China’s Fujian Province communicates enforcement cases of pollutant discharge permit regulations 
The Fujian Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment on April 23, 2021 published an article on some enforcement cases of the Regulations on Pollutant Discharge Permit Management (排污许可管理条例; the “Regulations”). Three of those cases are outlined below.
Operation without a permit
On March 4, 2021, when the Ecology and Environment Bureau of Quanzhou City, Fujian Province conducted an inspection of Fujian Quanning Plastics Co., Ltd. (福建泉宁塑胶有限公司) to check compliance, it found that the company discharged pollutants without a required permit. This company had registered with the designated platform for pollutant discharge, but it used 20 tons of alcohol-soluble diluent annually without applying for a permit as required by the regulations. According to the Inventory of Stationary Pollution Source Permits for Classification and Management (固定污染源排污许可分类管理名录), a company using 10 tons or more of solvent diluent is subject to the “simplified management” (简化管理). It also failed to control fugitive emissions in accordance with the regulations. The Ecology and Environment Bureau is preparing to charge the company with these violations under the relevant regulations.
Note: The Inventory of Stationary Pollution Source Permits for Classification and Management sets out the criteria for “key management”, “simplified management” and “registration management”:
http://www.mee.gov.cn/xxgk2018/xxgk/xxgk02/202001/t20200103_757178.html.
Failure to perform self-monitoring
stipulated in the Regulations. The bureau immediately charged the company with these violations and imposed a fine of 20,000 yuan (approximately $3,100) on it under Article 36 of the Regulations.
Failure to submit implementation reports
On March 25, 2021, while the Ecology and Environment Bureau of Fuzhou City, Fujian Province was conducting inspections using the “pollutant discharge permit management implementation and supervision system”, it found that a building material company failed to submit pollutant discharge permit implementation reports in accordance with the pollution discharge permit requirements. Then law enforcement officers performed an on-site inspection of the company and revealed that it also failed to take the measures for fugitive emission control set out in the copy of the permit as well as implement the “environment management recording book system” (环境管理台账记录制度). The bureau is carrying out an investigation to charge the company with these violations of the Regulations.
The full article (in simplified Chinese) is available at
