The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ("MIIT") has recently formulated and released the Interim Administrative Measures for the Assessment of the Comprehensive Utilization of Industrial Solid Waste Resources (the "Measures") and the National Product Catalog for the Comprehensive Utilization of Industrial Solid Waste Resources (the "Catalog"), immediately effective from the issue date.
According to the Measures, China will set up a unified system for the assessment of the comprehensive utilization of industrial solid waste resources and implement a unified Catalog. Relevant assessment agencies are required to assess the comprehensive utilization of industrial solid waste resources according to the said Catalog. Further, the Measures explicitly state that the assessment of the comprehensive utilization of industrial solid waste resources may be voluntarily selected by enterprises; if they opt for such assessment, they need to provide assessment agencies with eight types of materials, including "a statement explaining the situation of their own production and business activities in the past two years". The Measures also note that enterprises receiving such assessment may apply for temporary entitlement to the exemption from environmental protection tax and for other preferential policies on industrial support, such as value-added tax and income tax relief, according to the assessment outcome, as per the Circular of the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on Issues Concerning Environmental Protection Tax and other applicable rules.