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	CIRCULAR OF THE STATE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ADMINISTRATION OF CHINA CONCERNING THE WORK FOR THE RELATIVELY CENTRALIZED PART OF POWER OF ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

	(No. 5 [2003] of the State Environmental Protection Administration of China promulgated on January 13, 2003)


SUBJECT : ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES; ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
ISSUING DEPARTMENT : STATE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ADMINISTRATION
ISSUE DATE : 01/13/2003
IMPLEMENT DATE : 01/13/2003
LENGTH : 1,025 words
TEXT :

In order to carry through the spirit of the Decision of the State Council on Pushing Forward the Work for the Relatively Centralized Part of Power of Administrative Penalties (No.17 [2002] of the State Council, hereinafter referred to the "Decision"), we hereby make the following notice on the relevant issues concerning the relatively centralized part of power of administrative penalties on environmental protection in urban administration, in combination with the actual situation of the environmental protection work, and with the consent of the Office of Legislative Affairs under the State Council:

I. IMPLEMENTING EARNESTLY THE ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTY LAW AND THE DECISION OF THE STATE COUNCIL, SUPPORTING AND COOPERATING IN THE WORK OF RELATIVELY CENTRALIZED POWER OF ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES

The system of relatively centralized power of administrative penalties is an important legal system established by the Administrative Penalty Law. The scope of the relatively centralized power of administrative penalties on environmental protection prescribed in the Decision of the State Council shall be "the part of power of administrative penalties prescribed in laws, regulations and rules for the administration of environmental protection" in urban administration fields, and "all districts and departments shall make investigations earnestly and put them into practice according to the provisions of the present Decision in combination with the particular circumstances of the districts and the departments. " Therefore, the environmental departments at all levels shall, pursuant to the requirements of the present Decisions, and in combination with the actual situations of the urban environmental protection administration, earnestly carry through the Decisions of the State Council, so as to support and cooperate in the work for the relatively centralized power of administrative penalties.

II. ISSUES THAT MUST BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN CARRYING THROUGH THE DECISIONS OF THE STATE COUNCIL

The following issues shall need paying attention to when carrying out the work for the relatively centralized part of power of environmental administrative penalties in urban administration field:

1. The principles for carrying out the work shall be beneficial to solving the problems of enforcement of laws by several departments in charge, overlapping of duties, repetition of penalties, and disturbance to the people in law enforcement, and vacancy of administration.

2. It shall be beneficial to enabling the administration departments who execute the power of administrative penalties collectively to exert their rapid response capacity, but shall also have the technological advantages of the special law enforcement teams of the environmental departments brought into full play.

3. The illegal environmental acts that do little harm to the environment and may be judged and determined intuitionally with the assistance of simple equipment, or can be corrected by imposing one administrative penalty, or the acts that may be imposed upon penalties through simple procedures, may be investigated into and handled in time, and corrected in time by the execution of relatively centralized power of administrative penalties.

4. According to the actual situations of the urban environmental protection administration and the experience of the experimental cities in carrying out the work for the relatively centralized power of administrative penalties, the part of power of administrative penalties to be centralized prescribed in the environmental protection law may be considered to include:

(1) The part of administrative penalties on acts in violation of the Law on the Prevention and Control of the Atmospheric Pollution

a. The administrative penalties on the acts prescribed in paragraph 4 of Article 46 of storing coal, coal gangue, coal cinder, coal ash, sandstone, lime soil or other materials in the densely inhabited areas without taking any measures for fire and dust prevention.
b. The administrative penalties on the acts prescribed in paragraph 3 of Article 56 of transporting, loading and unloading, and storing the substances that may diffuse toxic or harmful gases or dust without adopting sealing or other protective measures, which cause the urban atmospheric pollution.
c. The administrative penalties on the acts prescribed in paragraph 1 of Article 57 of burning asphalt, asphalt felt, rubber, plastics, leather, garbage or other materials that may produce toxic or harmful smoke or dust or fetor in the densely inhabited areas of the city.
d. The administrative penalties on the acts prescribed in paragraph 2 of Article 57 of burning in the open air the stalks, fallen leaves or other materials that cause smoke or dust pollution in the densely inhabited areas of the city.

(2) The part of administrative penalties on acts in violation of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution

The administrative penalties on the acts prescribed in Article 32 of discharging or dumping industry waste residues, urban refuse or other wastes into any water body of the city.

5. The Environmental Protection Administrations (Offices) of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may, according to the specific conditions of the local environmental protection legislation and law enforcement, propose opinions through investigation on the part of relatively centralized power of environmental administrative penalties in the local urban environmental protection administration fields after deliberation with the legislative departments of the local people's governments.

III. ESTABLISHING AND IMPROVING THE COORDINATION AND COOPERATION MECHANISMS SO AS TO PUSHING FORWARD THE WORK FOR THE RELATIVELY CENTRALIZED POWER OF ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL ADMINISTRATION

To push forward the relatively centralized power of administrative penalties is an important measure adopted by the State Council for deepening the reform of administration system, seeking for the establishment of administration system and administrative law enforcement system, which fit in with the socialist market economy system. The environmental protection departments of each region shall strengthen their contact with the governmental organs of legal affairs, clarify the duty and power of the administrative departments executing the power of administrative penalties collectively and of the environmental protection departments, improve the coordination and cooperation mechanisms on law enforcement between them, as well as realize the communication and sharing of the administrative penalty information of urban environmental administration, and push forward collectively the work for the relatively centralized power of environmental administrative penalties in the urban environmental administration field, so as to have the urban environmental illegal acts investigated and handled effectively, and have the urban environment quality improved continuously.