As industrial division of labor is getting ever specialized, the environmental protection duties of a pollution discharge unit such as project application, pollution emission application and pollution control, and payment of pollution discharge taxes, affairs involving environmental protection, law, accounting, statistics and engineering, have to be handled by specialist brokers. Hence there is the environmental affairs brokerage to meet the needs of the market economy.
From the perspective of the pollution emission unit, the firm has to employ a special staff to report pollution emission, apply for pollution emission permit, calculate pollution discharge charges or apply for subsidies for environmental protection. The accuracy of the work can hardly be guaranteed. Yet, the brokers who are well versed in legal and environmental affairs may show his or her specialist advantage. This helps save the costs, improve efficiency and guarantee the quality of the work.
From the perspective of the management of the environmental protection department, the specialist broker may help cut some management affairs and lower the costs in the legal enforcement in environmental management.
From the perspective of social intermediary service, the brokerage serves as a fair and just organization in between the state environmental protection administrations and pollution discharge units. On the one hand, it acts as an agent to fulfill the duties of the concerned firm in light of the state environmental protection laws; and on the other, it exercises supervision over the legal enforcement by the administrative organizations and protect the legal rights of its clients. This is conducive to the implementation of environmental protection policies and laws.
At present, some staff at county and township environmental protection administrations who are well groomed in environmental protection face unemployment. They, coupled with the new university graduates of environmental science, may start up brokerages of environmental affairs. The environmental protection administrations of Yancheng city and Funing county have explicitly expressed their idea to encourage such efforts. The environmental affairs brokerages, with the support of local environmental protection administrations, will surely open a new horizon of endeavor.
(www.cenews.com.cn August 5, 2002)
