Article 71 The State increases the capital input for prevention and control of soil contamination, and establishes a fund system for this purpose. It includes a special fund at the central level and provincial-level funds, all dedicated to prevention and control of soil contamination on agricultural land, risk control and remediation of soil contamination when the person liable for soil contamination or the land use right holder cannot be identified, and other matters prescribed by the government.
Where the contamination occurred before this Law comes into force and the person liable for soil contamination cannot be identified, the land use right holder that actually undertakes the soil contamination risk control and remediation may apply for the fund for risk control and remediation of the contaminated soil.
The specific measures for managing the funds shall be formulated by the department of finance under the State Council, together with the competent departments of ecology and environment, agriculture and rural affairs, natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, forestry and grassland and other departments under the State Council.
Article 72 The State encourages financial institutions to increase credit loans for projects concerning risk control and remediation of soil contamination.
The State encourages the financial institutions to investigate soil contamination status when they handle the mortgage of land rights.
Article 73 Any unit engaging in risk control and remediation of soil contamination is entitled to tax preferences according to the provisions of laws and administrative regulations.
Article 74 The State encourages and calls on all sectors of society to donate properties for prevention and control of soil contamination. The donors will be granted with tax preferences in accordance with the provisions of laws and administrative regulations.
Article 75 The people's governments at or above the county level shall include soil contamination prevention and control into their annual reports on environmental status and fulfillment of environmental protection targets, and report to the people's congress or the standing committee of the people's congress at the same level.
Article 76 With respect to the regions where the soil contamination problems are acute, the work on prevention and control is ineffective, or people complain the most, the competent departments of ecology and environment under the people's governments at or above provincial level shall, together with relevant departments, interview the persons in charge of the local people's governments at or above the level of city divided into districts and their relevant departments, and require them to take prompt measures to rectify. Information about the interview and rectification shall be made known to the public.
Article 77 The competent departments of ecology and environment and their environmental law enforcement agencies, as well as other departments responsible for supervision and administration of soil contamination prevention and control have the right to conduct on-site inspection and sampling on the premises of enterprises, public institutions and any other producers and business operators that may cause soil contamination, and require the inspected to provide relevant materials and explain the issues concerned.
The inspected shall cooperate and truthfully report the relevant information and provide necessary materials.
The departments, agencies and their functionaries that conduct on-site inspection shall keep confidential the trade secrets of the inspected.
Article 78 Where the enterprises, public institutions, other producers or business operators, in violation of the provisions of laws and regulations, release toxic and hazardous substances that cause or may cause serious soil contamination, or the relevant evidence may have been destroyed or concealed, the competent department of ecology and environment and other departments responsible for supervision and administration of soil contamination prevention and control may seal up or seize the relevant facilities, equipment and other articles.
Article 79 The departments for supervision and administration of production safety under the local people's governments shall supervise the fulfillment of statutory obligations by tailings ponds operators and managers to prevent and control soil contamination, so as to prevent accidents that may contaminate the soil. The competent departments of ecology and environment under the local people's governments shall strengthen supervision, inspection and regular assessment of soil contamination prevention and control of the tailings ponds, and promptly urge the relevant operation and administration units to take proper measures if a potential hazard is identified.
The local people's governments and their relevant departments shall strengthen supervision and inspection of illegal acts such as releasing toxic and hazardous substances to deserts, tidal flats, saline land, wetlands and other unutilized land according to law.
Article 80 The competent departments of ecology and environment under the people's governments at or above provincial level and other departments responsible for supervision and administration of soil contamination prevention and control at the same level shall incorporate into the credit system the practices of any unit or individual that engages in soil contamination investigation and risk assessment, risk control, remediation, effect assessment of risk control, effect assessment of remediation, ex-post management and other relevant activities, establish credit records for the said practices, record illegal practices in their credit file and add the information to the national credit information sharing platform and the national enterprise credit information publicity system for public access.
Article 81 The competent departments of ecology and environment and other departments responsible for supervision and administration of soil contamination prevention and control shall release, according to law, the information about soil contamination and its prevention and control to the public.
The competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council shall disclose information about the national soil environment in a unified manner. The competent departments of ecology and environment under the people's governments at provincial level shall disclose information about soil environment within their respective administrative areas in a unified manner. The competent departments of ecology and environment shall promptly notify the departments of agriculture and rural affairs, health and food safety at the same level of any important information about soil environment involving the areas producing major edible agricultural products.
Citizens, legal persons and other organizations have the right to obtain information about soil contamination and its prevention and control, and participate in and supervise the prevention and control of soil contamination according to law.
Article 82 The general survey reports, monitoring data, and investigation reports on soil contamination, risk assessment reports, effect assessment reports on risk control, effect assessment reports on remediation, and other relevant reports shall be timely uploaded to the national information platform on soil environment.
Article 83 The news media have the right to supervise the violations against the laws and regulations on the prevention and control of soil contamination. The exposed organizations and individuals shall not retaliate.
Article 84 Any organization or individual has the right to report or inform on the acts that cause soil contamination to the competent departments of ecology and environment and other the competent departments of ecology and environmenties responsible for supervision and administration of soil contamination prevention and control.
The competent departments of ecology and environment and other departments responsible for supervision and administration of soil contamination prevention and control shall make the public known of the available channels for reporting or informing on the said acts.
The department that receives the reports about the said acts shall handle them timely and keep the informant's personal information confidential. If a real-name report is verified to be true, the informant shall be rewarded.
Where an informant informs on the unit by which he is employed, the unit shall not retaliate against him by terminating or altering his labor contract or by any other ways.
Chapter VI Legal Liabilities
Article 85 Where the local people's governments at all levels, or their departments of ecology and environment or other departments responsible for supervision and administration of soil contamination prevention and control fail to perform their obligations specified in this Law, the persons directly in charge and the other directly responsible persons shall be subject to administrative punishments according to law.
Where an decision on administrative punishment, which should be made according to this Law, fails to be made, the competent department at a higher level may directly make such decision.
Article 86 When this Law is violated in any of the following circumstances, the competent departments of ecology and environment under local people's governments or other departments responsible for supervision and administration of soil contamination prevention and control shall order the violator to rectify and pay a fine. If it fails to rectify, it shall be ordered to suspend production for rectification.
(1) an organization under priority supervision for soil contamination fails to formulate or implement self-monitoring plans, or fails to report the monitoring data to the competent department of ecology and environment;
(2) an organization under priority supervision for soil contamination tampers with or fabricates the monitoring data;
(3) an organization under priority supervision for soil contamination fails to annually report its release of toxic and hazardous substances, or fails to establish an identification system for soil contamination hazards;
(4) when dismantling facilities, equipment, buildings or structures, an enterprise or public institution fails to adopt proper measures for soil contamination prevention and control, or an organization under priority supervision for soil contamination fails to formulate or implement their work plan for soil contamination prevention and control;
(5) a unit that operates or manages tailings ponds fails to take proper measures to prevent soil contamination according to relevant regulations;
(6) a unit that operates or manages tailings ponds fails to monitor soil contamination according to relevant regulations; or
(7) a unit that constructs and operates centralized sewage treatment facilities or solid waste disposal facilities fails to take proper measures to prevent soil contamination according to laws, regulations and relevant standards.
Any of the circumstances in the preceding paragraph is punishable by a fine of not less than RMB 20,000 yuan but not more than RMB 200,000 yuan; any of the circumstances in Subparagraphs (2), (4), (5) or (7) of the preceding paragraph that causes serious consequences shall be punished with a fine of not less than RMB 200,000 yuan but not more than RMB 2,000,000 yuan.
Article 87 Where an organization or individual, in violation of this Law, releases sewage and sludge containing heavy metals or other toxic and hazardous substances in excess of limits, or dredged sediments, tailings or slag that may cause soil contamination to the agricultural land, the competent department of ecology and environment under the local people's government shall order it to rectify and pay a fine of not less than RMB100,000 yuan but not more than RMB 500,000 yuan; in serious cases, the fine shall be not less than RMB500,000 yuan but not more than RMB 2,000,000 yuan, and the case could be handed over to public security authorities, where the persons directly in charge and other directly responsible persons could be held in custody for more than 5 days but less than 15 days. Illegal gains, if any, shall be confiscated.
Article 88 Where a producer, seller or user of agricultural inputs, in violation of this Law, fails to promptly collect the packaging waste of fertilizers and other agricultural inputs or agricultural films according to relevant regulations, or fails to promptly deliver the packaging waste of fertilizers to specialized institutions or organizations for environmentally sound treatment, the department of agriculture and rural affairs of the local people's government shall order it to rectify and pay a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 100,000 yuan; where the user of agricultural inputs is an individual, the fine shall be not less than RMB 200 yuan but not more than RMB 2,000 yuan.
Article 89 Where an organization or individual, in violation of this Law, uses industrial solid waste, domestic waste or contaminated soil containing heavy metals or other toxic and hazardous substances in excess of limits in land reclamation, the competent department of ecology and environment under the local people's government shall order it to rectify and pay a fine of not less than RMB 100,000 yuan but not more than RMB 1,000,000 yuan. Illegal gains, if any, shall be confiscated.
Article 90 Where a unit entrusted to conduct soil contamination investigation, risk assessment, effect assessment of risk control, and effect assessment of remediation, in violation of this Law, produces a false investigation report, risk assessment report, effect assessment report on risk control, or effect assessment report on remediation, the competent department of ecology and environment under the local people's government shall punish it with a fine of not less than RMB100,000 but not more than RMB 500,000 yuan; in serious cases, it shall be prohibited from engaging in the said businesses, and punished by a fine of not less than RMB 500,000 yuan but not more than RMB 1,000,000 yuan. Illegal gains, if any, shall be confiscated.
Where the said unit in the preceding paragraph produces a false report, the competent department of ecology and environment under the local people's government shall impose a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan on the person directly in charge and other directly responsible persons; in serious cases, they shall be prohibited from engaging in the said businesses for ten years; if the case is serious enough to constitute a crime, they shall be prohibited from engaging in the said businesses permanently.
Where an unit said in the first paragraph of this Article colludes with the entrusting party to produce false reports, causing physical injury or property damage to others, it shall bear joint and several liability with the entrusting party.
Article 91 When this Law is violated in any of the following circumstances, the competent department of ecology and environment under the local people's government shall order the violator to rectify and pay a fine of not less than RMB 100,000 yuan but not more than RMB 500,000 yuan; in serious cases, the fine shall be not less than RMB 500,000 yuan but not more than RMB 1,000,000 yuan. Illegal gains, if any, shall be confiscated; the person directly in charge and other persons directly responsible shall be punished by a fine of not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 20,000 yuan.
(1) the topsoil stripped during construction is not collected or stored separately;
(2) the activities for risk control and remediation causes new contamination to the soil and the surrounding environment;
(3) in case of transferring the contaminated soil, the transport time, means, route, quantity, destination, and final disposal measures are not reported in advance to the competent departments of ecology and environment of the origin and destination localities; or
(4) projects irrelevant to risk control and remediation are started on the construction land plots that fail to meet the risk control and remediation targets identified in the soil contamination risk assessment report.
Article 92 Where the person liable for soil contamination or the land use right holder, in violation of this Law, fails to implement the ex-post management according to relevant regulations, the competent department of ecology and environment or other departments responsible for supervision and administration of soil contamination prevention and control under the local people's government shall order it to rectify and pay a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan; in serious cases, the fine shall be not less than RMB 50,000 yuan but not more than RMB 500,000 yuan.
Article 93 Where the inspected unit, in violation of this Law, refuses to cooperate or employs trickery during the inspection, the competent department of ecology and environment or other departments responsible for supervision and management of soil contamination prevention and control under the local people's government shall order it to rectify and pay a fine of not less than RMB 20,000 yuan but not more than RMB 200,000 yuan; the person directly in charge and other persons directly responsible shall be punished by a fine of not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 20,000 yuan.
Article 94 Where the person liable for soil contamination or the land use right holder, in violation of this Law, commits any of the following acts, the competent department of ecology and environment or other departments responsible for supervision and administration of soil contamination prevention and control under the local people's government shall order it to rectify and pay a fine of not less than RMB 20,000 yuan but not more than RMB 200,000 yuan; if it fails to rectify, a fine of not less than RMB 200,000 yuan but not more than RMB 1,000,000 yuan shall be imposed, and a third party shall be entrusted to perform the rectification with costs and expenses borne by the person liable for soil contamination or the land use right holder; the person directly in charge and other persons directly responsible shall be punished by a fine of not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 20,000 yuan.
(1) failing to investigate the soil contamination status according to the regulations;
(2) failing to carry out soil contamination risk assessment according to the regulations;
(3) failing to take measures for risk control according to the regulations;
(4) failing to carry out remediation according to the regulations; or
(5) failing to entrust another unit to assess the effects upon completion of the activities for risk control and remediation.
Where the person liable for soil contamination or the land use right holder commits any of the acts in Subparagraphs (3) or (4) of the preceding paragraph and the circumstances are serious, the competent department of ecology and environment or other departments responsible for supervision and administration of soil contamination prevention and control under the local people's governments may transfer the case to the public security authority, where the person directly in charge and other persons directly responsible shall be held in custody for not less than 5 days but not more than 15 days.
Article 95 When this Law is violated in any of the following circumstances, the relevant departments under the local people's government shall order the violator to rectify; if it fails to rectify, a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan shall be imposed.
(1) an organization under priority supervision for soil contamination fails to submit its work plan for soil contamination prevention and control to the competent departments of ecology and environment and industry and information technology under the local people's government for the record according to the regulations;
(2) the person liable for soil contamination or the land use right holder fails to submit the soil remediation plan or effect assessment report to the competent departments of ecology and environment, agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and grassland under the local people's government for the record according to the regulations; or
(3) the land use right holder fails to submit the investigation report on soil contamination status to the competent department of ecology and environment under the local people's government for the record according to the regulations.
Article 96 Those who contaminate soil and cause physical injury or property damage to others shall be subject to the tort liability according to law.
Where the person liable for soil contamination cannot be identified, and the land use right holder fails to perform his obligation of risk control and prevention of soil contamination according to the provisions of this Law and causes physical injury or property damage to others, the land use right holder shall assume the tort liability according to law.
The parties to civil disputes arising from soil contamination may either apply for mediation to the competent department of ecology and environment and other competent departments under the local people's government or file a lawsuit with a people's court.
Article 97 Where national or public interests are damaged by soil contamination, the relevant authorities and organizations may file a lawsuit with a people's court according to the provisions of the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, the Administrative Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and other laws.
Article 98 Any violation to this Law that constitutes a violation of public security administration shall be given a public security administration penalty by the public security authority; if it is serious enough to constitute a crime, the violator shall be investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the law.
Chapter VII Supplementary Provision
Article 99 This Law shall go into effect on January 1, 2019.
