context: In the past local governments often imposed environment standards that were laxer than national standards in order to boost production and attract investment. The eco ministry is now instructing provincial governments to tighten up local standards. This will help direct local investment and industry towards green development.
Provinces where environmental issues are acute and current pollution standards fail to meet necessary quality requirements should draft standards stricter than national ones, MEE (Ministry of Ecology and Environment) specifies in 'Management measures for ecological environmental standards' issued 6 January. It also demands provincial governments formulate local standards for specific industries and pollutants conforming to national pollutant discharge standards.
Local standards should, in fact, always be more stringent than national ones, stresses an MEE official. They should be revised or abolished if less strict than newly issued national standards. Priorities in implementing different pollutant discharge standards were clarified: for the same pollutant discharge unit,
- local pollutant discharge standards take precedence over national standards
- items not specified in local standards are subject to national standards
- for the same national standard, industry standards have priority over general and comprehensive standards
- for items not specified in industry or comprehensive standards, general standards will be implemented
- for the same local pollutant discharge standards, river basin (sea area) or regional standards have priority over industry standards, and industry standards have priority over general and comprehensive standards
The Measures also stress
- streamlining the administrative licensing process
- measures excluding or restricting fair competition should be barred