Weapon of the law effective in battle against pollution

That the country's top legislature convened a special meeting on Monday and Tuesday to discuss a report on the results of its inspections to determine how effectively the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law is being implemented, and a draft decision on further ways to strengthen protection of the environment in accordance with the law, speaks volumes about the importance the country's top authorities attach to the issue.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress sent four teams to eight provincial-level regions - the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Hebei, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces - from May to June to check how effectively the law to curb air pollution is being implemented.

The teams spoke with local governments and relevant departments, and conducted on-the-spot inspections of 107 enterprises. Local people's congresses were entrusted with similar inspections in 23 provincial-level regions.