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On Friday Aug 31st 2018, China’s top legislature passed the “Soil Pollution Prevention Law of People’s Republic of China” (中华人民共和国土壤污染防治法). The new law fills the legal void on soil protection and will go into effect on Jan 1, 2019 and lays the final foundation stone of China’s three pronged environmental protection strategy covering air, water and soil pollution.
The new law has 7 chapters and 99 articles in total, it stipulates the principle for soil prevention and control in below aspects:
General Principals (legislative purpose, obligations of competent government bodies, enterprises and public engagement)
Land plan, Standards, Investigations and Monitoring
Risk Control and Remediation
Protection and Supervision
Legal Liability
Highlights and future actions in soil prevention include:
Article 12 | National mandatory standards for soil pollution risk control set by the environmental authority of the State Council based on soil contamination status, public health risks and ecological risks. Provincial governments could publish stricter local requirements on soil pollution risk control. |
Article 14 | A nationwide soil condition census should be conducted at least once every 10 years |
Article 15 | Soil Environment Monitoring System A network of monitoring stations should be established nationwide. Data and other information collected should be shared amongst relevant authorities engaged in environmental remediation, agriculture, natural resource, etc. |
Article 16 | Key supervision on agriculture land of 6 scenarios |
Article 17 | Key supervision on construction land of 4 scenarios |
Article 20 | Screening and assessment on toxic and hazardous substances in soil and publish the inventory of toxic and hazardous substances in soil |
Article 21 | Units listed in the Inventory of key supervisory units for soil pollutants shall fulfill certain obligations which should specify in the pollutant discharge permit |
Violation of the law may can lead to a 2million RMB fine and/or criminal liability.
China’s soil pollutant prevention strategy will involve control of a multitude of major pollution sources including waste water, waste gas, solid waste, etc. Currently regulations for those wastes have all been specified in other targeted laws/regulations (water pollutants prevention law, air pollutants prevention law, environment pollutants prevention and control law of solid waste, etc.), thus the law for soil pollutants prevention mainly provides coherent and supplementary regulations.
China has been escalating its anti-pollution nationwide campaign of late and the soil pollution prevention law is the latest in a broader campaign of environmental protection and remediation. The new law provides a strong legal basis for China’s three pronged environmental strategy targeting soil, air and water going forward and similar to previously promulgated laws we can expect the law to have major impact on numerous industries and contribute to the ongoing improvements in China’s ecosystem.
