From January 1, 2023, low volatile organic compound content coating enterprises will not be listed as key units of environmental supervision

Global Coatings Network News: A few days ago, the official website of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment released the "Measures for the Management of Key Lists of Environmental Supervision" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"), which will come into force
on January 1, 2023.
The Measures stipulate that the focus of environmental supervision shall perform legal obligations such as self-monitoring and information disclosure in accordance with the law, and take measures to prevent and control environmental pollution and prevent environmental risks
.
The Measures clarify the identification of key pollutant discharge in the water environment and atmospheric environment in turn, and point out that enterprises and undertakings that produce, process, use or discharge chemical substances listed in the list of new pollutants under key control shall be included in the key pollutant discharge, and enterprises and undertakings that implement the key management of pollutant discharge permits stipulated in the catalogue of classified management of pollution discharge permits shall be listed as key pollutant
discharges.
The Measures also stipulate that ecological and environmental departments at the districted-city level may include enterprises and institutions that really need to carry out key supervision in the key list of environmental supervision based on the environmental quality status, environmental quality improvement requirements, pollutant discharge
, etc.
of their respective administrative regions.

Measures for the Management of Key Lists of Environmental Supervision

Article 1: These Measures
are formulated in accordance with the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China and the laws on the prevention and control of water, atmosphere, noise, soil and other pollution, as well as administrative regulations such as groundwater management and pollution discharge permit management, so as to strengthen the supervision and management of key environmental supervision and strengthen precise pollution control.

Article 2: "Key environmental supervision" as used in these Measures includes lawfully determined key water environment discharge, groundwater pollution prevention and control key discharge, atmospheric environment discharge, noise discharge, soil pollution key supervision, and key environmental risk management and control
.

The same enterprise can belong to different categories of environmental regulatory priorities
at the same time.

Article 3: The competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council is responsible for guiding, coordinating, and supervising the determination and management of key directories of environmental supervision, and establishing and operating an information platform
for key directories of environmental supervision.

The provincial-level competent departments for ecology and the environment are responsible for coordinating and supervising the determination and publication
of the key list of environmental supervision in their respective administrative regions.

The competent departments for ecology and the environment at the districted-city level are responsible for the determination, management, and publication
of the key directories of environmental supervision in their respective administrative regions.

Article 4: The focus of environmental supervision shall lawfully perform legal obligations on the ecological environment such as self-monitoring and information disclosure, and employ measures to prevent and control environmental pollution and prevent environmental risks
.

The competent departments for ecology and the environment at all levels shall strengthen the supervision and management
of key environmental supervision.

Article 5 The key discharge of water environment shall be determined
on the basis of factors such as the capacity of the water environment in the administrative region, the requirements of the control index for the total discharge of key water pollutants, and the type, quantity and concentration of water pollutants discharged into the sewage discharge.

Those who meet any of the following conditions shall be listed as key water environment discharge:

(1) Industrial enterprises whose discharge of any water pollutant in chemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen, total nitrogen, or total phosphorus in any one of the past three years is greater than the screening discharge limit set by the competent department of ecology and environment at the districted-city level;

(2) Large-scale livestock and poultry farms with sewage discharge outlets;

(3) Centralized industrial wastewater treatment plants, as well as urban domestic sewage treatment plants
with a daily treatment capacity of more than 100,000 tons or a daily treatment capacity of more than 20,000 tons of industrial wastewater.

The competent departments for ecology and the environment at the districted-city level shall set limits for screening discharge and shall ensure that the sum of the total amount of industrial water pollutants discharged from key water environments to be screened shall not be less than 65%
of the total amount of industrial water pollutants discharged from the statistical survey of discharge sources in that administrative region.

Article 6: Key sewage discharge for the prevention and control of groundwater pollution shall be determined
on the basis of factors such as the need for the prevention and control of groundwater pollution in that administrative region, the discharge of toxic and harmful substances, and other factors.

Where any of the following conditions are met, it shall be listed as a key discharge for the prevention and control of groundwater pollution:

(1) Enterprises and undertakings located in key areas for the prevention and control of groundwater pollution and equipped with water pollutant discharge outlets;

(2) Primary and secondary environmental supervision and management of the operation and management of tailings ponds;

(3) Operation and management of hazardous waste disposal sites involving landfill disposal;

(4) Operation and management
of domestic waste landfills with a daily treatment capacity of more than 500 tons.

Article 7 The key discharge of pollutants into the atmospheric environment shall be determined
on the basis of factors such as the carrying capacity of the atmospheric environment, the requirements of the total amount of key atmospheric pollutants discharged control indicators, and the type, quantity and concentration of atmospheric pollutants discharged by the administrative region.

Those who meet any of the following conditions shall be listed as key pollutant discharge in the atmospheric environment:

(1) Industrial enterprises whose emissions of any of the atmospheric pollutants of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter or volatile organic compounds in the past three years are greater than the screening emission limits set by the competent departments of ecology and environment at the districted-city level;

(2) Solar photovoltaic glass industry enterprises, other glass manufacturing, glass products, glass fiber industry natural gas as fuel enterprises above;

(3) Enterprises in the ceramics and refractory industries that use coal, petroleum coke, oil and furnace gas as fuel;

(4) Enterprises above designated size in the ceramics and refractory industries that use natural gas as fuel;

(5) Enterprises above designated size in the industrial coating industry shall use four types of low-volatile organic compound content coatings that comply with national regulations, such as water-based, solvent-free, radiation curing, and powder;

(6) Enterprises above the scale of the packaging and printing industry, except
for the use of inks with low volatile organic compound content that comply with national regulations.

The competent departments for ecology and the environment at the districted-city level shall set limits for screening emissions, and shall ensure that the sum of the total emissions of industrial air pollutants from the selected key atmospheric environment pollutants shall not be less than 65%
of the total emissions of industrial air pollutants surveyed by the statistical survey of emission sources in that administrative region.

Article 8: Enterprises and undertakings that produce, process, use, or discharge chemical substances listed in the list of new pollutants under key control and control shall be included in the key pollutant
discharge.

Article 9 Key noise discharge shall be determined
on the basis of factors such as the noise emission status and the requirements for improving the quality of the sound environment in the administrative region.

Industrial enterprises that meet any of the following conditions shall be listed as key noise discharge:

(1) Located in a noise-sensitive building concentration area or within 200 meters outside the factory boundary, and causing noise pollution;

(2) Affecting the completion of the goals set in the sound environment quality improvement plan in the administrative region where it is located;

(3) Noise pollution problems are prominent and the masses have strong
complaints.

Article 10: Key soil pollution oversight shall be determined
on the basis of factors such as the needs for soil pollution prevention and control in that administrative region, the discharge of toxic and harmful substances, and so forth.

Where any of the following conditions are met, it shall be listed as a key soil pollution supervision:

(1) Non-ferrous metal ore mining and selection, non-ferrous metal smelting, petroleum exploitation, petroleum processing, chemical industry, coking, electroplating, tanning industry enterprises above designated size;

(2) Enterprises that are located on plots with a high potential risk of soil pollution and produce, use, store, dispose of, or discharge toxic and harmful substances;

(3) Cadmium-related discharge enterprises
located in areas with prominent heavy metal pollution in cultivated soil.

Article 11: Where any of the following conditions are met, they may be listed as key environmental risk management and control:

(1) Enterprises that produce more than 100 tons of hazardous waste per year;

(2) Enterprises with facilities for the self-utilization and disposal of hazardous waste;

(3) Enterprises holding hazardous waste business licenses;

(4) Operation and maintenance of domestic waste landfills (including closed sites) or domestic waste incineration plants;

(5) Enterprises in which uranium (thorium) in raw ores, intermediate products, tailings (slag) or other residues in the development and utilization of mineral resources (except uranium and thorium ore) is an enterprise
with a single nuclide content exceeding 1Bq/g.

Article 12 Enterprises and undertakings that implement key management of pollution discharge permits as stipulated in the catalogue of categorical management of pollutant discharge permits shall be listed as key pollutant
discharges.

If the conditions for implementing the key management of pollution discharge permits stipulated in the Directory for the Categorical Administration of Pollution Discharge Permits from Fixed Pollution Sources (2019 Edition) are "included in the list of key pollutant discharge", and if they no longer meet the screening conditions for key pollutant discharge according to the provisions of Articles 5 and 7 of these Measures, the competent departments of ecology and environment at the districted-city level shall make timely adjustments
.

Article 13: The competent departments for ecology and the environment at the districted-city level may, on the basis of the environmental quality status, environmental quality improvement requirements, pollutant discharge, toxic and harmful substances, and environmental risk management and control requirements of their respective administrative regions, include enterprises and undertakings that truly need to carry out key supervision in the key list
of environmental supervision.

Article 14: The competent departments for ecology and the environment at the districted-city level shall, before the end of January each year, submit a preliminary list of key environmental supervision for the current year, and upload it to the information platform
for the key list of environmental supervision.

The competent departments for ecology and the environment at the provincial level or above may, before the end of February each year, submit suggestions
for adjusting the preliminary list of key environmental supervision through the information platform for key environmental supervision lists.

The competent departments of ecology and the environment at the districted-city level may, on the basis of the adjustment suggestions put forward by the competent departments of ecology and the environment at the provincial level or above, adjust the preliminary list of key environmental supervision for the current year, and determine the key list of environmental supervision for the current year before the end of March, and announce it
to the public in accordance with law.

Article 15: Where enterprises and undertakings included in the key list of environmental supervision fail to meet the screening conditions provided for in these Measures during the existence of the directory, they shall make adjustments
when determining the following year's key list of environmental supervision.

Article 16: The competent department for ecology and the environment under the State Council is responsible for the interpretation
of these Measures.

Article 17: These Measures shall take effect
on January 1, 2023.
The Notice on Printing and Distributing the Provisions on the Administration of the < Key Pollutant Discharge List (Trial) > (Environmental Protection Office Monitoring [2017] No.
86) is abolished
at the same time.