Jiangsu Province Introduces Measures for Public Participation in Environmental Protection

How should the public participate in environmental protection? The "Jiangsu Province Environmental Protection Public Participation Measures (Trial)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures") recently issued by the Jiangsu Provincial Environmental Protection Department provides detailed explanations. This means that the environmental protection department attaches more importance to public participation, and the operability of public participation in environmental protection is stronger.

Realize public participation in the entire process of environmental protection

After the revision and publication of the Environmental Protection Law, the establishment of a special chapter for information disclosure and public participation has become one of the biggest highlights. For the first time, the three environmental rights of obtaining environmental information, participating in environmental protection, and supervising environmental protection have been legally confirmed, laying a clearer and more solid foundation for improving the system of information disclosure and public participation.

In the "Measures" issued by Jiangsu Province, the scope of public participation in environmental protection has been further clarified. Including the formulation of environmental policies and plans; Supervise the main pollutant emissions of key polluting units, as well as the construction and operation of pollution prevention and control facilities; Conduct public opinion and social supervision on environmental protection public affairs; Carry out environmental public interest civil litigation against behaviors that harm the public interest, such as polluting the environment and damaging the ecology; Other matters such as environmental protection publicity and education, social practice, volunteer service, public welfare activities, etc.

Refine the organizational form of public participation

Public participation in environmental impact assessment of construction projects is a concrete and important manifestation of the principle of public participation, and it is also a common practice internationally. However, in practice, public participation often involves going through the motions, being opaque, being manipulated, and even group incidents. In this situation, public participation requires clearer and more effective legal provisions.

According to the Environmental Protection Law, for construction projects that are required by law to prepare an environmental impact assessment report, the construction unit shall explain the situation to the potentially affected public and fully solicit opinions during the preparation process.

The 'measures' issued by Jiangsu have further refined this regulation. Article 8 of the "Measures" stipulates that "the competent department of environmental protection shall actively disclose the environmental impact assessment documents, proposed approval opinions and related information in accordance with laws and regulations, and listen to and adopt the reasonable opinions and suggestions of the public on environmental governance through holding symposiums, expert discussions, hearings and other methods, and provide feedback in an appropriate manner." It can be seen that the "Measures" have refined the organizational forms of public participation, absorbed the internationally recognized forms and procedures for soliciting opinions, facilitated the public to fully express their opinions and suggestions, and are conducive to the effectiveness of public participation; At the same time, requirements were made for the degree of public participation.

Widely open up channels for public participation

Previously, when some major projects were launched and information was publicly disclosed and public opinions were solicited, there was often a situation where the public could see the information intuitively, but could not fully and accurately understand the intention of the information conveyed, or could not predict the potential impact of the project on people's actual lives after implementation.

In this regard, Article 13 and Article 14 of the "Measures" specifically stipulate that "during the drafting and formulation stage of regulations and government rules, the environmental protection authority shall publicly solicit public opinions on its official website and provide explanations in the draft drafting instructions." "If opinions are publicly solicited in accordance with the provisions of these Measures, the public may provide opinions and suggestions based on the time limit, procedures, methods, and other requirements for publication. The environmental protection authority shall adopt reasonable opinions raised by the public, and provide explanations for those that are not adopted

The above provisions require that the environmental protection authority shall explain the basic situation of relevant matters when soliciting opinions publicly, so that the public can understand the purpose and significance of soliciting opinions, and facilitate the expression of public opinion. At the same time, for opinions raised by the public that are not adopted, timely explanations should be made to respond to public concerns.