The Ministry of Environmental Protection ("MEP") has recently formulated and issued the Administrative Measures for Soil Environment of Land for Industrial and Mining Use (for Trial Implementation) (Draft for Comment) (the "Draft for Comment") for public consultation by December 17, 2017.
The Draft for Comment introduces a series of systems, including the system of investigations into current situations of soil and underground water environment, the system of screening hidden dangers that may lead to soil and underground water pollution, the record-filing system for underground storage tanks, the system of managing facilities for preventing leakage, the self-monitoring system for enterprises, the system of preventing against and having control over pollution caused by enterprises' dismantling facilities and buildings, and the system of requiring enterprises to restore the soil and underground water to previous conditions after their withdrawal. According to the Draft for Comment, key enterprises shall, in accordance with requirements set forth in applicable technical standards, monitor conditions of soil and underground water regularly, particularly the soil and underground water surrounding areas and facilities where there might be potential pollution, and make the monitoring findings accessible to the general public. Meanwhile, such key enterprise that intends to have a production facility or equipment, a structure, or a facility constructed to treat pollution torn down, shall prepare in advance a plan to prevent against and have control over pollution from its dismantling activities, before it does so, and report such plan to the department of environmental protection and the department of industry and information technology at the county level at its locality for the record-filing purpose fifteen working days prior to the commencement of dismantling activities.