Recently, the General Office of the Ministry of Environmental Protection ("MEP") has issued the Circular on Effectively Administering the Pollutant Discharge Permits Granted to the Iron and Steel Industry and the Cement Industry (the "Circular").
The Circular expressly states that the application for and issuance of pollutant discharge permits to enterprises engaging in the iron and steel sector should be all completed in the Beijing Municipality, Tianjin Municipality and another 26 cities situated in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its neighboring areas, and core areas in the Yangtze River Delta region and the Pearl River Delta region before December 31, 2017, and in other places of the country by the end of 2018. In addition, the application for and issuance of pollutant discharge permits to enterprises engaging in the cement sector should be all finished across the whole nation before December 31, 2017. Further, the Circular provides that pollutant discharge permits for the cement industry should be granted to pollutant dischargers that produce the cement (cement clinker), exploit certain mines to have raw materials necessary for the cement production, and transfer bulk cement, pollutant dischargers that dispose of solid wastes generated in cement kilns in a coordinated manner, and others that are independent grinding stations. Pollutant discharge permits for the iron and steel industry should be issued to pollutant dischargers that have production processes of sintering, pelletizing, iron-making, steel-making and steel-rolling. The Circular also calls for getting well prepared for the implementation, guiding enterprises with respect to applications for the said permits, regulating the examination and issuance, and strengthening the environmental regulation.