The General Office of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment ("MEE") has recently issued the Technical Specification for the Application for and Issuance of Pollutant Permit: Down Industry (Draft for Comment) (the "Draft for Comment") to seek comments from the entities concerned by September 10, 2019.
The Draft for Comment lays out requirements on filling in and reporting the basic information on pollutant emission entities in the down (including washed down) industry, in respect of the application and issuance of pollutant discharge permits, methods to determine the permitted emission limits, methods to calculate the amount of pollutants discharged in effect, methods to judge compliance, and other requirements for different aspects of environmental management, ranging from self-monitoring, environmental management standing books to the implementation reports on pollutant discharge permits; it also sets out the requirements on feasible technologies used to prevent and clean up pollution created in the down (including washed down) industry. Among others, the Draft for Comment expressly states that the permitted emission limits deal with the concentration of permitted emissions and the amount of permitted emissions. As for water pollutants, the concentration and the amount of permitted emissions from the main outlets will be measured by the unit of discharge outlet, while in terms of atmospheric pollutants, the concentration of permitted emissions from ordinary outlets will be measured by the unit of discharge outlet but the concentration of fugitive permitted emissions will be determined by the unit of plant's boundary.