Broaden environmental pollution problem discovery channels and optimize ecological environment law enforcement methods

Report sharp sword to cut off environmental pollution "black hands"



  ● The reward system for reporting violations of ecological environment is an important measure to optimize the law enforcement methods of ecological environmental protection and improve the efficiency of law enforcement.

Through the reporting and reward system, a number of major and important cases have been investigated and dealt with effectively to deter all kinds of environmental violations.

  ● At present, the reporting and reward system is still in the exploratory stage, and a complete legal and regulatory system has not yet been formed. It is urgent to further improve the relevant system

  ● The procedures of the reporting reward system should be strictly regulated, and the procedures should be fair, and the reporting rights of the whistleblower should be protected seriously; the openness and transparency of the reporting process should be guaranteed in accordance with the law, and the whistleblower should be given a definite reply

  □ Our newspaper trainee reporter Sun Tianjiao

  □ Our reporter Chen Lei

  Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment notified the progress and typical cases of reporting and rewarding violations of the ecological environment.

  It is understood that 30 provincial and 313 prefecture-level ecological and environmental departments have formulated and issued regulations on reporting rewards.

In 2020, a total of 13,870 awards were implemented nationwide, an increase of 44% year-on-year; the total amount of awards was 7.19 million yuan, an increase of 100% year-on-year.

From the geographical distribution of cases, Henan, Anhui, Sichuan, Shandong, and Guangdong are the top ones.

In terms of the total amount of awards, Guangdong, Hebei, Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu are the top ones.

  Experts interviewed by reporters from the "Rules of Law Daily" believe that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment's notification of the progress of the work of reporting and rewarding ecological and environmental violations and typical cases is of positive significance. This work makes ecological and environmental violations invisible.

At present, the establishment of norms in the field of reporting and reward systems is still in the exploratory stage, and a complete legal and normative system has not yet been formed. It is urgent to further improve the relevant systems.

  Establish a reward system for reporting

  Promote scientific and democratic decision-making

  The Dongguan Municipal Bureau of Eco-Environment of Guangdong Province rewards the masses for reporting cases of toxic substances discharged by a company, which is one of the 10 typical cases reported by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

  On November 14, 2019, the Dongguan Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment issued an announcement stating that once the citizens' reporting clues were verified for the illegal discharge of phosphorus-containing industrial wastewater in the Shima River Basin, the maximum reward was 500,000 yuan.

Soon after, the Dongguan Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment received a report from the public that a company had hidden an illegal electroplating workshop. It also provided important clues such as the company's night lock operation and a special back door for employees to avoid inspection.

  On the evening of November 22, the Dongguan Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, together with the Fenggang Branch of the Dongguan Public Security Bureau and the Dongguan Environmental Monitoring Center, went to the company for inspection, found the entrance to the illegal electroplating workshop and controlled 6 employees in the workshop on the spot.

  On-site inspection by the staff found that the workshop has 12 electroplating tanks, 5 stainless steel heating tanks, and a number of various utensils and raw materials for electroplating processing.

Sampling and testing results of on-site stagnant water showed that the concentrations of total chromium, total copper, total nickel, total zinc, and total lead exceeded the emission standard by more than 3 times, and the highest exceeded the standard by 16,000 times.

  According to relevant regulations, the Dongguan Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau will award 500,000 yuan to the people who have reported meritorious service.

  Typical cases notified by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment also include: Tianjin Ecological Environment Bureau rewards people for reporting illegal disposal of waste lead-acid batteries, Jiangsu Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment rewards people for reporting cases of toxic substances discharged from a factory, Zhejiang Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment Reward the masses for reporting cases of illegal dumping of industrial solid waste across cities, and the Henan Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment rewards the masses for reporting cases of industrial waste water.

  In April 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Implementation of the Reporting and Reward System for Eco-environmental Violations" to guide localities in establishing and implementing the reporting and rewarding system for ecological and environmental violations. Before the end of the year, establish and implement a reward system for reporting.

  Liu Hongyan, a researcher at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and director of the Ecological Law Research Office, said in an interview with a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily that the reward system for reporting violations of ecological environmental law is not only a legal benefit to citizens, legal persons, and other organizations stipulated by my country’s basic environmental protection laws. Obtaining environmental information, participating in and supervising the implementation of the right to environmental protection, is also a further refinement of the rights of citizens, legal persons and other organizations to report environmental pollution and ecological damage as stipulated in Article 57 of the Environmental Protection Law.

Through the implementation of the reporting and reward system, there is nowhere to hide violations of the ecological environment.

  Mei Hong, a professor at the Law School of Ocean University of China, told the reporter of Rule of Law Daily that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment notified the progress and typical cases of reporting and rewarding violations of the ecological environment, which can effectively mobilize a wide range of public participation in environmental governance, and has played a role to a certain extent. The role of "national master" promotes the organic combination of government supervision and social supervision.

This model of the government and the public working together to deal with environmental issues reflects public opinion to a certain extent and can promote scientific and democratic decision-making.

  "The economic incentive mechanism for reporting violations of the ecological environment and giving heavy rewards requires long-term persistence and improvement." Mei Hong believes that rewarding and reporting violations of the ecological environment can motivate companies and individuals that have suffered from environmental pollution and ecological damage for a long time. To safeguard their own rights and interests, report and expose the companies involved.

At the same time, public reporting will also act as a deterrent to enterprises.

  The reward system is still a start-up

  Has not yet formed a complete system

  Judging from the reported cases, the standards for awarding vary from place to place.

  For example, in the case where the Tianjin Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau rewards the masses for reporting cases of illegal disposal of waste lead-acid batteries, according to the "Tianjin Interim Measures for the Reporting of Rewarded Environmental Violations" and the "Tianjin Special Action Plan for Comprehensive Investigation and Remediation of Hazardous Wastes" According to relevant regulations, Tianjin Ecological Environment Bureau will reward the informant with 200,000 yuan.

  In the case where the Rencheng District Branch of the Jining Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau of Shandong Province rewarded WeChat for reporting cases of companies improperly operating pollution prevention facilities, according to the relevant provisions of the "Rencheng District Environmental Protection Award-winning WeChat Reporting Interim Provisions", Jining Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau Rencheng District On the day of on-site verification, the sub-bureau gave the informant a reward of 100 yuan in the form of a WeChat red envelope.

  Public information shows that after the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Implementation of the Reporting and Reward System for Eco-environmental Violations", various localities have successively issued relevant documents to establish and implement a system of reporting and rewarding ecological and environmental violations. Different places have different standards for reporting and rewards. different.

  In May 2020, the Gansu Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment and the Gansu Provincial Department of Finance jointly issued the "Gansu Province Eco-Environmental Violation Reporting Reward Measures (Trial)", which stipulates that the reward standard for ecological environmental violations reporting ranges from 500 yuan to 10,000 yuan.

  In December 2020, the Hainan Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment and the Provincial Department of Finance jointly issued the "Hainan Province Eco-environmental Violations Reporting and Reward Measures", which clarified the reward standards for 10 types of environmental violations based on laws, regulations and the degree of harm of the violations, and rewarded 500 It ranges from RMB to 50,000.

  Liu Hongyan believes that the guiding significance of reporting rewards is far greater than the amount of rewards. In the future, it is necessary to set a unified reward standard for the ecological environment violation reporting system.

  At present, the Environmental Protection Law has made more detailed regulations on the reporting rights enjoyed by citizens and the rewards for reporting.

Article 11 of the Environmental Protection Law stipulates that the people's government shall reward units and individuals that have made outstanding achievements in protecting and improving the environment.

Article 57 of the Environmental Protection Law stipulates that citizens, legal persons, and other organizations that discover any unit or individual that has polluted the environment or destroyed the ecology have the right to report to the competent environmental protection department or other departments responsible for environmental protection supervision and management.

Citizens, legal persons, and other organizations that discover that local people's governments at all levels, the environmental protection departments of people's governments at or above the county level, and other departments with environmental protection supervision and management duties fail to perform their duties in accordance with the law, have the right to report to their superior or supervisory authority.

The agency that accepts the report shall keep the relevant information of the reporter confidential and protect the legal rights and interests of the reporter.

  Mei Hong believes that the above-mentioned regulations give citizens the right to supervise state agencies and their staff that are responsible for environmental protection supervision, as well as the right to supervise environmental pollution and ecological damage.

  The relevant departmental regulations also provide for the specific content of the reporting reward system.

The Measures for Public Participation in Environmental Protection issued in 2015 stipulate that citizens, legal persons and other organizations are supported and encouraged to conduct public opinion supervision and social supervision over public affairs of environmental protection, and encourage units and individuals that have made outstanding achievements in protecting and improving the environment to be rewarded , To promote the establishment of a special fund for environmental protection rewarded reporting.

  Lin Xiaoxiao, an assistant researcher at the Ecological Law Research Office of the Law Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily that the current norms in the field of reporting and rewarding environmental violations are still in the exploratory stage, and a complete legal system has not yet been formed. .

  Urgent need to improve the system design

  Vigorously improve the effectiveness of law enforcement

  The Ministry of Ecology and Environment stated in the notice that the reporting and reward system has started to encourage the people to participate in the cause of ecological environmental protection, broaden the channels for discovering environmental pollution problems, optimize the law enforcement methods of the ecological environment, improve the conscious awareness of enterprises to abide by the law, and promote the realization of the "three pollution control". To an important role.

Through the reporting and reward system, various localities have investigated and handled a number of major and important cases, which effectively deterred various environmental violations.

  The Ministry of Ecology and Environment believes that the reporting and reward system is an important measure to optimize the law enforcement methods of ecological environmental protection and improve the efficiency of law enforcement.

All localities should promote the implementation in depth, make good use of the reporting and reward system, further improve the pertinence and operability of this system, and use it as a bridge between the ecological environment department and the people to further improve the people’s ecological environment satisfaction And happiness.

  In Lin Xiaoxiao’s view, the reporting and reward system is one of the powerful guarantees for improving the effectiveness of comprehensive environmental governance, and it is also a manifestation of the powers of environmental law enforcement agencies. In order to improve the effectiveness of environmental regulations and prevent the abuse of power by administrative agencies, it is necessary to pass formal legal regulations. Created to establish and standardize this system.

  Lin Xiaoxiao believes that the core content and basic framework of the whistleblowing system should be determined in the high-level laws and regulations, such as the authority arrangements of relevant departments; the basic principles for determining the scope of application, the procedures of the whistleblowing system, the protection of the rights of the parties, and the authorization to further improve the specifications Wait.

Regarding the detailed content of the system, such as the specific scope of application, award amount and standard, etc., the local government can be authorized to determine by itself according to its own actual conditions, such as the type of illegal acts, fiscal revenue, environmental protection funds and other factors.

  Mei Hong believes that the procedures of the reporting reward system should be strictly regulated, and the procedures should be fair. It is recommended that the ecological environment department seriously protect the reporting rights of reporters on the premise of strictly complying with the relevant substantive laws and regulations; ensure the openness and publicity of the reporting process in accordance with the law. Transparency, a definite answer to the whistleblower.

  Lin Xiaoxiao suggested strengthening the protection of whistleblowers.

If the whistleblower and its information are not properly protected, the whistleblower may face the risk of retaliation.

In this case, even if high rewards are set, the enthusiasm for reporting cannot be effectively stimulated. The reporting conditions should be standardized, scientific and complete reporting and reward procedures should be designed, reasonable legal responsibilities should be set, and the information protection of reporters should be strictly configured. Mechanisms and other measures, while ensuring the convenience of whistleblowers, strengthen the protection of whistleblowers.

  Lin Xiaoxiao reminded that to prevent abuse of reporting rights, effective system design should be adopted to improve such aspects as reporting conditions, reported information content, reporting procedures, legal responsibilities, etc., to identify the credibility of the reported information, and to report abuses. The right behavior is suppressed.

  In Mei Hong's view, the reporting and reward system is inseparable from government supervision, and there may be two specific targets for supervision: one is the supervision of the behavior of "reporting and rewarding" itself; the other is the "post-supervision of the reported enterprise."

The former can be supervised in terms of entities and procedures, while the latter can require the reported enterprise to report regularly.

  At the same time, refine the internal agreements and procedures between departments.

For reports of illegal and criminal activities involving environmental pollution, the public security organs and the ecological environment administrative department jointly build an internal communication mechanism, and cooperate in joint law enforcement and monitoring.

With the help of public security law enforcement, the ecological and environmental administrative departments shall make up for the shortcomings and deficiencies in the sampling and fixing of evidence.

  Cartography/Gao Yue