The seventh session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress was held in Beijing between Dec. 23 and 29, with a plethora of agenda items, a good part of which were draft laws addressing the ecological and environmental issues of great public concern.  

To be specific, the draft Chapter Tort of Civil Code further clarifies the ecological and environmental liabilities. The draft submitted to this session for deliberation suggests further amendments as below, a. the infringer shall take the tort liability if the ecological and environmental damages he or she has inflicted cause harm to any other person; b. the organ or organization specified by the law has the right to request the infringer to take the restoration liability if the ecological and environmental damages caused in violation of State regulations can be restored; c. the organ or organization specified by the law has the right to request the infringer to compensate for the loss from the permanent damage to the ecosystem and environmental functions, the fee for the investigations into and the identification and assessment of the ecological and environmental damages, and other losses and fees.  

In accordance with the draft amendment to the noise control law, the noise control facility shall be checked and accepted in accordance with the standards and protocols specified by the State regulations, instead of the competent environmental protection department which approves the environmental impact statement, as stipulated by the original law, before the construction project concerned is put into operation.  

Also, in case the construction project is put into operation without any noise control facility or while the facility does not meet the State regulations, the competent environmental protection department at or above the county level shall order the rectifications to be made within a prescribed period of time and a fine to both the project owner and any individual held accountable; in case of major environmental pollution or ecological damage, the said department shall order the project owner to halt operation or request the people’s government concerned to shut the project down.  

The 1993 interim measures on the resource tax have been instrumental to promoting the conservation and intensive use of resources and the ecological and environmental protection. In an effort to legalize the resource taxation, a resource tax law shall be enacted. Since the taxation systems provided by the 1993 interim measures are rational, the interim measures shall be signed into law, based on the ongoing taxation framework and the taxation level.  

In accordance with the draft resource tax law, the organizations and individuals that mine the mineral products or produce salt within the territory of the People’s Republic of China and its overseen seas shall be resource tax payers and pay such tax in accordance with law.