China Policy Journal Volume 1, Number 1, Fall 2018 | Page 11

China Policy Journal
resource capacity and function were
taken into account but would lead to
different results. Any production plant’s
marginal cost of pollution control
monotonically decreased the function
of the pollution-emission quantity, so
that the larger the pollution emission,
the lower the marginal cost (Hou 2008).
According to the 2003 regulation,
different levels of the water-pollutant
discharge fee were defined as
pollutant discharge fee plus pollutant
standard-exceeding charge. The pollutant
discharge fee was reformed to cover
both the standard-meeting and standard-exceeding
parts. The latter was
doubled for excessive pollutant concentration.
Until 2014, the block-rate pollutant
structural change was designed
for different situations (Xu 2014). The
revision of the fee structure was partially
tested in certain provinces and cities.
The block-rate pollutant charge was
first conducted in Tianjin. The pollutant
fee increased to 7.5 RMB on COD
and 9.5 RMB on ammonium and nitrogen:
a tenfold increase compared to
the previous standard. Which indicated
that the smaller the amount of wastewater,
the lower the fee. A differential
charge standard was set in Tianjin in
the Inform of Block-Rate Based Pollutant
Discharge Fee Standard Adjustment,
which regulated that pollutant
discharge concentrations of 90%–100%
should be charged according to a general
standard, wastewater concentrations
of 80%–90% should be charged by multiplying
the discharge amount by 90%,
concentrations of 70%–80% should
multiply the fee by 80%, concentrations
of 60%–70% should multiply the fee by
70%, and concentrations of 50%–60%
should multiply the fee by 60%, while
concentrations under 50% should be
charged less than 50%. The different
stages fit for different wastewater-discharging
scales on firms’ production
abilities, which was quickly imitated
and spread to other industrially developed
provinces.
The other fee-structure improvement
was conducted in ShanXi province,
where the wastewater discharge
fee increased to 1.4 RMB per pollutant
equivalent. In addition, pollution concentration
exceeded the national and
provincial limits, or amounts exceeding
the aggregate value would be double
charged. If both of the conditions
had been met, the fee would be tripled.
Furthermore, the water-pollutant discharge-fee
structure was set up based
on different industries. Fees for the petrochemical,
packaging, and printing industries
were increased to 1.8 RMB per
pollutant equivalent. The water-pollutant
fee was graded by charging for every
10% for concentration percentages
from 50% to 100%, while still halved for
water-pollutant concentrations below
50%. Provinces with similar economic
structures implemented this type of
block-charge policy with adjustments
concerning their regional natural resource
capacity and developing mode.
The pollutant standard-exceeding
charge is calculated for the following
situations: the pollutant category is
restricted by national regulations and
regional laws, the total amount of water
pollutant exceeds the upper limits, and
the production equipment or the prod-
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