Two Ministries Called for Improving Energy-Saving and Environmental Protection Statistics in Foreign Investment Section
On February 3, 2009, the Ministry of Commerce ("MOC") and the Ministry of Environmental Protection jointly released the Circular on Reinforcing Energy-Saving and Environmental Protection Statistics Regarding Foreign Investment (the "Circular"), effective on the same date. The Circular reiterates that the applicant shall submit environmental impact assessment ("EIA") documents approved by a competent environment protection authority to MOC or its local counterpart in jurisdiction upon applying for the establishment of or change of a foreign-invested enterprise ("FIE"). In addition to the EIA documents, the applicant shall also include the corresponding statistics set forth in the EIA documents in its application documents for establishment, filed with MOC or its local counterpart, and the updated statistics set forth in the updated EIA documents in any application documents for change. Such statistics shall include information about the funds used for environmental protection, the amount of sulfur dioxide discharge and chemical oxygen demand. Although not specified in the Circular, the relevant authorities have confirmed that the Circular applies to manufacturing FIEs that have their own facilities, which are subject to construction project EIA. To a certain extent, the filing system specified in the Circular encourages concerned FIEs to strengthen their environmental protection compliance.
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