China is preparing a legal code for the ecological environment, the Party’s third plenum resolution has highlighted.
This will be only China’s second legal code, following the completion of the civil code in 2020.
The ecological environment code is expected to have five sections: general provisions, pollution prevention, ecological protection, green and low-carbon development, and legal liability, according to Caixin.
A legal code is a comprehensive set of laws on a particular subject. The idea of having an environmental one was first proposed last September when the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee announced its legislative plan for the next five years.
Wang Jin, a professor at Peking University Law School, told Caixin there are currently at least 33 laws directly or indirectly related to ecological and environmental protection in China, accounting for about 10% of all laws.
However, these were enacted at different times, resulting in inconsistent penalties for similar or related illegal acts, and leading to enforcement confusion. Meanwhile, stricter protection measures in recent years have rendered many existing regulations outdated, Wang explains.
These issues highlight the need for modifications, integrations, and even new legislation. Wang noted, for example, that the pollution prevention section would compile existing regulations. While the ecological protection section would do that and develop new ones, including those that address biodiversity conservation, protected areas and ocean protection, filling gaps in current laws.
Caixin reports that a draft of the new code has been put together by a team involving relevant ministries and legal scholars. Comprising over a thousand articles, it is currently under review by departments of the State Council, local people’s congresses, and universities.
The draft is expected to be submitted to the NPC Standing Committee for its first review by the end of the year, with the final code anticipated by 2026.
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