The Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services of the Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM") has recently issued four industry standards, including the Criteria for Green Catering Operations and Management (Draft for Review) (the "Draft for Review"), for public consultation by August 17, 2018.
The Draft for Review provides for relevant terms and their definitions, basic requirements, green design, green procurement, security management, energy conservation management, consumption reduction management, environmental protection, on-spot management, and honest business operations, for green catering, and applies to enterprises offering catering services. In particular, the Draft for Review notes that, relevant enterprises must fulfill basic requirements in eight aspects, including "providing the budget funds and human resources support for green operations", "having no history of safety accidents and environmental pollution accidents caused by excessive discharge of pollutants, in the past three years". Meanwhile, the Draft for Review explicitly states that enterprises shall also abide by national or local standards on pollutant discharge, lower the concentration and the total quantity of pollutants discharged, and reduce discharge according to local environmental objectives till reaching zero discharge.