The ecological and environmental events occur frequently, and the damage compensation system is to be built

Huang Runqiu, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, published a signed article on November 9, "Reforming the compensation system for ecological environmental damage and strengthening the liability of enterprises for pollution damage", emphasizing that in the events of oil spill in Bohai Bay, water pollution in Songhua River, soil pollution in Changzhou Foreign Language School, etc., public ecological environmental damage has not been fully compensated, and the damaged ecological environment has not been repaired in a timely manner.

  The meeting agreed to carry out pilot reform of the compensation system for ecological environmental damage in 7 provinces and cities, including Jilin, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hunan, Chongqing, Guizhou and Yunnan.

"The above seven reform pilots have just been launched, and it is expected that progress will not be too fast in the short term, because some institutional problems in the design of the ecological environment damage compensation system have not been fully solved." Chang Jiwen, deputy director of the Institute of Resources and Environmental Policy of the Development Research Center of the State Council, analyzed the reporters.

The reform will be carried out nationwide in 2018

The Pilot Program for the Reform of the Ecological and Environmental Damage Compensation System (hereinafter referred to as the "Pilot Program") issued by the Central and State Offices at the end of last year is one of the "1+6" document series of the new round of ecological civilization system reform.

The so-called ecological environment damage refers to the adverse changes of environmental elements such as atmosphere, surface water, groundwater, soil and biological elements such as plants, animals and microorganisms caused by environmental pollution and ecological destruction, as well as the degradation of ecosystem functions composed of the above elements.

Huang Runqiu, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, explained that the purpose of the reform of the compensation system for ecological environmental damage is to improve the compensation system for ecological environmental damage, make illegal enterprises bear their due liability for compensation, make the damaged ecological environment repaired in a timely manner, and solve the unreasonable situation of "enterprises pollute, people suffer, and the government pays".

According to the Pilot Program, from 2015 to 2017, some provinces were selected to carry out pilot reform of the ecological environment damage compensation system. Since 2018, the compensation system for ecological environmental damage has been piloted nationwide. By 2020, we will strive to initially establish a national ecological environment damage compensation system with clear responsibilities, smooth access, technical specifications, strong guarantees, adequate compensation and effective restoration.

Huang Runqiu introduced that in April this year, the State Council approved the pilot reform of the ecological environment damage compensation system in seven provinces and cities of Jilin, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hunan, Chongqing, Guizhou and Yunnan, and authorized the pilot provincial and municipal governments to act as the obligees of ecological environment damage compensation in their respective administrative regions.

The selection of pilot places takes into account the regional differences in the eastern, central and western regions, and the economic development stages and the status quo of ecological environment quality. Seven provinces and cities of the ultra-low CEMS system have strong representativeness in carrying out the reform pilot, which will provide a replicable system reserve for the formation of the national ecological environment damage compensation system.

Huang Runqiu introduced that from May to August this year, seven provincial and municipal governments organized relevant departments to carry out research and plan drafting, and prepared the implementation plan for the pilot reform of the local ecological environment damage compensation system. 7. After the technical review by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the provincial and municipal implementation plans have been submitted to the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reform for approval, and will be issued and implemented by the provincial people's governments in the pilot areas.

Among the seven provinces and cities, Guizhou has released the Implementation Plan for the Pilot Reform of the Ecological Environment Damage Compensation System on October 8, and is the first to launch the pilot. "The other six pilot programs will also be released soon." Researcher Yu Fang from the Environmental Risk and Damage Assessment Research Center of the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Environmental Protection introduced to the reporter.

7 The pilot emphasizes the particularity of procedural rules

According to the Pilot Program, the provincial government is the compensation obligee in the region and claims against the responsible person. The provincial government can determine the corresponding institutions to be responsible for this work, which can take the form of consultation or directly file a lawsuit.

Huang Runqiu introduced that the five provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan determined that the Provincial Environmental Protection Department is responsible for the organization and coordination of ecological environment damage compensation, and the departments of land and resources, housing and urban and rural construction, water conservancy, agriculture and forestry are respectively responsible for the specific work of ecological environment damage compensation according to the division of responsibilities. Jilin Province and Chongqing City have determined that the Environmental Protection Department (Bureau) is responsible for the compensation work.

Chang Jiwen analyzed that the compensation for ecological environment damage involves the public interest of uncertain majority, and whether the local government is a suitable compensation obligee needs to be further studied in jurisprudence. "In many cases, the local government is the manufacturer of ecological environment damage. In this case, who will be the compensation obligee?"

Huang Runqiu introduced that the seven pilot schemes also emphasized the particularity of the procedural rules of compensation for ecological environmental damage. According to the actual work, each pilot place has made special provisions on such procedural rules as jurisdiction, evidence preservation, advance enforcement and enforcement supervision.

For example, Shandong Province proposed that the provincial court and the provincial procuratorate should take the lead in formulating the litigation rules for compensation for ecological environmental damage. VOCs online monitoring system Chongqing proposes that if no agreement can be reached through consultation, the district level procuratorate will review and prosecute, and the courts at the same level will accept the case collectively. Guizhou Province proposed to improve the public interest litigation system initiated by the procuratorate. Yunnan Province proposed to explore centralized jurisdiction over ecological environment damage cases.

In addition, Huang Runqiu revealed that 7 provinces and cities have proposed corresponding measures to explore the management of compensation funds for ecological environmental damage in their implementation plans.

Among them, Chongqing, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces and cities plan to promote the establishment of the ecological environment damage compensation fund system. Jilin, Hunan, Chongqing and Yunnan provinces and cities proposed to establish the deposit system for ecological environment restoration or the liability insurance system for ecological environment damage.

Source: 21st Century Economic Report