Guidelines expand inspectors' power to make polluters stop

Environmental protection authorities now have greater powers to stop polluters through measures such as sealing production equipment or transferring the offenders to judicial organs, the top environmental watchdog said on Thursday.

Accompanying the implementation of the revised Environmental Protection Law, the Ministry of Environmental Protection released guidelines with requirements on the levying of daily fines, sealing of equipment, suspension of production and public release of polluters' information, all of which came into effect on Jan 1.

"The four supplementary guidelines will shorten the process after discovery of pollution, leaving fewer days for companies to continue to emit pollutants, as they have previously," said Cao Liping, deputy director of the ministry's Bureau of Environmental Supervision.