China solicits opinions on incorporating industrial noise into pollutant emission permit management 
On July 7, 2023, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China released the draft “Circular on pollutant discharge permit management for industrial noise” for public comment. The deadline for submitting comments is July 20, 2023. The Circular applies to pollutant discharging units that are classified as industries based on the “Classification of national economic industry”, and are required to obtain pollutant discharge permits or make registration for pollutant discharges.
The regulated businesses are required to obtain the pollutant discharge permit for industrial noise based on the Circular. The pollutant discharge permit includes information such as the main noise discharging equipment, the main facilities for prevention and control of noise pollution, allowable noise discharge limits, self-monitoring, environmental management requirements, environmental management ledger records and the implementation report of pollutant discharge permit.
Regulations on pollutant discharge permit
Pollutant discharge permits applied for after the enforcement of the Circular will include the management requirements for industrial noise. Pollutant discharge permits issued before the enforcement of the Circular must be reapplied before the end of 2025 to include the management requirements for industrial noise. It’s also possible to include the management requirements for industrial noise in the situations where the pollutant discharge permit has expired or the change of pollutant permit is required for other reasons. In this case, the management requirements can be added to the pollutant discharge permit in the form of loose-leaf pages, and the loose-leaf pages should be stamped with official seal
Regulations on pollutant discharge registration
On the other hand, for businesses that are only required to make registration, if it is the first time, businesses must register the items related to industrial noise using the registration form after the enforcement of the circular. For businesses that have already completed registration, they can add industrial noise management requirements when making a change or extension of the registration.
For the original text of the above-mentioned draft Circular, please refer to the following URL (in Simplified Chinese).
https://www.mee.gov.cn/xxgk2018/xxgk/xxgk06/202307/t20230711_1035885.html
