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Review the Evolution of Chinese Legislation on Air Pollution Prevention and Control

Received: 15 February 2020    Accepted: 23 March 2020    Published: 28 April 2020
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Abstract

As the quality of the atmospheric environment continues to deteriorate, the demand for improving the quality of atmosphere environment sharply increases. The State Council of China issued the Air Pollution Action Plan 2013 to tackle the air pollution problem. Then the Air Pollution Control Law was revised in 2015 and 2018. The main purpose of this article is to introduce the evolution of Chinese legislation on air pollution prevention and control, analyze the regulation strategy change in the legislation of air pollution regulation, and evaluate the Air Pollution Control Law. From the analysis the article finds that the administrative agencies not only passively enforce the law but also take an active role in developing new rules and modifying inappropriate old rules. The strategies in the Air Pollution Control Law are effective to settle the air pollution problem in current China. The conclusion is that the core of the Air Pollution Control Law enforcement still comes from the administration. Such a regulation strategy can achieve good results in a short period of time under political pressure. The legislature needs to find other path from the long-term perspective of the air pollution control law.

Published in International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management (Volume 5, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20200502.13
Page(s) 49-56
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Quality of the Atmospheric Environment, Local Government, Responsibility, Air Pollution Control Law

References
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[2] Mingqing You, "Changes and Challenges of the 2014 Revised Environmental Protection Law in the Context of China's Five Fundamental Transitions," Hong Kong Law Journal 45, no. 2 (2015): 621-650.
[3] Benjamin Van Rooij,"Pollution Regulation in Development : System Design Compliance and Enforcement", Leiden University Press, 2008.
[4] Law of the People’s Republic of China on the prevention and control of atmospheric pollution (revised 1995). Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
[5] Law of the People’s Republic of China on the prevention and control of atmospheric pollution (revised 2000). Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
[6] Hepeng Jia & Ling Wang, “ Peering into China’s Thick Haze of Air Pollution”, C&EN (Jan. 23, 2017), https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i4/Peering-Chinas-thick-haze-air.html
[7] Constitution of the People's Republic of China. (revised 2018). National People’s Congress.
[8] The Air Pollution Action Plan 2013. The State Council of China.
[9] Lei Liu, et al., " The Drivers of Local Environmental Policy in China: An Analysis of Shenzhen’s Environmental Performance Management System, 2007-2015", Journal of Cleaner Production 165 (2017): 656-666.
[10] Yuan, G.; Weixin Yang, " Evaluating China’s air pollution control policy with extended AQI indicator system: Example of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region", Sustain. 2019.
[11] Zheng Jinran, "Beijing Close to Meeting PM2.5 Goals", China daily (Aug. 22, 2017), https://perma.cc/XV9Y-FLA6.
[12] Greenpeace India, " Clean air action plan: the way forward (2016) ", https://perma.cc/3RT5-8GQ7.
[13] Law of the People’s Republic of China on the prevention and control of atmospheric pollution (revised 2018). Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
[14] Xiaopu Sun; Kenneth J. Markowitz; Durwood Zaelke; Jin Wang, "China's Air Pollution Rules: Compliance and Enforcement Lessons from Global Good Practices," Environmental Law Reporter News & Analysis 46, no. 11 (November 2016): 10958-10970.
[15] Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, 2013 China Vehicle Emission Control Annual Report (2014), Available online: http://www.vecc-mep.org.cn/huanbao/content/123.html (accessed on 18 July 2019).
[16] Environmental protection law of the People’s Republic of China (2014). the National People’s Congress.
[17] Justin Fisch, "The Case for Effective Environmental Politics: Federalist or Unitary State - Comparing the Cases of Canada, the United States of America, and the People's Republic of China," University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform 51, no. 4 (Summer 2018): 777-808.
[18] Michelle Ker & Kate Logan, "New Environmental Law Targets Local China’s Local Officials", Chinadialogue (Apr. 28 2014), https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/6939-New-environmental-law-targets-China-s-local-officials.
[19] Lori Frater, "A Review of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law in the People's Republic of China," Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law 7, no. 2 (2002): 89-[ix].
[20] Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, " Guidance on Promotion of Socialization of Environmental Monitoring and Inspection Services (Feb. 5, 2015) ", Available online: http://www.mep.gov.cn/gkml/hbb/bwj/201502/t20150210_295694.htm. (accessed on 22 July 2019).
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Hongxin Guo. (2020). Review the Evolution of Chinese Legislation on Air Pollution Prevention and Control. International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, 5(2), 49-56. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20200502.13

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    ACS Style

    Hongxin Guo. Review the Evolution of Chinese Legislation on Air Pollution Prevention and Control. Int. J. Nat. Resour. Ecol. Manag. 2020, 5(2), 49-56. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20200502.13

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    AMA Style

    Hongxin Guo. Review the Evolution of Chinese Legislation on Air Pollution Prevention and Control. Int J Nat Resour Ecol Manag. 2020;5(2):49-56. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20200502.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijnrem.20200502.13,
      author = {Hongxin Guo},
      title = {Review the Evolution of Chinese Legislation on Air Pollution Prevention and Control},
      journal = {International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management},
      volume = {5},
      number = {2},
      pages = {49-56},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijnrem.20200502.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20200502.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijnrem.20200502.13},
      abstract = {As the quality of the atmospheric environment continues to deteriorate, the demand for improving the quality of atmosphere environment sharply increases. The State Council of China issued the Air Pollution Action Plan 2013 to tackle the air pollution problem. Then the Air Pollution Control Law was revised in 2015 and 2018. The main purpose of this article is to introduce the evolution of Chinese legislation on air pollution prevention and control, analyze the regulation strategy change in the legislation of air pollution regulation, and evaluate the Air Pollution Control Law. From the analysis the article finds that the administrative agencies not only passively enforce the law but also take an active role in developing new rules and modifying inappropriate old rules. The strategies in the Air Pollution Control Law are effective to settle the air pollution problem in current China. The conclusion is that the core of the Air Pollution Control Law enforcement still comes from the administration. Such a regulation strategy can achieve good results in a short period of time under political pressure. The legislature needs to find other path from the long-term perspective of the air pollution control law.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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    AB  - As the quality of the atmospheric environment continues to deteriorate, the demand for improving the quality of atmosphere environment sharply increases. The State Council of China issued the Air Pollution Action Plan 2013 to tackle the air pollution problem. Then the Air Pollution Control Law was revised in 2015 and 2018. The main purpose of this article is to introduce the evolution of Chinese legislation on air pollution prevention and control, analyze the regulation strategy change in the legislation of air pollution regulation, and evaluate the Air Pollution Control Law. From the analysis the article finds that the administrative agencies not only passively enforce the law but also take an active role in developing new rules and modifying inappropriate old rules. The strategies in the Air Pollution Control Law are effective to settle the air pollution problem in current China. The conclusion is that the core of the Air Pollution Control Law enforcement still comes from the administration. Such a regulation strategy can achieve good results in a short period of time under political pressure. The legislature needs to find other path from the long-term perspective of the air pollution control law.
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Author Information
  • Law School, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China

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