Law of the People's Republic of China on Ports (2018 Amendment)

Law of the People's Republic of China on Ports (2018 Amendment) Law of the People's Republic of China on Ports (Adopted at the Third Session of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on June 28, 2003; amended for the first time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Seven Laws Including the Law of the People's Republic of China on Ports adopted at the Third Session of the Twelfth National People's Congress on April 24, 2015; amended for the second time in accordance with the Decision of the National People's Congress on Amending Eleven Laws including the Accounting Law of the People's Republic of China at the 30th Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on November 4, 2017; and amended for the third time in accordance with the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to Amend Four Laws Including the Electric Power Law of the People's Republic of China on December 29, 2018) Contents Chapter I General Provisions Chapter II Port Planning and Construction Chapter III Business Operation of Ports Chapter IV Port Safety and Supervision Chapter V Legal Liabilities Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions Chapter I General Provisions Article 1 The present Law is enacted with a view to strengthening the administration of ports, maintaining the safety and business order of ports, protecting the lawful rights and interests of the parties, and promoting the construction and development of ports. Article 2 Whoever engages in port planning, construction, maintenance, business operation, management and the related activities shall be governed by the present Law. Article 3 Port mentioned in the present Law means an area composed of a certain scope of water area and land area, which has the functions for vessels to enter and exit, to berth, to anchor, for passengers to embark and disembark, and for goods to be loaded and unloaded, lightered, stored, etc., and which has the corresponding wharf facilities. A port may be composed of one or more port areas. Article 4 The State Council and the relevant local people's government at the county level or above shall embody the requirements on development and planning of ports in the plans on national economy and social development, and lawfully protect and reasonably utilize port resources. Article 5 The State encourages domestic and foreign economic organizations and individuals to lawfully invest to construct and operate ports, and protects the lawful rights and interests of the investors. Article 6 The administrative department of communications under the State Council shall be in charge of the affairs on ports throughout the country. The administration by the local people's government of the ports within its own jurisdiction shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of the State Council on port administration system. In accordance with the port administration system determined in the preceding paragraph, for any port under the administration of the people's government of the city or county where the port is located, the people's government of the city or county shall determine a department to specifically administer it; for any port under the administration of the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government, the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government shall determine a department to specifically administer it. The departments determined in accordance with the preceding paragraph to specifically administer ports are hereinafter uniformly referred to as the administrative department of port. Chapter II Port Planning and Construction Article 7 A port planning shall be worked out in light of the requirements on national economy and social development as well as the needs in national defense building, embody the principle of reasonably utilizing coastline resources, conform to the planning of urban system, and be connected and in line with the overall planning on land utilization, the overall city planning, the planning of river valleys, the planning on prevention and control of floods, the divisions of maritime functions, the development planning on transportation by water and the development planning on other methods of transportation as well as other relevant planning prescribed in laws and administrative regulations. The department that works out the port planning shall invite experts to hold a demonstration, and an appraisal on environmental influence shall be made in accordance with the law. Article 8 Port planning includes distribution planning of ports and overall planning of a port. Distribution planning of ports means the distribution planning concerning ports, including the distribution planning of ports nationwide and of ports in provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government. Overall planning of a port means the specific planning of one port during a certain period, including the scope of water area and land area of the port, the division of port areas, the handling capacity and the types of vessels to the port, the nature and functions of the port, the use of the water area and land area, the construction of port facilities and the use of coastline, the allocation of the land for construction use, as well as the order of construction by stages, etc. The overall planning of a port shall conform to the distribution planning of ports. Article 9 The distribution planning of ports nationwide shall be worked out by the administrative department of communications under the State Council after it has sought opinions from the relevant department under the State Council and the relevant military organ, and be submitted to the State Council for approval before promulgation and implementation. The distribution planning of ports in a province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government shall be worked out upon the arrangement by the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government according to the distribution planning of ports nationwide, and be submitted to the administrative department of communications under the State Council for its opinions. If the administrative department of communications under the State Council fails to render any amendment opinion at the expiry of 30 days as of the receipt of the materials for opinions, the distribution planning of ports shall be promulgated by the relevant people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government for implementation; if the administrative department of communications under the State Council considers that the said planning does not conform to the distribution planning of ports nationwide, it shall, within 30 days as of the receipt of the materials for opinions, render its amendment opinions; if the people's government of the relevant province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government does not agree to the amendment opinions, it shall report to the State Council for decision. Article 10 The overall planning of a port shall be worked out by the administrative department of port after it has sought opinions from the relevant department and the relevant military organ. Article 11 The overall planning of a major port of important location, with large handling capacity, and of wide influence to economic development shall be approved and promulgated for implementation by the administrative department of communications under the State Council jointly with the people's government of the relevant province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government after it has sought opinions from the relevant department under the State Council and the relevant military organ. The directory of the major ports shall be determined and promulgated by the administrative department of communications under the State Council after it has sought opinions from the relevant department under the State Council. The people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government shall, after seeking opinions from the administrative department of communications under the State Council, determine the overall planning of the important ports in the region. The overall planning of an important port shall be approved and promulgated for implementation by the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government after it has sought opinions from the administrative department of communications under the State Council. The overall planning of the ports other than those prescribed in the preceding two paragraphs shall be promulgated for implementation after being approved by the people's government of the city or county where the port is located, and shall be submitted to the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government for record. The overall planning worked out by the administrative department of port under the people's government of the city or county concerning a port prescribed in Paragraph 1 or 2 of the present article shall, prior to the submission for approval, be examined and consented to by the people's government at the same level. Article 12 The amendment of a port planning shall be made according to the procedures for making the port planning. Article 13 If the deep water coastline of a port needs to be used for the construction of port facilities within the port area under the overall planning, it shall be approved by the administrative department of communications under the State Council jointly with the economic comprehensive macro-control department under the State Council; if the non-deep water coastline needs to be used for the construction of port facilities, it shall be approved by the administrative department of port. However, if the coastline of a port needs to be used in a project approved by the State Council or the economic comprehensive macro-control department under the State Council for construction, no approval formalities for using the coastline need to be separately gone through. The standards for the deep water coastline of a port shall be formulated by the administrative department of communications under the State Council. Article 14 The construction of a port shall conform to the port planning. No port facilities shall be constructed in violation of the port planning. Article 15 For a port construction project that must be approved by the relevant organ in accordance wit......