Draft regulation raises fines for polluters
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E-mail China Daily, October 14, 2013
Beijing is weighing whether to remove its upper limit on fines for violating air pollution regulations next year.
The Beijing government released its second draft of the regulation on Sept 25, scrapping the 1-million-yuan ($163,396) limit and adding five categories of illegal behavior to a list of those for which fines will be doubled.
If the draft is approved, it means that certain actions, such as barbecuing food out in the open and discharging more vehicle exhaust than allowed, may result in heavier fines than currently applied, while serious breaches of regulations may exceed the current 1-million-yuan upper limit.
The new regulation is expected to be implemented in early 2014.
Many polluters have found that obeying pollution regulations is more costly than paying the fines, and the new regulation is an attempt to correct this situation, said Wang Delin, vice-chairman of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Beijing People's Congress.
Chai Fahe, vice-president of the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, said that any increases in penalties should be harsher on businesses and more tolerant of individuals.
"It is laudable that the fines have generally become tougher in the second draft of the regulation, but I don't agree with the item stating that polluting enterprises that fail to relocate or shut down as required will not be subject to a doubled fine," Chai said.
The number of clauses in the second draft now stands at 130, while the original issued in July had just 96.
In the first draft, fines would be doubled for those violating a regulation more than twice, with an upper limit of 1 million yuan. Eight exceptions were given to this rule.
The new draft, however, has reduced from eight to three the number of circumstances in which a doubled fine can be avoided, while canceling the upper limit.
In other words, illegally barbecuing food in the open air or dismantling the pollution control devices on motor vehicles without permission may result in doubled fines with no upper limits.
"It is encouraging that open air barbecuing may face much higher fines than the previous upper limit of 20,000 yuan, because such acts greatly affect the air quality nearby," said 28-year-old Wang Yichen, a resident of the capital.
Wang said there are at least 10 restaurants in a street about 500 meters away from her home on the third floor of a residential building. All of them offer open-air barbecue food in the summer.
"The smoke coming from that street chokes my family so much that we never open our windows at night in summer time," she said.
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