Outdated rules revised, repealed for new eco code

China's environment regulator is accelerating efforts to repeal or amend outdated regulations and introduce new technical standards to align the country's legal framework with the Ecological and Environmental Code, which will take effect on Aug 15.

It is China's second law designated as a "code" after the Civil Code, which took effect in 2021.

Addressing a news conference on Tuesday, Zhao Ke, director of the Department of Laws, Regulations and Standards at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said the ministry has been working intensively to prepare for the implementation of the code.

The ministry is reviewing more than 500 legal instruments closely related to the code. Any provisions that are inconsistent with, incompatible with or not aligned with the code will be revised or removed to ensure a smooth transition, Zhao said.

Regulations whose main provisions contradict the code will be repealed, while those containing only partial inconsistencies will be amended through a package of revisions.

The ministry has also notified ecological and environmental authorities at all levels that, from Aug 15, any rules that conflict with the code must no longer be enforced.

To support implementation of the code, the ministry has drawn up a five-year plan for environmental standards and benchmarks. So far this year, it has issued 64 environmental standards, including a revised ambient air quality standard, discharge standards for the Danjiangkou Reservoir and Chishui River Basin, and a series of emission standards for key industries.

"The code also cements a legal framework for compensation for ecological and environmental damage. We are improving technical standards for damage assessment. To tackle the pain points of difficult and expensive appraisals, the ministry has developed an intelligent assessment system," Zhao said.

The system has been piloted free of charge in more than 300 cases across 28 provinces, cutting assessment time by more than 80 percent on average, he said.

Zhao said the code consolidates China's decades of experience in pollution control and ecological conservation while establishing principled and forward-looking provisions in areas such as the management of new pollutants. It also provides a reference for other countries seeking to strengthen environmental governance, he added.

The ministry also released the latest environmental data at the news conference, showing continued improvements in air and water quality during the first half of this year.

Between January and June, the average concentration of PM2.5 — particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less — in 339 prefecture-level and above cities fell to 29.9 micrograms per cubic meter, down 6.6 percent year-on-year. The proportion of days with good or excellent air quality reached 82.8 percent, up 4.5 percentage points from the same period last year.

Surface water quality also improved. The ministry said 87.4 percent of monitored sections were rated Grade I to III, an increase of 3 percentage points year-on-year. China classifies surface water quality into five grades, with Grade I representing the highest quality.

Wildlife populations also continued to recover. From 2021 to 2025, populations of targeted protected species increased in 87.1 percent of the country's national nature reserves, the ministry said.

In the Qomolangma national nature reserve in the Xizang autonomous region, the recorded number of snow leopards rose from 87 to 106. In the Yanchiwan national nature reserve in Gansu province, the number of black-necked cranes increased from 86 to 238, according to the ministry.

lihongyang@chinadaily.com.cn