China’s new Environmental Protection Law has been called China’s toughest environmental law ever and has attracted widespread public attention since its enactment. It has been implemented for over 5 months with recent news revealing the first casualty of its beefed up environmental requirements. A pesticide manufacturer in Zhejiang Province was issued with a fine of 75 million RMB (approximately 12 million USD) due to illegal discharge of hazardous wastes and severe pollution of the environment.
The offender is Zhejiang Jinfanda Biochemical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred as “JFD”), one of the top suppliers of glyphosate and its formulations worldwide. As reported in a local newspaper (see reference), from Oct, 2011 to May, 2013 JFD outsourced disposal of its glyphosate mother liquor (the remaining solution after crystallization) to other unlicensed companies for waste disposal. It was later revealed that the waste water in question which amounted to more than 35 thousand tons was directly dumped into rivers nearby.
In addition to the huge fine issued to JFD, another company was fined 4 million RMB, and 18 persons sentenced to imprisonment varying from 1 year and 4 months to 6 years as well as additional monetary punishments. These cases represent the strictest examples of legal actions taken after the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate promulgated the Interpretations on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Handling of Criminal Cases of Environmental Pollution (2013).
The first half of 2015 saw both environmental protection authorities and public security authorities working in close unison with the People’s Procuratorates and People’s Courts in the implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law. In March, the “All-China Environment Federation” initiated a public welfare litigation accusing a company in Shandong Province of air pollution and requiring a compensation of 30 million RMB to be paid. The cost of violating environment laws and regulations in China are becoming increasingly strict and a serious deterrent to violators.
