Comparative practice - Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment - page 315

indications are that EIS quality is quite high, but the discussions of mitigation measures
are weak (Iglesias 1996).
10.5 China
Since 1978, China has been undergoing a rapid shift towards economic growth,
decentralization of power, industrialization, private enterprise and urbanization. This has
engendered many development projects with significant environmental impacts. China's
EIA system has struggled to keep up, and to date has not managed to prevent some
serious environmental harm (Mao & Hills 2002).
Environmental impact assessment in China was officially introduced through the
Provisional Environmental Protection Law of 1979, which was revised and finalized in
1989. Shortly after the law's introduction, several guidelines for its implementation were
prepared, of which the central ones were the “Management Rules on Environmental
Protection of Capital Construction Projects” of 1981. These were revised and formalized
in 1986, with details on timing, funding, preparation, review and approval of EISs.
Further, stronger ordinances were enacted in 1990 and December 1998. The 1998
“Ordinance of Environmental Management for the Construction Project” requires EIA for
regional development programmes as well as individual projects, added requirements for
public participation, and strengthened legal liabilities and punishment for violation of
EIA requirements. A further law requiring SEA for plans and programmes was enacted in
October 2002, and came into force in September 2003.
The State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) administers EIA for projects of
national economic or strategic significance; the provincial environmental protection
bureaus (EPB) administer EIA for projects of regional importance; and so on down to the
village level.
Figure 10.3 summarizes China's EIA procedures. The process begins when a
developer asks a competent authority to determine whether or not a proposed action
requires full EIA. Most projects require only the preparation of an environmental impact
form, which describes the project and briefly states its environmental impacts. Large
projects with significant impacts and smaller projects in inappropriate locations require
full EIAs. The competent authority personnel, sometimes assisted by outside experts,
conduct a preliminary study and then make a ruling. If an EIA is needed, the competent
authority identifies those factors most likely to affect the environment and prepares a
brief. The EIA's management is then entrusted to licensed, stateapproved experts, who
work to the brief.
The expert analyses the relevant impacts in greater detail and compares them with
relevant environmental quality standards. Baseline environmental assessments are