China releases Regulations on the Approval Procedures for EIA Reports (forms)

On November 23, 2020, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of People’s Republic of China released the “Regulations on the Approval Procedures for Environmental Impact Assessment Reports (forms) of Construction Projects by Ministry of Ecology and Environment”. The regulation stipulates the application, approval procedures, etc. for the environmental impact report, and it will come into force on January 1, 2021. As the same time of the implementation of the regulation, the “Regulations on the Procedure for Approving the Environmental Impact Assessment Documents of Construction Projects” (Ordinance 29 by State Environmental Protection Administration) will be abolished.

The regulation stipulates the required documents when a company applies for an environmental impact assessment report(form). Based on Article 6 of the regulation, when a company is applying to Ministry of Ecology and Environment for the approval of the environmental impact assessment report(form), unless the confidentiality is required by state, the following documents must be submitted to the “National integrated online administrative service system” （http://zwfw.mee.gov.cn）.

• Application for approval of environmental impact assessment report(form).
• Environmental impact assessment report(form) of construction project. If the environmental impact assessment report(form) of construction project involves confidentiality, the company shall take measures such as deleting or covering up the relevant part.
• Explanatory material for citizen participation regarding the relevant construction project.

In addition to submitting the above materials on line, the company must also submit the following documents in a paper version or a storage device such as a CD-ROM.

• Environmental impact assessment report(form) of construction project in triplicate.
• Explanatory material for citizen participation regarding the relevant construction project in triplicate.
• If there is a deletion or covering up of the content of documents submitted online, the relevant explanatory material is required, one copy.

The original text of the above “Regulations on the Approval Procedures for Environmental Impact Assessment Reports (forms) of construction projects by Ministry of Ecology and Environment” can be viewed from the following URL (Simplified Chinese).

http://www.mee.gov.cn/xxgk2018/xxgk/xxgk02/202011/t20201125_809643.html