China Policy Journal Volume 1, Number 1, Fall 2018 | Page 8

Water-Pollutant Discharge-Fee System in China
important step. It was the first independent
law defining water pollution from
different perspectives and strengthening
its strategic meaning and impact.
Subsequently, the rules for water-fee
collection were adjusted in the environment
protection law in 1989 from
simply charging for the total amount
to a standard-exceeding charge based
on pollutant quantity and concentration.
Moreover, the standard was
broadened by expanding the pollutant
types. During the 1992 nationwide
shift in economic structure, an increasing
amount of enterprises contributed
substantially not only to gross domestic
product (GDP) growth, but also
to environmental pollution. In 1993,
the Inform of Fee Collection on Wastewater
Discharge was adopted and the
work on water-pollution reduction was
strengthened under the pressure of water-quality
deterioration. In 1996, the
Integrated Water Pollutant Discharge
Standard was approved to enhance and
normalize the fee-collection work.
In 2003, the pollutant discharge-fee
system was systematically
revised and the Pollutant Discharge
Fee Collection and Management Regulation
was promulgated together with
the pollutant discharge-fee-standard
calculation method as supporting documents.
It was regarded as a comprehensive
reform, clearly stating that the
water-pollutant fee should be calculated
and charged based on the equivalent
of pollutant concentration and quantity
in relation to the national pollutant
standard. Furthermore, the areas covered
by the system’s policy were enlarged
from inland water bodies to sea
and ocean areas through the approval
of the Ocean Environment Protection
Law in the same year. This revision
and extension were marked as a breakthrough
in the pollutant discharge-fee
system.
For the further promotion of
structural change on economic development,
the National Development
and Reform Commission (NDRC), the
Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry
of Environmental Protection (MEP)
jointly promulgated the Adjustment
of Pollutant Discharge Fee Collection
with Related Issues and the Pollutant
Discharge Fee Usage Management Approach
in 2014. The water-pollutant discharge-fee
standard was declared more
stringent than ever on national level.
These laws and regulations formed the
legal framework for the water-pollutant
discharge-fee system in China. With the
deepening reform of the market-oriented
economy, changes appeared within
the system to meet the actual needs. The
system’s evolution, as presented in Table
1, developed in accordance with social
and industrial progress, which can be
demonstrated by the change of the fee
amount, as discussed in Section 3.
1.2. Framework of Water-
Pollutant Discharge System
1.2.1. The Fee Standard
The fee-collection standard was enforced
in 1982, by which a water-pollutant
discharge-fee was collected based
on enterprises’ standard-exceeding
concentration of pollutants. The orig-
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