction and management to improve the quality of the living environment in both urban and rural areas, and build beautiful towns and villages.

The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall organize and carry out toilet renovation in accordance with the eco-friendly, environmentally friendly, economical, and practical principles and in light of local conditions.

Relevant departments under the State Council and the local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin and their relevant departments shall strengthen control over the use of building materials in new urban areas and development zones, encourage the use of energy-saving, environmentally friendly, high-performance building materials, to construct underground integrated pipeline corridors and pipe networks.

The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall establish information platforms for the comprehensive utilization of waste soil, gravel, and dregs, strengthen the administration of the collection, cleaning, transportation and centralized piling of waste soil, gravel and dregs from production and construction activities, and encourage comprehensive utilization of these materials.

Article 70 The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall draw up and organize the implementation of tidal flat development plans in aquaculture waters, reasonably demarcate no-breeding areas, restricted breeding areas, and aquaculture areas, and scientifically determine the scale and density of aquaculture. They shall intensify the management of aquaculture inputs, and guide and standardize aquaculture and multiplication activities.

Article 71 The State shall strengthen the construction of the comprehensive, multifaceted transportation system in the Yangtze River basin, improve ports, waterways and other water transportation infrastructure, and promote the interconnection of transportation facilities to realize the organic connection of water and land transportation on the Yangtze River and direct intermodal transportation between the Yangtze River and the sea, and enhance the function of the Yangtze River as a golden waterway.

Article 72 The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall make overall plans for the construction of pollutant reception, transfer, and disposal facilities and liquefied natural gas refueling stations on vessels, formulate plans for the construction and upgrading of shore power facilities in ports and ship power receiving facilities, and organize their implementation. Vessels that are qualified to use shore power shall use it at berth in accordance with the relevant national regulations, except those that use clean energy.

Article 73 The State Council and the local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall, in accordance with relevant regulations, provide financial or policy support to the upgrading and transformation of ports, waterways, and vessels in the Yangtze River basin, the construction of clean energy or new energy powered vessels such as liquefied natural gas powered vessels, and the green design of ports.

The State Council and the local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall, in accordance with relevant regulations, provide financial subsidies, preferential prices of electricity and other policy support to the transformation and use of shore power facilities in ports and ship power receiving facilities in the Yangtze River basin.

Article 74 All the local people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall strengthen publicity and education on green consumption among both urban and rural residents, and adopt effective measures to support and guide green consumption among residents.

All the local people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall adopt measures such as recovering deposits, restricting the use of plastic products that are easy to pollute and not easy to degrade, green design, and developing public transportation in accordance with the principles of systematic promotion, extensive participation, highlighting key areas and applying policies tailored to different situations, to promote a simple, moderate, green and low-carbon way of life.

Chapter VII 

Guarantee and Supervision

Article 75 The State Council and the local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall increase financial input for the ecological and environmental protection and restoration in the Yangtze River basin.

In accordance with the principle of dividing fiscal powers and expenditures between the central and local governments, the State Council and the provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall allocate special funds for ecological and environmental protection in the Yangtze River basin for ecological and environmental protection and restoration in that basin. The department of natural resources under the State Council shall, in conjunction with the finance and ecology and environment departments under the State Council, formulate policies and measures for rationally utilizing private funds to promote ecological and environmental restoration in the Yangtze River basin.

The State encourages and supports scientific and technological research, development, popularization and application in the ecological and environmental protection and restoration in the Yangtze basin.

The State encourages financial institutions to develop green credit, green bonds, green insurance and other financial products to provide financial support for ecological and environmental protection and green development in the Yangtze River basin.

Article 76 The State shall establish a compensation system for ecological protection in the Yangtze River basin.

The State shall increase financial transfer payments to compensate the sources of the main stream and major tributaries of the Yangtze River, as well as water conservation areas in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and other areas with important ecological functions. The specific measures shall be formulated by the finance department under the State Council in conjunction with relevant departments under the State Council.

The State encourages the local people's governments in the upper and lower reaches, left and right banks, and the main stream and tributaries of the Yangtze River basin to carry out horizontal compensation for ecological protection.

The State encourages private funds to establish market-oriented compensation funds for ecological protection in the Yangtze River basin, and encourages relevant entities to adopt voluntary consultations and other methods to carry out ecological protection compensation.

Article 77 The State shall strengthen judicial guarantee in the Yangtze River basin, and encourage relevant organizations to provide legal services for ecological and environmental protection in the Yangtze River basin.

Where the administrative law enforcement bodies, the people's courts, and the people's procuratorates at all levels in the Yangtze River basin discover suspected criminal acts in the course of investigating and dealing with illegal acts concerning Yangtze River protection or handling relevant cases in accordance with the law, shall transfer the clues to the bodies with powers and functions of detection and investigation.

Article 78 The State shall implement a responsibility system and an assessment and evaluation system for ecological and environmental protection in the Yangtze River basin. The people's government at a higher level shall assess the fulfillment of the ecological and environmental protection and restoration objectives of the people's governments at a lower level.

Article 79 Relevant departments under the State Council and relevant departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall, in accordance with the provisions of this Law and the division of responsibilities, supervise and inspect protection, development, and construction activities in the Yangtze River basin, and investigate and punish in accordance with the law illegal acts that destroy the natural resources, pollute the environment or damage the ecosystem of the Yangtze River basin.

Citizens, legal persons, and unincorporated organizations shall have the right to obtain information related to ecological and environmental protection of the Yangtze River basin in accordance with the law, report and file charges against illegal acts that destroy the natural resources, pollute the environment or damage the ecosystem of the Yangtze River basin.

Relevant departments under the State Council and all local people's governments in the Yangtze River basin and their relevant departments shall disclose information related to ecological and environmental protection in the Yangtze River basin in accordance with the law, improve the procedures for public participation, and provide convenience for citizens, legal persons, and unincorporated organizations to participate in and supervise ecological and environmental protection in the Yangtze River basin.

Article 80 Relevant departments under the State Council, all local people's governments in the Yangtze River basin and their relevant departments shall carry out joint law enforcement in accordance with the law in cross-administrative areas, ecologically sensitive areas, and areas with a high incidence of ecological and environmental violations and in major illegal cases in the Yangtze River basin.

Article 81 Relevant departments under the State Council and the provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin can summon for meetings the principal leaders of the local people's governments at or above the county level and relevant departments in areas where Yangtze River protection is ineffective, problems are prominent, and public complaints are concentrated, and urge them to take measures to rectify the situation in time.

Article 82 The State Council shall regularly report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on ecological and environmental protection and restoration in the Yangtze River basin.

The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall regularly report to the people's congresses at the corresponding level or their standing committees on their ecological and environmental protection and restoration work in the Yangtze River basin.

Chapter VIII

Legal Liability

Article 83 Where relevant departments under the State Council and all the local people's governments in the Yangtze River basin and their relevant departments, in violation of the provisions of this Law, commit any of the following acts, the person in charge directly responsible and other persons directly responsible shall be given punishments such as warnings, demerits, serious demerits or demotions in accordance with the law. Where serious consequences have been caused, the offenders shall be given the punishment of removal from office or dismissal, and the principal leaders shall take the responsibility and resign:

(1) granting an administrative license where the requirements for the administrative license are not met;

(2) failing to make a decision on suspension of business or closure which must have been made in accordance with the law;

(3) failing to investigate and deal with illegal acts after discovering them or receiving reports in accordance with law;

(4) other acts of dereliction of duty, abuse of power or malpractice for personal gain. 

Article 84 Whoever commits any of the following acts in violation of the provisions of this Law shall be ordered to stop the illegal act and be given a warning and imposed a fine of not less than 10,000 yuan but not more than 100,000 yuan by the relevant competent body according to its functions and duties. Where the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan but not more than 500,000 yuan shall be imposed:

(1) navigating vessels in the prohibited area;

(2) navigating vessels in the prohibited area in the important habitat of aquatic organisms with consent but failing to take necessary measures to reduce disturbance to important aquatic organisms;

(3) failing to incorporate water allocation for ecological use into the daily operation scheduling rules for water conservancy, hydropower, and shipping hub projects;

(4) failing to use shore power on vessels that are qualified to use it in accordance with the relevant national regulations.

Article 85 Whoever breeds or releases exotic species or other germplasm resources of non-native species in the open waters of the Yangtze River in violation of the provisions of this Law shall be ordered by the agricultural and rural affairs department of the people's governments at or above the county level to catch them back within a time limit and be imposed a fine of not more than 100,000 yuan. Where consequences are serious, a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan but not more than 1 million yuan shall be imposed. Where the perpetrator fails to do so within the time limit, the agricultural and rural affairs department of the relevant people's government shall do so on its behalf or take measures to reduce the negative impact, and the expenses incurred therefrom shall be borne by the perpetrator.

Article 86 Where productive fishing carried out in aquatic organism protection areas in the Yangtze River basin in violation of the provisions of this Law, or productive fishing of natural fishery resources is carried out in key waters such as the main stream and major tributaries of the Yangtze River, large lakes connected with the Yangtze River, and the designated area of the Yangtze River estuary during the period of moratorium, the departments of agriculture and rural affairs of the people's governments at or above the county level shall confiscate the catch, the illegal income derived therefrom and the fishing boats, fishing gear and other tools used in the illegal fishing, and impose a fine of not less than 10,000 yuan but not more than 50,000 yuan. Where fishing is carried out by electrocuting, poisoning fish or blast fishing and where there are other serious circumstances involved, a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 500,000 yuan shall be imposed.

Where the catch mentioned in the preceding paragraph are purchased, processed, or sold, the departments of agricultural and rural affairs and market regulation of the people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with their respective functions and duties, confiscate the catch, its products and the illegal income derived therefrom and impose a fine not less than 10 times but not more than 20 times the value of the catch. Where the circumstances are serious, the relevant production and operation license shall be revoked or the offender shall be ordered to close down.

Article 87 Where, in violation of the provisions of this Law, the waters of rivers and lakes in the Yangtze River basin are occupied illegally, or the river and lake shorelines are illegally used or occupied, the departments of water resources and natural resources of the people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the division of responsibilities, order the illegal activities to be stopped, and the enclosures to be dismantled and the original state to be restored within a specified time and with the costs incurred being borne by the offender. They shall confiscate the illegal income derived therefrom and impose a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 500,000 yuan.

Article 88 Where any of the following acts is committed in violation of the provisions of this Law, departments of ecology and environment and natural resources of the people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the division of responsibilities, order the illegal act to be stopped, and the enclosures to be dismantled and the original state to be restored within a specified time and with the costs incurred being borne by the offender. They shall confiscate the illegal income derived therefrom, impose a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 5 million yuan on the offender; and impose a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan but no more than 100,000 yuan on the the person in charge directly responsible and other persons directly responsible. Where the circumstances are serious, the relevant projects shall be ordered to close down with the approval of the people's government with the power of approval.

(1) establishing or expanding chemical industrial parks or projects within one kilometer of the shorelines of the main stream and tributaries of the Yangtze River;

(2) building, rebuilding, or expanding tailings ponds within three kilometers of the shoreline of the Yangtze River's main stream and within one kilometer of the shorelines of important tributaries;

(3) carrying out production and construction activities in violation of the provisions of the ecological and environmental access lists.

Article 89 Where enterprises that mine and process phosphate ores and manufacture phosphate fertilizers and phosphorus-containing pesticides in the Yangtze River basin discharge water pollutants containing phosphorus in excess of discharge standards or total volume control targets in violation of the provisions of this Law, the departments of ecology and environment of the people's governments at or above the county level shall order them to stop their illegal acts, impose on them a fine of not less than 200,000 yuan but not more than 2 million yuan, and impose on the person in charge directly responsible and other persons directly responsible a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 100,000 yuan. Where the circumstances are serious, the enterprises shall be ordered to suspend production for correction or close down with the approval of the people's governments with the power of approval. 

Article 90 Where highly toxic chemicals and other hazardous chemicals that are prohibited by the State from being transported through inland rivers are transported on water in the Yangtze River basin in violation of the provisions of this Law, the transport departments or maritime administration bodies of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall order the acts to be corrected, confiscate the illegal income derived therefrom, impose a fine of not less than 200,000 yuan but not more than 2 million yuan, and impose on the person in charge directly responsible and other persons directly responsible a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 100,000 yuan. Where the circumstances are serious, the enterprises shall be ordered to suspend production for correction, or the relevant license shall be revoked.

Article 91 Where, in violation of the provisions of this law, sand is mined in the Yangtze River basin without obtaining a permit in accordance with the law, or sand is mined in no-sand-mining areas or periods, relevant river basin management agencies of the water resources department under the State Council or the departments of water resources of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall order the illegal acts to be stopped, confiscate the illegal income derived therefrom and the vessels, equipment, and tools used in the illegal activities, and impose a fine not less than two times but not more than 20 times the value of the sand mined. Where the sand mined is worth not more than 100,000 yuan, a fine of not less than 200,000 yuan but not more than 2 million yuan shall be imposed. Where the river sand mining license has been obtained, it shall be revoked.

Article 92 Where no administrative penalty is provided for in this Law for illegal acts such as destruction of the natural resources, pollution of the environment or damage to the ecosystem of the Yangtze River basin, the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations shall apply.

Article 93 Anyone causes damage to others by polluting the environment or destroying the ecosystem of the Yangtze River basin shall be liable for tort.

Where a violation of State regulations causes ecological and environmental damage in the Yangtze River basin, the bodies and organizations prescribed by the State or law shall have the right to request the infringer to bear the liability for repair and compensate for the losses and relevant expenses.

Article 94 Violations of the provisions of this Law that constitute a crime shall be investigated for criminal liability in accordance with the law.

Chapter IX

Supplementary Provisions

Article 95 Definitions of the following terms used in this Law:

(1) The main stream of the Yangtze River means the main reach of the Yangtze River from its headwaters to its estuary, which flows through Qinghai Province, Sichuan Province, the Tibet Autonomous Region, Yunnan Province, Chongqing, Hubei Province, Hunan Province, Jiangxi Province, Anhui Province, Jiangsu Province, and Shanghai; 

(2) The tributaries of the Yangtze River mean the rivers that flow directly or indirectly into the main stream of the Yangtze River, and they can be divided into the first-grade, second-grade tributaries, etc.;

(3) The major tributaries of the Yangtze River refer to those with a basin area of more than 10,000 square kilometers, among which the first-grade tributaries with a basin area of more than 80,000 square kilometers include the Yalong River, the Minjiang River, the Jialing River, the Wujiang River, the Xiangjiang River, the Yuanjiang River, the Hanjiang River and the Ganjiang River.

Article 96 This Law shall enter into force as of March 1, 2021.