China - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 254

to fully, courts are not staffed adequately, lawyers are few and ineffective,
and corruption continues. When the National People's Congress passes
legislation, it does not have the same status as a law passed by a Western
parliament. An administrative agency prepares a draft bill and the People's
Congress discusses it in committees and a plenary session, then votes to
pass it. The result, however, is not a law but a detailed set of suggestions
that the agency uses in promulgating its own regulations.
The Chinese constitution has been more changeable than that of a
Western country. The country has had five different ones from 1949 to
1982, and amendments are easy to enact. The first one was modeled on
the Soviet Constitution of 1936. The present constitution, that of 1982,
is less ideological than earlier ones. For example, the 1975 constitution
proclaimed that “State officials must diligently study Marxism, Leninism,
and Mao Zedong thought.” While the 1982 version still reveres ideology,
it relaxes aspects of state ownership. It has been amended four times to
reflect economic changes.
Environmental protection is officially part of the Constitution. Chapter
1, Article 26, provides that “The state protects and improves the living
environment and the ecological environment, and prevents and con-
trols pollution and other public hazards.” In 1979 the People's National
Congress, enacted the Law on Environmental Protection, which provided
a framework. Like other countries around the world, China passed a series
of environmental laws, although its Environmental Decade was the 1980s
instead of the 1970s. Laws against air and water pollution were enacted in
1984 and 1987. It passed laws protecting forests, grasslands, wild animals,
and soil. The Environmental Impact Assessment Law was passed in 2003.
The 1979 Environmental Law authorized an administrative organiza-
tion to draft and implement rules and to plan for the future. This was
the National Environmental Protection Agency, which was responsible
for formulating nationwide guidelines and standards, preparing plans,
coordinating with environmental offices in other ministries, and investi-
gating severe pollution incidents. In 1998 it was upgraded to the level of
a full ministry: SEPA. The People's Congress has an Environment and
Resources Protection Committee to support the legislative aspects. In the
executive branch, the State Environmental Protection Administration is
supposed to coordinate government wide steps to protect the environ-
ment. Subjects include general principles, connections to economic devel-
opment, and prompting local governments and enterprises to conform to
the standards, education and research.