China will improve the supervision of Chinese exporters and ban
exporting that causes pollution, said Zhang Lijun, vice director of
the State Environmental Protection Administration, yesterday.
Environmental protection departments will set up a database to
collect information on those exporters who violate environmental
protection rules and also detail the efforts those exporting
companies make to clean up their act, Zhang said.
No date was given for the start of these new regulations.
Zhang said the SEPA will improve the exchange of information
with the Ministry of Commerce to strengthen the supervision of
Chinese exporters.
The SEPA and MOC issued a notice earlier that exporters would be
banned from trading abroad for one to three years if they were
found to have seriously violated environmental protection rules,
according to a notice issued the by the SEPA and MOC.
In the past the MOC would authorize local departments to suspend
export-related applications of violating companies such as export
quotas and licenses, contracts for processing, and applications for
participating in national or regional trade fairs, based on reports
from local environmental watchdogs.
Analysts said they were the most severe measures the MOC had
adopted to crack down on environmental violations in the last four
years.
The government also announced yesterday a timetable for the
phaseout of outmoded plants as part of a national campaign to save
energy and reduce pollution.
These firms fail to meet environmental protection standards and
discharge requirements, the National Development and Reform
Commission and the SEPA said in a joint statement.
In the paper-making industry, the country will outlaw outmoded
factories with a total yearly production equal to 6.5 million tons
during the 11th Five-Year Period ending 2010.
In the alcohol industry, 1.6 million tons will be eliminated in
the years until 2010.
China also plans to do away with 200,000 tons of outdated
capacity in monosodium glutamate industry and 80,000 tons in citric
acid production in the period.
The government expects these moves to reduce COD, or chemical
oxygen demand, emission by a total of more than 1.24 million
tons.
The statement said local governments should enforce the shutdown
of those enterprises which are included in the phaseout list but do
not quit on schedule. Authorities can also cut power supply for the
uncooperative.
Meanwhile, a government official yesterday hailed
non-governmental organizations working in environmental protection
as important players in policy making.
Zhou Jian, deputy director of the SEPA, praised the role of NGOs
in China's environmental protection at the annual conference of
Chinese NGOs in Beijing.
Currently, there are more than 2,700 environmental protection
NGOs acting as a bridge between government and people.
(Xinhua News Agency, Shanghai Daily October 31,
2007)