-- NPC Standing Committee organizes inspections on enforcement of environmental legislation

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China with General Secretary Xi Jinping at the core has always attached great importance to the construction of ecological civilization, holding that it is crucial to China's sustainable development and to the well-being of hundreds of millions of people. 

"People's congresses at all levels and their standing committees should prioritize the construction of ecological civilization and conduct law enforcement inspections while regularly listening to reports delivered by the governments at corresponding levels," Xi stressed, while attending the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection in May 2018.

The Standing Committee of National People's Congress (NPC), has always underlined the importance of law enforcement inspections, which are crucial for promoting the effective implementation of laws and the construction of a country governed by the rule of law. 

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the 13th NPC Standing Committee, stated that through law enforcement inspections, "We can better promote the implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially his idea of ecological civilization construction, which plays a leading role in socialist economic, political, cultural and social construction." 

Since 2013, the NPC and its Standing Committee has enacted or revised more than 20 environment-related laws and bills, including the Environmental Protection Law, along with air, water and soil pollution prevention and control laws, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Li Zhanshu (first left), chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee and member of the Political Bureau of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, inspects sewage discharge in Southwest China's Sichuan Province on April 10, 2019. Yan Yan

The 13th NPC has organized a series of law enforcement inspections on air, water and soil pollution from 2018 to 2020 in a move to tighten supervision over environmental protection and speed up the construction of ecological civilization.

Since the NPC's inspections are different from ordinary working checks, "we must abide by all legal provisions while carrying out inspections," Li said. The NPC Standing Committee's law enforcement inspection teams, headed by Li, had visited 78 cities in 22 provinces over the past three years.

"Regarding the quality of the environment, ordinary people have the most direct and strongest feelings," said Li during an inspection tour to Central China's Henan Province on the enforcement of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law in May 2018. "They (the people) have the final say in the appraisal of the treatment of environmental pollution." 

Lawmakers visited the homes of villagers in Henan and listened to their opinions on air pollution control as well as feedback on the replacement of coal for electricity in heating. Statistics showed that 245 days in 2020, or over 67 percent, recorded excellent air quality in the province, 63 more than in 2015. 

In total, 84 lawmakers participated in the nationwide probes, during which "we inspected 362 projects on the spot, held 74 symposiums, listened to reports from 233 departments and entrusted the standing committees of the provincial people's congresses to conduct self-examinations in all 31 provinces," said Gao Hucheng, a deputy head of the inspection teams and chairman of the 13th NPC Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee.

The quality of air, water and soil concerns everyone's health and safety. During their inspections, lawmakers organized a number of symposiums to listen to the opinions of local lawmakers, company employees, environmental experts, villagers and frontier workers. 

During the inspections, people's congresses at provincial, city and county levels mobilized and dispatched deputies to participate in the supervision. 

NPC deputies also pushed for rectification of the problems found in inspections. The top legislature will strengthen efforts to better supervise environmental protection by conducting more law enforcement inspections and closely following the rectification progress, Xinhua reported.

"I live in Tumoteyou Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which suffered from severe air pollution due to the burning of corn stalks every fall. We had tried various means to contain the pollution, but the effects were limited," said Lyu Zhiqiang, a local lawmaker in Baotou, which administers the banner.

After the implementation of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law, the banner introduced five large-scale enterprises to process cornstalks, while some households purchased machines to turn cornstalks into feed for oxen and sheep, the lawmaker said, adding that air quality in pastoral areas has since been greatly improved.

In May 2019, an inspection team led by vice-chairman of the NPC Standing Committee Wang Chen visited Hebei Province to check up on water pollution prevention. 

Although sewage-treatment plants were built in almost every county in Hebei, some of these plants were overloaded, while some cities and townships failed to separate rain water from sewage due to backward drainage systems. In some other areas, the quality of reclaimed water didn't meet the discharge standard, which has been continually raised to protect the environment. 

According to China's Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law, local governments are required to monitor the quality of drinking water and publicize the monitoring results at least once a quarter. 

After conducting nationwide law enforcement inspections, lawmakers raised a total of 44 questions on air, 19 questions on water and 19 questions on soil pollution prevention.

NPC deputies pointed out that some administrative and judiciary departments retarded or neglected problems on handling pollution, while some local governments and enterprises were denounced by inspections teams.

In August 2020, Li presided over a seminar in Shandong Province to listen to suggestions and solutions from experts on the implementation of the Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law.

Moreover, during tours, inspection teams conducted secret investigations and random spot checks, issued questionnaires and introduced third-party assessment to promote the full and effective implementation of ecological and environmental protection laws and regulations. 

The teams invited more than 230 experts from the Chinese Academy of Engineering and other institutions to evaluate the implementation of the laws on air, water and soil pollution prevention and control, resulting in a nearly 200,000-word assessment report, said Cheng Lifeng, a member of the inspection teams. 

By borrowing the "third-party brain" to provide technical support and professional reference for law enforcement, the NPC's supervision work was greatly enhanced on the scientific, professional and authoritative level, said Cheng, also a vice chairman of the 13th NPC Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee. 

The inspection teams transferred some of the problems they found to local authorities for rectification or reported them to central authorities for further advices according to relevant laws.

Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) officials told NPC magazine that they approved of the hard work of the inspection teams. The inspection teams did thorough and in-depth investigations on the enforcement of the three laws, identified major problems and causes, and recommended solutions and policies, which are conducive to the control of pollution and the improvement of the ecological environment. 

In addition, they said all nine indicators set in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–20) on ecological environment protection have been over-fulfilled, laying a solid foundation for the overall construction of a well-off society.

Statistics showed that the proportion of the number of good air quality days in cities at prefecture level and above climbed to 85 percent. The proportion of bodies of water that reached or surpassed Category 3 was 80.1 percent, while the people's sense of achievement, happiness and security of a beautiful environment was greatly improved. 

By the end of October 2020, about 620 million tons of crude steel production capacity in China had been transformed or was being transformed to ultra-low emissions. In addition, the Ministry of Finance issued a total of 49.3 billion yuan as special funds by 2020 to assist for the transformation of energy used for winter heating in the northern region to environmentally friendly energy. 

Meanwhile, the number of urban air quality monitoring sites increased to 1,734 around the nation. Since June 2018, a total of 193,000 air-related environmental issues have been handled by relevant departments. In July 2020, China adopted the National VI standards for light vehicles, capping motor vehicles emissions further.

Regarding the prevention and control of water pollution, the proportion of state-controlled sections with excellent water quality (at or better than Category 3) in the Yangtze River Basin was 95.9 percent from January to September 2020. By the end of August 2020, there were 2,912, or 3.6 percent, remaining black-smelling bodies of water in cities at or above the national level. By the end of October 2020, a total of 9,861 water protected areas had been demarcated. 

Currently, water quality monitoring information for 902 centralized drinking water sources is released monthly in 337 cities. Almost all the provincial-level and above industrial parks with centralized sewage treatment facilities have been completed. The Ministry of Transport and MEE have promulgated the Measures for the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution of Inner-River Ships Below 400 Tons to further control the discharge of water pollutants from ships.

In the area of soil pollution prevention and control, MEE held training courses on soil pollution risk control and restoration in Huzhou of Zhejiang Province and Shaoguan of Guangdong Province in September and November 2020, respectively. It issued the Accounting Method for the Safe Utilization Rate of Contaminated Arable Land at the Provincial Level in 2020 and the Accounting Method for the Safe Utilization Rate of Contaminated Land in 2020 to curb the risk of pollution of agricultural and construction land. The central government will launch the second round of central ecological environment protection inspections, check the implementation of the Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law, and push local governments and enterprises to strictly implement pollution prevention and control measures.

(The National People's Congress 2020 ISSUE 4)