1. What are the legal basis for the current sewage permit system?

Article 20 of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution stipulates that the State implements a sewage permit system. Enterprises and institutions that directly or indirectly discharge industrial wastewater and medical sewage into water bodies and other wastewater and sewage that can be discharged according to the regulations shall obtain a sewage discharge permit; the operating unit of urban sewage centralized treatment facilities shall also obtain allow dirty. It is forbidden for enterprises and institutions to discharge the wastewater and sewage specified in the preceding paragraph to the water body without a sewage permit or a violation of the sewage permit. Article 19 of the "Air Pollution Prevention Law": the discharge of industrial waste gas or the provisions of Article 78 of this Law of toxic and hazardous air pollutants listed in the directory of enterprises, institutions, central heating coal-fired units and heat production operations Other units that implement pollution discharge permit management according to law shall obtain a discharge permit. Article 45 of the Environmental Protection Law stipulates that the State shall implement a sewage permit management system in accordance with the law. Enterprises and institutions and other production and operation operators that implement the discharge permit management shall discharge pollutants in accordance with the requirements of the pollutant discharge permit; if the discharge permit is not obtained, the pollutants shall not be discharged. Both the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law and the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law stipulate that the specific measures and implementation steps for discharge permits shall be prescribed by the State Council.

The issuance of the Implementation Plan for Controlling Pollutant Discharge Permit System (hereinafter referred to as the “Program”) is the guiding document for the implementation of the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and the specific measures and implementation steps for clearing the pollutant discharge permit according to law.

2. Why should China's sewage permit be implemented with comprehensive license and one-card management?

The implementation of comprehensive license means that the pollutant discharge of a company or a pollutant discharge unit is stipulated in a pollutant discharge permit. At this stage, it mainly includes atmospheric and water pollutants. This aspect is to better reduce the burden on enterprises and reduce the number of administrative approvals; on the other hand, to avoid the transfer of pollution in order to simply reduce the emissions of certain types of pollutants. The environmental protection department should increase comprehensive coordination, make full use of information technology, and do comprehensive licensing of different environmental factors.

3. How to improve the environmental quality through the implementation of the sewage permit system?

At present, the core of China's environmental management is to improve the quality of the environment. Reducing pollutant emissions is the fundamental means to achieve environmental quality improvements. Fixed pollution sources are the main source of pollutant emissions in China, and the discharge of standards is not optimistic. The sewerage permit to seize the fixed source of pollution is to grasp the key points and key points of industrial pollution prevention. For existing enterprises, the main methods of emission reduction are production process innovation, technological transformation or increase of pollution control facilities, and strengthening of environmental management. The pollutant discharge permit focuses on the pollution control facilities, pollutant discharge concentration, emissions and management requirements. The sewage discharge permit strengthens the fine management of environmental protection, promotes the discharge of enterprises to meet standards, and effectively controls the discharge of pollutants in regional watersheds.

The "Proposal" proposes a number of institutional arrangements that use pollutant discharge permits as a carrier to continuously reduce pollutant emissions and thereby promote environmental quality. First, for areas where the environmental quality is not up to standard or has improvement tasks, the provincial people's government can improve the environmental quality by increasing the emission standards and tightening the permitted emission concentration and emissions of the pollutant discharge units. Second, the environmental quality is not up to standard. The local people's governments at or above the county level responsible for environmental quality may, through legally enacting environmental quality deadlines, meet stricter requirements for pollutant discharge units; third, the heavy pollution weather response measures formulated by local local people's governments according to law, and local deadlines. Planning or related environmental management requirements for dry seasons in water pollution prevention and control, etc., put forward more stringent requirements for pollutant discharge in special time periods, which are stated in the permit, so that the enterprises have clear expectations for the fine management of pollutant emissions and effectively support environmental quality. improve.

4. How do the pollutant discharge permit system meet the relevant requirements for total pollutant control?

The sewage permit system is an important means to implement the total control requirements of enterprises and institutions. Through the reform of the pollutant discharge permit system, the administrative regional total amount control system that decomposes the total amount of indicators from top to bottom is changed, and the total amount of enterprises and institutions under the control is established. The system returns the responsibility of total control to enterprises and institutions, thereby implementing the legal responsibility of the company for its emission behavior and the government's responsibility for the environmental quality of its jurisdiction.

The permitted emissions indicated by the pollutant discharge permit are the ceiling of the pollutant discharge of the enterprise, and are the total indicators of the pollutant discharge of the enterprise. By indicating in the license, the enterprise is aware of its own responsibility, the government clearly identifies the key points, and the public has supervised in accordance with. The sum of the permitted emissions of all pollutant discharge units in a region is the fixed source total control indicator for the region. The total reduction plan is the reduction of the permitted emissions; the difference between the actual emissions of the pollutant discharge units and the previous year is Annual actual emissions changes.

Reform the existing methods of total accounting and assessment, and the total assessment will be subject to quality assessment. The total amount of controlled pollutants will be gradually expanded to key pollutants affecting environmental quality. The scope of total control will be gradually unified to fixed pollution sources. For areas with unqualified environmental quality, the emission standards will be determined according to law, and more strict permit emissions of enterprises will be determined according to law. , thereby serving the goal of improving environmental quality.

5. How does the sewage permit system link with the EIA system?

The environmental impact assessment system and the pollutant discharge permit system are important systems for the management of pollution sources in China. How to realize the effective connection between the EIA system and the pollutant discharge permit system is the focus of the reform of the Emission Permit System. The "Implementation Plan" proposes that through the reform, the whole process supervision of fixed pollution sources from pollution prevention to pollution control is realized, and environmental assessment and management are allowed to operate.

The EIA system focuses on the location of new projects, the environmental impacts of the projects and the proposed pollution prevention measures. Sewage permits and EIAs are linked to pollutant emissions. At the time node, the new pollution source must apply for the sewage discharge permit before the actual sewage discharge behavior; in the content requirements, the environmental impact assessment approval documents and pollutant discharge related content should be included in the sewage discharge permit; in environmental supervision, the need For the post-environmental impact assessment, the implementation of the pollutant discharge permit of the pollutant discharge unit shall be the main basis for the post-evaluation of environmental impact.

6. Which companies will be included in the discharge permit management?

Under the legal framework of the Law on Prevention and Control of Air Pollution, the Implementation Regulations require the Ministry of Environmental Protection to establish a directory for the management of classified sources of fixed pollution discharge permits (hereinafter referred to as the list), and enterprises within the scope of the list will be included in the management of discharge permits. The list mainly includes the industry in which the license is implemented and the implementation time. The Sewage Permit Classification Management Directory is a dynamic update directory that will be dynamically updated in accordance with the latest requirements of laws and regulations and the needs of environmental management.

The list is based on the National Economic Industry Classification. According to the amount of pollutants, emissions and environmental hazards, it is clear which industries implement pollution discharge permits, and which types of enterprises in these industries can implement simplified management. The list will also stipulate the time schedule for the country to promote the issuance of pollutant discharge permits according to the industry; for industries that are not uniformly promoted by the state, localities may be prioritized to be included in the industry of pollutant discharge permit management according to the requirements for improving environmental quality. The development of the directory will be open to the public for comments.

For mobile pollution sources and agricultural non-point sources, management is not carried out according to the fixed pollution source discharge permit system.

7. How is the authority to issue emission permits issued?

The basic principles for determining the authority to issue pollutant discharge permits are “territorial supervision” and “who issued and who supervised”. According to the "Program", the authority for issuing environmental protection at the county level or above is issued. Specifically, with the implementation of the pilot reform of the vertical monitoring system for monitoring, monitoring and law enforcement of environmental protection agencies below the provincial level, the prefecture-level environmental protection departments will undertake more nuclear distribution work. Where there are specific requirements for local regulations, they shall be implemented in accordance with their provisions. For example, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has passed the “Regulations on the Management of Pollutant Discharges in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region”, which stipulates that the key pollutant discharge units such as coal-fired power plants and petrochemicals with a total installed capacity of more than 300,000 kilowatts, and the authority to issue pollutant discharge permits. It is the competent department of environmental protection of the autonomous region. The Ministry of Environmental Protection will formulate relevant documents as soon as possible to further clarify the authority to issue emission permits.

In addition, the "Plan" also clarifies that the higher level environmental protection department can revoke the sewage discharge permit issued by the lower level environmental protection department according to law. The various circumstances in which the Administrative License may be revoked in the Administrative Licensing Law apply equally to the issuance of a discharge permit.

8. What materials should the company submit for applying for a sewage permit?

The application documents and law-abiding commitments submitted by enterprises are the main basis for the environmental protection department to issue emission permits. The enterprise shall bear legal responsibility for the authenticity, legality and integrity of the application materials. The "Proposal" proposes that the declared materials should clearly identify the types, concentrations and emissions of pollutants applied for. The Ministry of Environmental Protection is formulating relevant supporting documents for the management of sewage discharge permit, as well as a sample of the law-abiding commitment letter and the discharge permit application form to be submitted at the time of application, and further refining the application form for the discharge permit application in accordance with the provisions of the “Program”. The content of the application.

9. What content does the environmental protection department need to review when issuing a permit?

The environmental protection department shall carefully review the application materials in accordance with the management requirements and the information held by the government departments before issuing the license. The audit mainly includes the following aspects: First, the production process and products of enterprises and institutions applying for sewage discharge permits are not subject to the explicit elimination or ban by the state or local governments; second, the applied enterprises should not be located in drinking water source protection areas. Such laws and regulations clearly stipulate that the construction area is prohibited; thirdly, there are pollution prevention facilities or pollutant treatment capacity that meets national or local requirements; fourth, the applied emission concentration meets relevant national or local standards and requirements, and the discharge quantity meets relevant requirements. The pollutant discharge unit of the newly renovated and expanded project shall also meet the relevant requirements of the environmental impact assessment document and its approval; fifth, the sewage discharge port shall meet the requirements of the state or locality.

The application documents and law-abiding commitments submitted by enterprises are the main basis for the environmental protection department to issue emission permits. The Implementation Plan clearly states that enterprises should bear legal responsibility for the authenticity, legality and integrity of the application materials. The environmental protection department shall issue a permit directly to the enterprise that has completed the application materials and meets the requirements. In addition, the issued emission permit is the “ceiling” for enterprises to discharge pollutants. It is the most basic requirement for enterprises to abide by the law. It is the basic legal obligation of enterprises to meet these requirements. This is also the sewage permit as a corporate law-abiding, government law enforcement, and public supervision. The basis of the basis. In other words, for the two companies that should bear the same environmental responsibility, regardless of the actual emissions, the emissions and management requirements approved by the pollutant discharge permit will be the same. The "Proposal" also stipulates that the environmental protection department may conduct on-site inspections if there are doubts about the application materials, the environmental credit of the enterprise is not good, and there are environmental reports and complaints.

10. Does the pollution control measures need to be re-applied for a sewage permit?

Pollution prevention and control measures are the premise and guarantee for ensuring enterprises to discharge pollutants according to certificates. However, the licensing system has not been included in the licensing issues, mainly from the perspective of encouraging enterprises to continuously improve the level of pollution control. In the case of a major change not determined by the relevant normative documents of the environmental impact assessment system, when the enterprise pollution control measures change, it is permissible to reduce the pollutant emissions or increase the pollutant emissions. The environmental protection department applies for a change of the pollutant discharge permit, but it needs to be detailed in the implementation report reported in accordance with the regulations; if the change in the pollution control measures leads to an increase in pollutant discharge, the enterprise needs to apply for a change of the pollutant discharge permit.

In order to better judge the changes in environmental impacts after the changes in pollution control measures, the environmental protection department will promote the time schedule according to the pollutant discharge permit, and gradually introduce the best feasible technical guidelines for pollution control in various industries according to the industry, if the changes in corporate governance measures are Within the scope of the feasible technology, and without adding new types of pollutants, it is considered that the pollutant discharge is within the allowable range, and there is no need to apply for a change of the pollutant discharge permit; if it is not within this range, the enterprise needs to provide the certification materials and monitoring data, and to the environmental protection The department applies for a change of the sewage permit.

11. After the release of the “Implementation Plan”, how is the existing discharge permit issued by the locality managed?

Due to the problems of non-uniform licensing contents, non-uniform licensing requirements, and unreasonable licensing regulations in China's existing local sewage discharge permits, one of the objectives of this reform is to uniformly standardize and manage national sewage discharge permits and realize enterprises and regions. Fairness between. Therefore, the discharge permit issued in accordance with local regulations is still valid. For the discharge permit issued in accordance with local government regulations, the license-issuing enterprises and other production and operation operators shall, in accordance with the time requirements for the classification of the discharge permit management, apply to the authority with the authority to issue the emission permit. The issuing authority shall fill in the data on the national sewage permit management information platform, obtain the pollution permit code, and issue a new national unified discharge permit, so as to be included in the new system for management. If the latest licensing requirements are not met, the company should be required to apply to the issuing authority for a change of the pollutant discharge permit within the specified time.

12. What is included in the sewage permit?

The main contents of the license include basic information, licensing matters and management requirements.

1. The basic information mainly includes the name, address, legal representative or principal responsible person of the pollutant discharge unit, the social unified credit code, the validity period of the pollutant discharge permit, the issuing authority, the certificate number, the two-dimensional code and the main production equipment of the sewage disposal unit. Product capacity, pollution prevention facilities and measures, and other information related to the determination of licensing matters.

2. The licensing items mainly include:

The location and quantity of the sewage outlet, the way of discharge, and the direction of discharge;

Types of pollutants discharged, permitted emission concentrations, and permitted emissions;

Permitted emission concentrations and permissible emissions for special periods such as heavy polluted weather or dry season.

Third, the management requirements mainly include:

Self-monitoring programs, accounting records, execution reports, etc.;

Information disclosure requirements for the implementation of the discharge permit report;

Other legal responsibilities that the enterprise should bear.

Among the above matters, the licensing and management requirements are strictly adhered to by the company. If it is necessary to change, you should go through the procedures for changing the sewage permit. In the basic information, the scale, location, and production process or pollution prevention measures adopted shall be subject to legal obligations in accordance with the relevant provisions of the environmental impact assessment system.

13. Why do the discharge permits have to include the production process and equipment?

A copy of the first discharge permit states that the main production process and equipment are recorded in the license, not licensed. Recording this information is based on the following four aspects.

First, implement the basic concept of environmental management for whole process control, and incorporate the whole process of pollution generation, pollution control and sewage discharge into the management of pollutant discharge permits, and specify the process and equipment information directly related to pollution production, which is conducive to the analysis of pollutants that cannot be stabilized. Reasons for meeting the discharge standards and timely and effective improvement measures.

Second, the production process and equipment are closely related to the amount of pollutants generated by fixed pollution sources. The same product uses different processes, and the pollutants produced may produce orders of magnitude difference, indicating that the production process and equipment are the basis for measuring pollutant emissions. .

Third, the sewage permit refines the accounting of the permitted emissions to each of the major pollution sources and sewage outlets, and these sewage outlets often have a one-to-one correspondence with the production process equipment;

Fourth, for newly added pollution sources, the production process and equipment originated from the enterprise's EIA documents or related application materials, which are stated and continued in the pollutant discharge permit, and are one of the basis for judging whether the company's entire production process has undergone major changes.

14. Why are the permissible limits of existing enterprises determined in principle according to emission standards and total indicators?

The enterprise's compliance with emission standards and the control of the total amount of indicators are the most basic requirements for pollution control of existing enterprises. Excessive and super-large pollutants will be punished according to law, and the national enterprises will limit the permissible limits of existing enterprises to the standards. The control indicators are approved, that is, the additional burden on the enterprise is not increased because of the implementation of the sewage permit system reform, which facilitates the smooth connection of the sewage permit system with the existing environmental management requirements, thereby ensuring the effective implementation of the sewage permit system, with minimal The system reform costs promote the rapid landing of the system and achieve improved management efficiency. At the same time, it is also conducive to achieving fairness between enterprises.

In addition, the "Program" also pointed out that for areas where environmental quality is not up to standard or has improved demand, the environmental protection department can impose stricter requirements on the pollutant discharge unit by means of raising emission standards and setting environmental quality deadlines.

15. How do the contents of the local heavy pollution weather emergency plan and environmental quality deadline plan meet into the pollutant discharge permit of enterprises and institutions?

The Law of the People's Republic of China on Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Pollution clearly states that the state should establish a monitoring and early warning system for heavy pollution. The local people's government shall, based on the warning level of heavy polluted weather, take emergency measures including ordering the relevant enterprises to suspend production or limit production according to emergency needs. Therefore, in the system design of the pollutant discharge permit, it is required to include the specific requirements for pollutant discharge of enterprises within the jurisdiction in the documents of the heavy pollution weather emergency plan and the environmental quality deadline deadline plan formulated by the local government according to the regulations, so as to be included in the enterprise's pollutant discharge permit. The form of legal documents clarifies the emission reduction obligations of enterprises in special areas and areas where environmental quality is not up to standard.

The special period referred to above is mainly stipulated by the following documents: such as the people's government at or above the municipal level and the county-level people's government that may have heavy polluted weather, and the emergency plan for heavy pollution weather formulated according to law; 2 the national or local people's government Documents for winter defense measures and major activities safeguard measures formulated according to regulations; 3 local deadlines for compliance planning or relevant water pollution prevention and control plans for pollutant discharge control requirements in special periods such as dry season.

During the period of validity of the license, if the people's government of the country or the region where the enterprise is located issues a new special time period, the enterprise shall apply for a license change and discharge according to the new requirements. The discharge permit should also be complied with and clearly required by law.

16. Why is the validity period of the pollutant discharge permit issued for 3 years for the first time and 5 years for the continuous issue?

In order to combine the institutional arrangements for the five-year plan for China's national economic and social development, and to take into account the relatively stable need for pollutant discharge permits, the validity period of the pollutant discharge permit is in principle five years. However, considering the need for reform from easy to difficult and gradual improvement, the effective period of the sewage permit issued for the first time after the start of the reform is determined to be three years. This mainly considers the following two factors.

First, it is conducive to promoting reform. At present, the effective period for the emission permits issued by existing enterprises varies from 1 to 5 years, and the management requirements and license contents are quite different. To achieve national unity in a short period of time, it is necessary to have a process of gradual improvement. Therefore, setting a valid period of compromise is conducive to ensuring the correct direction of reform.

Second, it is conducive to the timely improvement of environmental management for new projects. For new projects, as the enterprises have just transferred from the construction period to the production operation period, various pollution control facilities, environmental management systems, and management levels need to be continuously debugged and improved, and there is a large uncertainty in the implementation of pollutant discharge permitting requirements and management requirements. Shortening the validity period will help companies reduce the procedures for changing licenses.

17. What is the specific time schedule for the Ministry of Environmental Protection to issue work on the discharge permit?

According to the "Proposal", the Ministry of Environmental Protection will, based on the existing environmental protection law framework, based on the list of pollution permit management, and promote the issuance of pollutant discharge permits in accordance with the industry. 2016 pioneered thermal power, paper industry companies issued work permits; 2017 ten water, air ten key industries and industries with excess capacity enterprise license issued, highlights include petrochemical, chemical, iron and steel, nonferrous metals, cement, printing and dyeing, tanning , coking, agricultural and sideline food processing, pesticides, electroplating, etc.; in 2020, the national basic completion list requires the issuance of licenses for industrial enterprises.

18. Why did you choose to issue a sewage discharge permit in the two industries of thermal power and papermaking?

In order to make the discharge permit system easy to implement in the country at the beginning of the implementation, through the pilot work of the industry, the experience of the industry can be promoted and reproducible, and lay the foundation for the implementation of the sewage permit system in batches across the country. The Ministry of Environmental Protection mainly considers the following factors when selecting priority pilot industries:

The first is the large amount of pollutants discharged, which has a pilot significance. The thermal power and paper industry are the key control industries for atmospheric and water pollution in China. According to statistics, in 2014, 3,288 thermal power enterprises were included in the environmental statistics, and their sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and smoke dust emissions accounted for 40%, 55.7%, and 16.2% of the national industrial emissions, respectively; 4,466 papermaking enterprises included in environmental statistics, Its chemical oxygen demand and ammonia nitrogen emissions accounted for 18.7% and 7.9% of the national industrial emissions, respectively.

The second is that the environmental management foundation is relatively good. At present, the thermal power and paper industry have a good foundation in self-monitoring and accounting records; thermal power enterprises and paper-making enterprises have little difference in raw materials and production processes, and it is easy to carry out the practice of sewage discharge permit management.

The third is the representativeness of pollutant emissions. The types of pollutants emitted by thermal power and paper industry include waste water, waste gas, etc. The sewage discharge methods include direct discharge and indirect discharge. By formulating the technical specifications for discharge permits, specifying the types of pollutants discharged in the license and the methods of discharging pollutants, etc. Licensing provides experience for reference.

19. What are the main responsibilities and obligations of enterprises in accordance with the regulations?

One of the purposes of the reform of the sewage permit system is to further clarify the responsibilities between the government and enterprises. The government will no longer conduct "parental" and "nanny-style" supervision. As a polluter, enterprises must undertake: to bear the responsibility of preventing and reducing environmental pollution according to law; to carry out certificates and discharge pollutants, to discharge pollutants according to certificates, and to prevent uncontaminated sewage discharge; to implement pollutant emission control measures and other environmental management requirements; to explain pollutant discharge and accept society Supervision; clarify the environmental responsibility of the person responsible for the unit and related personnel.

The "Program" combines the environmental governance system and the concept of regulatory law enforcement reform. After the implementation of the sewage permit system, the main responsibility of the enterprise environmental protection should include the following aspects:

The enterprise itself applies for the sewage discharge permit and assumes legal responsibility for the authenticity, accuracy and completeness of the application materials;

Responsibility for self-administered pollution discharge according to the certificate;

Responsibility for self-certification and compliance, such as monitoring, establishing a sewage account, and reporting the discharge of pollutants on time or by commission;

Responsibility for information disclosure in accordance with the law;

Responsibility for applying for change or extension when the production and discharge situation changes, or when the license expires.

In line with the principle of good faith, through the commitment to abide by the law, strengthen the responsibility of corporate environmental protection. Gradually create an environmental governance atmosphere for polluters to report truthfully, regulators' sunshine law enforcement, and social supervision, and form a new pattern of pollution management with complete system, clear powers and responsibilities, and effective supervision.

20. How can companies explain their own pollutant emissions through self-monitoring?

It is the legal responsibility of enterprises to carry out self-monitoring and disclose pollutant discharge status to the public. Articles 42 and 55 of the "Environmental Protection Law" of China, Article 23 of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution and Article 24 of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution are clearly defined.

The self-monitoring result is an important basis for evaluating the pollution control effect, sewage discharge status and environmental quality impact of the sewage unit, and is an important basis for supporting the refined and standardized management of the sewage disposal unit. The "Plan" clarifies that online monitoring data of enterprises and institutions meeting statutory requirements can be used as the basis for environmental protection department supervision and enforcement. When the environmental protection department checks that the actual situation is inconsistent with the environmental management account of the enterprise, the discharge permit execution report, or the spot check, it may be ordered to make a statement. The pollutant discharge unit may explain by providing the original record of self-monitoring.

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