Measures for Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment

Measures for Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment Order of Ministry of Ecological Environment of the People's Republic of China (No. 4) The Measures for Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment, as deliberated and adopted at the executive meeting of the Ministry of Ecological Environment on April 16, 2018, are hereby issued, and shall come into force on January 1, 2019. Minister: Li Ganjie July 16, 2018 Measures for Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment Article 1 For purposes of standardizing public participation in environmental impact assessment, guaranteeing the public's rights to know, participate in, express opinions about, and supervise the environmental protection, the Measures are formulated in accordance with the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic China , the Environmental Impact Assessment Law of the People's Republic of China , the Regulations on the Planning of Environmental Impact Assessment , the Regulations on the Administration of Construction Project Environmental Protection , and other laws and regulations. Article 2 The Measures shall apply to the public participation in environmental impact assessment of special programs concerning industry, agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry, energy, water conservancy, transportation, urban construction, tourism, and natural resource development that may cause unfavorable environment impacts or directly involve the environmental interests of the general public, as well as the public participation in environmental impact assessment of construction projects that should have the environmental impact report prepared in accordance with the law, unless it is provided by the state that it shall be kept confidential. Article 3 The state encourages the public participation in the assessment of environmental impacts. Public participation in environmental protection shall follow the principles of legality, orderliness, openness and convenience. Article 4 The drafting organ of a special program shall, before submitting the draft of the program for examination and approval, seek the opinions of relevant entities, experts and the general public by holding appraisal meetings, hearings or by any other means. Article 5 The construction entity shall seek the opinions of citizens, legal persons and other organizations within the scope of environmental impact assessment in accordance with the law, and it is also encouraged to seek the opinions of citizens, legal persons and other organizations beyond the scope of environmental impact assessment. Article 6 The drafting organ of a special program and the construction entity shall organize the participation of the general public in the process of preparing the environmental impact report and be responsible for the truthfulness and consequence of public participation. The drafting organ of a special program and the construction entity may entrust the drafting entity of the environmental impact report or other entities in undertaking specific tasks of public participation in environmental impact assessment. Article 7 Where the public participation in environmental impact assessment of a special program is not specified, it shall be implemented in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Environmental Impact Assessment and the Regulations on the Planning of Environmental Impact Assessment . Article 8 Relevant information of public participation in environmental impact assessment of a construction project shall be disclosed to the public in accordance with the law, and those involving any state secret, trade secret, or personal privacy shall not be disclosed to the public, except as provided otherwise by any law or regulation. When the competent authorities of ecological environment disclose relevant information concerning the public participation in environmental impact assessment of a construction project, they shall not jeopardize the state security, public security, economic security and social stability. Article 9 The construction entity shall, within seven working days after determining the drafting organ of the environmental impact report, disclose the following information through the entity's website, websites of public media of the place where the construction project is located, or relevant government websites of the place where the construction project is located (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “network platform”): 1. Basic information of the construction project, such as name, site and line selection, and construction scope; if it is a renovation, expansion or relocation project, the current engineering and environmental protection conditions shall be explained; 2. Name and contact information of the construction entity; 3. Name of the drafting organ of the environmental impact report; 4. Network link to the public opinion form; 5. Methods and approaches for submitting the public opinion form. During the drafting of the public opinion form of the environmental impact report, the public can offer any opinion to the construction entity on the environmental impact assessment. The content and format of the public opinion form shall be prepared and determined by the Ministry of Ecological Environment. Article 10 After the public opinion form of the environmental impact report of a construction project is prepared, the construction entity shall disclose the following information, and seek the opinions on environmental impact of a construction project: 1. Network link to the full text of the public opinion form of the environmental impact report, and the methods and approaches of consulting the paper report; 2. Scope of the public offering opinions; 3. Network link to the public opinion form; 4. Methods and approaches of offering a public opinion; 5. Starting timeand ending time of offering a public opinion. The term of the construction entity seeking public opinions shall be no less than 10 working days. Article 11 For information that shall be disclosed in accordance with Article 10 of the Measures, the construction entity shall disclose it concurrently in the following three manners: 1. Through a network platform: the term of disclosing it shall be no less than 10 working days; 2. Through newspapers accessible to the public of th......