Opinions of the Ministry of Finance and Environmental Protection on Supporting the Reform of Environmental Monitoring System

On November 2, 2015, Cai Jian [2015] No.985

The finance departments (bureaus) and environmental protection departments (bureaus) of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and cities under separate state planning:

　　Environmental monitoring is the foundation of ecological environmental protection and the important support of ecological civilization construction. In recent years, financial and environmental protection departments at all levels have effectively increased their financial input and actively carried out their work, initially established a national environmental monitoring network, launched a pilot project of collecting air directly from the national monitoring station, released real-time air quality monitoring data to the public in cities above the prefecture level, and significantly enhanced their environmental monitoring capabilities. In some places, pilot explorations such as third-party custody operations have been carried out, and positive results have been achieved. However, the problems existing in China’s current environmental monitoring work are also prominent. The central and local environmental monitoring powers have not been completely straightened out, and the phenomenon of local administrative intervention in monitoring data still exists. The responsibility of enterprise environmental monitoring report has not been fully implemented, and the base of enterprise sewage discharge is unclear. Protecting the people’s right to know about the environment is the basic duty of the government. Under the new situation, comprehensively promoting the construction of ecological civilization also urgently requires speeding up the rationalization of environmental monitoring rights among governments at all levels and deepening the reform of the environmental monitoring system. After being approved by the leaders of the State Council, the following reform implementation opinions are put forward:

　　First, the overall requirements, objectives and basic principles of financial support monitoring system reform

　　(1) General requirements.

　　Thoroughly implement the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Plenary Sessions of the 18th Central Committee, implement the State Council’s Plan for the Construction of Ecological Environmental Monitoring Network (Guo Ban Fa [2015] No.56), straighten out the national environmental monitoring management system, accelerate the reform of the environmental monitoring system, and the central government assumes the power of monitoring important regional and cross-border environmental quality, forming a national direct environmental monitoring network in the aspects of atmosphere, water and soil; Each province undertakes environmental quality monitoring within its jurisdiction, and strengthens the supervisory monitoring of pollution source emissions and strengthens environmental supervision and law enforcement; Implement the main responsibility of enterprises, strictly implement the self-monitoring and reporting system of pollution discharge, thus establishing an environmental monitoring system with clear boundaries between central, local and enterprise responsibilities, providing accurate and authoritative data support for environmental assessment of governments at all levels, and consolidating the foundation of ecological civilization construction.

　　(2) Work objectives.

　　By 2018, the collection of national monitoring stations and national control sections will be completed in an all-round way, and the monitoring network of atmospheric, water and soil environmental quality directly under the state will be established and improved; The environmental quality monitoring system in the province has been effectively established, and the monitoring data controlled by the state are mutually verified and interconnected; The market-oriented reform of environmental monitoring has been deepened, the third-party trusteeship operation mechanism has been widely implemented, the efficiency of environmental monitoring has been greatly improved, the ecological environmental monitoring system of land and sea planning, integration of heaven and earth and information sharing has been continuously improved, and the environmental monitoring ability has been more adapted to the requirements of ecological civilization construction.

　　(3) Basic principles.

　　Clarify the powers and responsibilities. In accordance with the requirements of "who evaluates and who monitors", distinguish between the central and local authorities in environmental quality monitoring and expenditure responsibilities; According to the law, the responsibility of enterprise pollution monitoring and reporting will be implemented, and the intergovernmental environmental monitoring power will be clearer, and the responsibilities of all parties will be effectively implemented.

　　Graded guarantee and strengthened support. Central and local environmental monitoring is included in the scope of financial security at the same level. The central government will increase investment to ensure the construction and operation of the national environmental monitoring system network; Local financial departments should also take environmental monitoring as the focus of environmental protection expenditure to ensure it.

　　Implement step by step, actively and steadily. The reform of environmental monitoring system involves a wide range, so it is necessary to make overall planning, prepare a three-year medium-term financial plan, ensure the collection of key expenditures for environmental monitoring, and gradually receive them according to the existing environmental monitoring work capacity.

　　Two, support the establishment of the national air, water, soil and other environmental quality monitoring pipe network.

　　The central government should accurately grasp and objectively evaluate the overall situation of the national ecological environment quality and meet the assessment requirements for local ecological environmental protection work. According to the requirements of strengthening environmental protection and governance, the construction of state-controlled monitoring sites and sections will be increased, and all state-controlled monitoring sites and sections will be taken over by the state step by step. In terms of atmospheric monitoring, appropriately increase the construction of state-controlled monitoring stations and enrich the monitoring functions to achieve full coverage of major cities at or above the prefecture level in the country and meet the assessment and evaluation needs of the Air Pollution Prevention Action Plan; In terms of water quality monitoring, automatic monitoring stations and sections controlled by the state are added to cover urban waters above prefecture level, and more than 1,400 important rivers such as national boundary rivers, major first-class and second-class tributaries, 92 important lakes and reservoirs, and key drinking water sources are further covered to meet the assessment and evaluation needs of the Water Pollution Prevention Action Plan; In terms of soil monitoring, it supports the development of a national encrypted survey of soil pollution, the monitoring of risk points, the coverage of important drinking water sources and contaminated soil, the establishment and improvement of the data quality control system of the national environmental monitoring network, the improvement of the quality control and management level of environmental monitoring at the national level, and the assurance of accurate and reliable national environmental monitoring data.

　　Third, actively promote the reform of local environmental monitoring system

　　All localities should speed up the rationalization of the environmental quality monitoring system within their jurisdiction, do a good job in environmental quality monitoring within their jurisdiction, grasp the status of ecological environment quality and the total amount of pollutants discharged within their jurisdiction, and take the initiative to accept the supervision of the masses within their jurisdiction. Conditional provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) can collect environmental quality monitoring points and sections at the city and county levels within their jurisdiction to meet the provincial assessment requirements. All provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government should make clear the timetable of various reform tasks according to the actual situation, and do a good job in ensuring relevant funds. The provincial environmental monitoring data should be shared with the national network.

　　Four, fully implement the main responsibility of enterprise pollution source monitoring.

　　Enterprises are the first person responsible for clarifying the pollution discharge situation, and should monitor by themselves or entrust a third party to carry out monitoring according to law, report the pollution discharge data to the environmental protection department in time, and key enterprises should also disclose the monitoring information to the society regularly. Local governments should withdraw from the monitoring of pollution discharge instead of enterprises, earnestly perform the duties of supervisory monitoring of pollution sources, improve the online monitoring system of key pollution sources and strengthen the supervision of pollution discharge process. Supervise and urge enterprises to fulfill the responsibility of self-monitoring of pollution sources and information disclosure, and punish enterprises that practise fraud and smuggle. The central government strengthens environmental supervision for local governments to perform their duties.

　　V. Vigorously promote the market-oriented reform of environmental monitoring

　　Except for sensitive environmental data, the environmental monitoring stations and monitoring sections collected by the central government will, in principle, adopt the way of government purchasing services and choose a third-party professional company for hosting and operation. Local governments should speed up the marketization of environmental monitoring, deepen the classification reform of environmental protection institutions and cultivate the environmental monitoring market. The government should further strengthen the supervision of the third-party environmental monitoring market, strengthen the accountability mechanism, comprehensively establish environmental monitoring standards and norms, assessment and quality control systems, and improve the quality control and management level of environmental monitoring at the national level.

　　Financial and environmental protection departments at all levels should fully understand the great significance of deepening the reform of environmental monitoring system, take active actions, strengthen organization and coordination, ensure the smooth implementation of the reform, and make new contributions to continuously improving the level of environmental quality monitoring in China and promoting the construction of ecological civilization.

　　CC: Offices of the Financial Ombudsman of the Ministry of Finance in all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and cities under separate state planning.