Lawmakers target environment

NPC Standing Committee aims to create legislation to address pollution

Making and revising laws on environment-related industries will remain a top priority in China's legislative work agenda to provide more legal support for green development, legislators said.

Highlighting the importance of pollution control, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, plans to draft and amend laws on noise and environmental assessments, said Xu Anbiao, deputy head of the NPC Standing Committee's Legislative Affairs Commission.

He released the plan at a news conference on Friday on legal efforts related to the environment, noting legislation on ecological protection of areas including wetlands, national parks, wildlife, the Yellow River and the Antarctic will also be improved.

Laws on resource utilization, such as those regarding minerals, grasslands and fisheries also need to be revised, he said, adding "our aim is to protect the environment and beautify the nation by increasingly powerful legislative measures."

The NPC Standing Committee is also considering strengthening reviews of environment-related normative documents such as judicial interpretations and administrative regulations to make sure they do not contradict the Constitution and national laws, he said.

Legislators will also conduct more research on compiling environment-related laws into a code to further improve the quality of legislation, Xu added.

Dou Shuhua, an official from the NPC's Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee, said it will inspect the enforcement of the revised Law on Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste to promote waste sorting, prohibit the importation of waste and improve the disposal of medical, agricultural and hazardous refuse.

He said the committee also plans to help the public and government departments understand and apply the Yangtze River Protection Law, which was passed by the top legislature in December and will come into effect on March 1, to boost high-quality green development in the area.

"We'll read reports about the ecological protection of Baiyangdian Lake in the Xiong'an New Area, concentrating on local utilization of water resources and pollution prevention," he said, adding legislative research on national parks will also be accelerated.

Twelve environmental protection laws have been drafted or revised in the past three years, Dou said, alongside enforcement inspections for laws on the prevention and control of air, water and soil pollution.

"What we want is to win a critical battle against pollution by advancing the rule of law," he added.