Annual Review of Chinese Environmental Law Developments: 2019

• Date: 01 April 2020

50 ELR 10296 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 4-2020

I. Policies of the Communist Party

of China

e Communist Party of China (CPC) rea rmed its

emphasis on environmental protection in a decision

adopted by the fourth plenum of its 19th Central Com-

mittee, held in December 2019.1 Part 10 of this decision

specically addresses environmenta l protection under the

topic of Developing a System of Rules for Ecological Civi-

lization. is part contains an introductory paragraph and

four additional paragraphs calling for (1)the most strin-

gent legal rules for environmental protection, (2)rules on

the ecient use of resources, (3)rules on ecolog ical protec-

tion and restoration, and (4)rules on responsibilities and

liabilities. is is a summa ry of experimental measures and

rules adopted in recent years as well a s a plan to further

develop environmental rules in the future.

e CPC and the State Council adopted some general

and specic policy documents on environmental protec-

tion in recent years. Notable examples of these policy

documents are the Integrated Reform Plan for Promot-

ing Ecological Progress jointly issued by the CPC Central

Committee and the State Council on September 21, 2015,2

1. CPC Central Committee, e CPC Central Committee’s Decision on Some

Major Issues Concerning How to Uphold and Improve the System of Socialism

With Chinese Characteristics and Advance the Modernization of China’s System

and Capacity for Governance (adopted on Oct. 31, 2019), P’ D,

Nov. 6, 2019.

2. Integrated Reform Plan for Promoting Ecological Progress (issued by the

CPC Central Committee and the State Council Sept. 21, 2015, eec-

tive Sept. 21, 2015), http://www.gov.cn/guowuyuan/2015-09/21/con-

tent_2936327.htm (in Chinese), and http://english.gov.cn/policies/latest_

and measures to make loca l governmental ocials more

accountable.3 e signicance of the decision of the fourth

plenum for environmental protection is that it makes this

body of policies on environmental protection more sys-

tematic and coherent. In eect, it is more a systematic

restatement of existing environmental policies tha n a proc-

lamation of new policies.

Most policies required in the decision of the fourth

plenum need to be transformed into legal rules for imple-

mentation. Some have been completed, such as the revision

of the Forestry Law and adoption of a Resource Tax Law

discussed below. Some are in the legislative process, such as

the law on national parks and the law on protection of the

Yangtze River Basin.

II. Revision of the Forestry Law

e Standing Committee of the National People’s Con-

gress (NPC) revised the Forestry Law on December 28,

2019.4 e main revisions are outlined below.

A. Differentiated Management

e revised Forestry Law di erentiates more clearly pub-

lic interest forests from commodity forests, each with their

own main functions. Public interest forests are mainly for

ecological purposes and shall be strictly protected. Com-

modity forests are main ly for economic benet and shall be

managed by the operators on their own initiative.

releases/2015/09/22/content_281475195492066.htm (in English) (last

updated Sept. 22, 2015). See also Mingqing You, Annual Review of Chinese

Environmental Law Developments: 2015, 46 ELR 10386 (May 2016).

3. Measures on Accountability of Leading Ocials of the CPC and Govern-

ment for Ecological Environmental Damage (for Trial Implementation)

(published by the General Oce of the CPC Central Committee and the

General Oce of the State Council Aug. 17, 2015, eective Aug. 9, 2015),

http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2015-08/17/content_2914585.htm. See also

You, supra note 2.

4. Forestry Law of the People’s Republic of China (adopted by the NPC Stand-

ing Committee Sept. 20, 1984, rst revision Apr. 29, 1998, second revi-

sion Aug, 27, 2009, third revision Dec. 28, 2019, eective July 1, 2020),

http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/c30834/201912/cdb75f0436604da58ddad

953f6fb14c2.shtml.

ANNUAL REVIEW OF CHINESE

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

DEVELOPMENTS: 2019

by Mingqing You and Haijing Wang

Mingqing You is a Professor of Law at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law.

Haijing Wang is a Ph.D. candidate at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law.

Authors’ Note: Zhongnan University of Economics and

Law is located in Wuhan, China. This Comment is one

of the outputs of the authors’ research project sponsored

by the National Social Science Fund of China (Project

No. 15BFX181) and the Fundamental Research Funds for

Central Universities administered by Zhongnan Universi-

ty of Economics and Law (Project No. 2722019PY001).

It is the result of independent academic research and

does not necessarily reflect the views of the authors’

funders or affiliations.

Copyright © 2020 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.