Interpretation of the Measures for the Record Management of Emergency Plans for Environmental Emergencies in Enterprises and Public Institutions (Trial Implementation)

       On January 9, 2015, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued the Measures for the Filing and Management of Emergency Plans for Environmental Emergencies in Enterprises and public Institutions (Trial Implementation) (Huanfei [2015] No. 4) (hereinafter referred to as the Measures for the Filing and Management), which will come into force as of the date of promulgation。The "Filing Management Measures" is a normative document regulating the filing management of local environmental protection authorities (hereinafter referred to as "environmental protection departments") for enterprises and public institutions (hereinafter referred to as "enterprises") emergency plans for environmental emergencies (hereinafter referred to as "environmental emergency plans")，The scope of application, basic principles and the preparation, implementation and supervision of the record management of enterprise environmental emergency plans are clearly stipulated。

　　First, why do we need to develop record management measures

　　(1) The need to implement the newly revised Environmental Protection Law

　　The third paragraph of Article 47 of the newly revised Environmental Protection Law stipulates that "enterprises and public institutions shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State, formulate emergency plans for environmental emergencies and report them to the competent environmental protection authorities and relevant departments for the record", defining the formulation and filing of environmental emergency plans as the legal obligations of enterprises。In order to implement the Environmental Protection Law, systematically refine and standardize the filing behavior of enterprises and the regulatory behavior of environmental protection departments, it is necessary to formulate a supporting "Filing Management Measures".。

　　(2) The need to implement the main responsibility of enterprises

　　The enterprise is the main body responsible for developing the environmental emergency plan, and the environmental emergency plan is a "living document", which needs to be revised and improved constantly by the enterprise through its own efforts to ensure that it is practical, effective and useful。However, in practice, some enterprises do not carry out the necessary risk assessment and emergency resources survey, just copy, or completely entrust the preparation work to technical service agencies, and then put it on the shelf, which is inconsistent with the implementation of the requirements of the main responsibility of the enterprise。There are also some local environmental protection departments in order to ensure the quality of enterprise environmental emergency plans, the record is set as "non-license approval", or give some of the color of administrative permission, in essence, is to share the main responsibility of the enterprise。Some environmental protection departments focus on the supervision of enterprise environmental emergency plans on "access", and the guidance and use of the plans that have been filed are not enough, and the management is not in place。These practices are not in line with the spirit of the state's reform of the administrative examination and approval system of "effectively preventing the increase of administrative license items while decreasing, the increase of open and dark, and strengthening and improving the supervision during and after the event", and need to be standardized through the "Measures for Record Management"。

　　(3) The practical needs of environmental emergency plan management

　　In 2010, after the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued the Interim Measures for the Management of Emergency Plans for Environmental Emergencies (No. 113, 2010) (hereinafter referred to as the Interim Measures for emergency Plans), various localities have carried out a lot of useful exploration and practice for the management of environmental emergency plans, and initially established a filing system。However, there are still some problems in the record management of the plan。First, the filing rate is not high, the progress is unbalanced, has prepared environmental emergency plans of enterprises, the overall filing rate is less than 80%, and some places are only 38%。Second, the on-site disposal plan is less, and the operability is not strong。The Interim Measures of the Plan divides the environmental emergency plan into three categories: comprehensive plan, special plan and on-site disposal plan。However, less than half of the enterprises have prepared on-site disposal plans, and more enterprises have only comprehensive plans, and the content is mostly principled provisions。Third, the territorial management is not enough, the information collection is not comprehensive。The "Interim Measures for the Plan" sets the state-controlled pollution sources as provincial environmental protection departments for the record, which is a "stopgap" in the beginning stage of environmental emergency plan management, and it is difficult to meet the requirements of "territory-based" and early disposal by the people's government at the county level。At the time of implementation, 74 percent of localities implemented hierarchical filing。Due to the lack of information transmission requirements, some lower-level environmental protection departments cannot obtain corporate environmental emergency plans and cannot fully grasp relevant information。Fourth, level by level filing has increased the burden on enterprises, 26% of localities implement level by level filing, requiring enterprises to file with multiple levels of environmental protection departments, which is not in line with the spirit of the central government to streamline administration and delegate power。Fifth, the requirements for hierarchical management differ greatly。In the classification management of the record, there are many situations in which pollutant emissions, EIA levels, risk levels, cross-regional, industry factors, and environmental sensitivity are classified, and some places are two-level management, and some places are three-level management。In order to solve these problems, it is necessary to formulate the "Record Management Measures"。

　　2. What are the main bases for formulating the filing management measures

　　The Filing Management Measures are mainly based on the Environmental Protection Law and the Emergency Response Law.，As well as the Marine Environmental Protection Law, Solid Waste Environmental Pollution Prevention and Control Law, Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law and other laws and regulations，The relevant provisions of the Oil and Gas Pipeline Protection Law are referred to，And The General Office of the State Council "Emergency emergency plan Management Measures" (2013) No. 101) on the emergency plan management of enterprises and institutions。

　　Third, what are the main contents of the filing management measures

　　The "Measures for the Administration of the Record" consists of five chapters 26, on the basis of absorbing the relevant contents of the "Interim Measures for the Plan" and summarizing the practical experience of work in recent years, the content of five aspects is stipulated。

　　Chapter I General provisions。The purpose, concept, scope, principles and other general contents of record management are stipulated。It is clear that the record management should follow the principles of standardized preparation, territorial-based, unified record filing, and hierarchical management, emphasizing that hierarchical management should be implemented according to the size of environmental risks, and enterprises should actively disclose relevant environmental emergency plan information。

　　Chapter II Preparation for filing。Based on the requirements of filing, provisions are made for the preparation of environmental emergency plans, such as the formulation, implementation and revision。It is emphasized that the enterprise is the main body responsible for the formulation of environmental emergency plans, and the environmental emergency plans should be formulated through the steps of setting up a preparation group, carrying out assessment and investigation, preparing plans, reviewing and practicing, signing and issuing plans, and revising them in time。

　　Chapter III Implementation of filing。The time limit, documents, methods and accepting departments for filing are stipulated。It is clear that the enterprise shall record the environmental emergency plan within 20 working days after the release of the environmental emergency plan and the filing documents to be submitted。It is clear that the county-level environmental protection department is the main filing acceptance department, and the review and treatment method of the filing acceptance department。

　　Chapter IV Supervision of filing。Regulations were made on the supervision of environmental protection departments and the responsibilities of enterprises and environmental protection departments after filing。It is clear that the environmental protection department shall summarize, sort out and archive the environmental emergency plans filed in a timely manner, and guide enterprises to continuous improvement through spot checks and other means。It also clarifies the responsibilities of enterprises and environmental protection authorities for violations。

　　Chapter V supplementary provisions, with the Environmental Protection Law, article 47, paragraph 3 "Report to the competent department of environmental protection and relevant departments for the record", and explain the implementation date。

　　Iv. Clarification of several key issues

　　(A) What is the enterprise environmental emergency plan

　　Article 2 of the Measures for the Administration of the Record points out that the environmental emergency plan refers to the work plan formulated in advance by the enterprise in order to take emergency measures in response to various accidents and natural disasters to avoid or minimize the entry of pollutants or other toxic and harmful substances into the environmental media such as the atmosphere, water body and soil outside the factory boundaries。This is the first time that the concept of enterprise environmental emergency plan has been formally proposed to distinguish it from enterprise production safety accidents and other emergency plans, so as to facilitate the implementation and management of enterprises and environmental protection departments。

　　(2) How to position the enterprise environmental emergency plan

　　The focus of enterprise environmental emergency plan is on-site disposal plan, focusing on clarifying the work tasks and procedures during on-site disposal, reflecting the characteristics of self-rescue and mutual rescue, information reporting and early disposal。For whether to prepare comprehensive plans, special plans and the combination of these categories, the filing management Measures put forward guidance rather than mandatory requirements。Enterprises can make their own choices according to their actual conditions。

　　The environmental emergency plan of the construction unit is a plan formulated for the unexpected environmental events that may be faced after the construction project is put into production or use, not a plan during the construction period。The environmental emergency plan during trial production refers to the environmental emergency plan prepared before trial production, which includes the environmental emergency plan formulated for the unexpected environmental events that may be faced during trial production。Before trial production, there may be objective realities such as environmental risk assessment and preparation of plans that are difficult to be in place，The Measures for the Administration of the Record stipulate that the environmental emergency plan during the trial production of construction projects shall be formulated and filed "with reference" to these Measures;The pilot production of construction projects is different from the formal production，The construction unit shall be based on the actual situation，Revision of environmental emergency plans during pilot production，Form an environmental emergency plan suitable for formal production。

　　(3) What is the purpose of filing

　　The filing of enterprise environmental emergency plan is an administrative act that does not belong to administrative license and administrative confirmation。For enterprises, the record is to standardize the revision, improve quality, and fulfill legal obligations。For environmental protection departments, filing is to collect information, file for future reference, and manage after the fact。

　　(4) Which enterprises need to record

　　The "filing Management Measures" stipulates that three types of enterprises should carry out environmental emergency plans for filing。First, pollutant discharge enterprises that may have sudden environmental incidents。"The possibility of sudden environmental events" will produce noise pollution units, the production of pollutants is not large or small harm units excluded, such as restaurants。Due to the difference between sewage and domestic waste centralized treatment facilities and general pollutant discharge enterprises, it is emphasized in the "filing management Measures" with "sewage and domestic waste centralized treatment facilities operating enterprises"。Second, enterprises that may abnormally discharge large amounts of toxic and harmful substances。Combined with the case of the incident, it emphasizes the enterprises involved in hazardous chemicals, hazardous waste and tailings ponds, which are prone to and prone to environmental emergencies。Third, other enterprises that should be included in the scope of application, which is a backstop clause, give local environmental protection departments a certain degree of autonomy。In order to further clarify the scope of application, it is stipulated that "provincial environmental protection authorities may, according to the actual situation, issue a list of enterprises that should be filed with environmental emergency plans in accordance with the law."。

　　(5) How to prepare for the record

　　The Environmental Protection Law stipulates that enterprises shall formulate emergency plans for environmental emergencies in accordance with relevant state regulations。The second chapter of the "Filing Management Measures" is a refinement of this provision, making it clear that enterprises prepare environmental emergency plans on the basis of environmental risk assessment and emergency resource investigation, and sign and issue environmental emergency plans after review and exercise。The environmental risk assessment report, emergency resource investigation report and review opinions generated during the preparation of the record are necessary documents for the record。

　　(6) When the enterprise environmental emergency plan needs to be revised

　　The filing Management Measures require companies to conduct retrospective assessments of environmental emergency plans at least once every three years。If there are major changes in environmental risks, emergency management organization and command system and responsibilities, environmental emergency measures, important emergency resources, or problems found in actual responses and drills, and other circumstances that need to be revised, the environmental emergency plan shall be revised in time, and the revision procedure shall be carried out with reference to the formulation procedure。

　　At present, most enterprises have formulated environmental emergency plans in accordance with the Interim Measures。After the implementation of the "filing Management Measures", local environmental protection departments shall guide enterprises to carry out assessments in a timely manner, revise environmental emergency plans, and implement the "filing Management Measures" when revised.。

　　(7) Where should the enterprise file

　　Enterprise environmental emergency plan record implementation of territorial management, unified record, record acceptance department for county-level environmental protection departments。The construction unit also needs to file with the county environmental protection department where the construction project is located。If the trial production and formal production of the construction project have basically no change, the environmental emergency plan does not need to be revised, and the filing documents submitted by the construction unit before the trial production are complete, it can be regarded as having completed the filing before the formal production。

　　Environmental emergency plans of enterprises in administrative areas at or above the county level may be prepared by county or administrative units and filed with the environmental protection departments at the county level involved along the route or across the region。

　　Determine the county-level environmental protection department as the record acceptance department，It is required by the Emergency Response Law, the Oil and Gas Pipeline Protection Law and other laws and regulations，Meet the needs of environmental emergency and information collection，In line with the direction of the reform of the administrative management system of "province directly administering counties"，Help environmental emergency plans from the past "lower copy higher", from top to bottom preparation，Change from the enterprise to gradually extend up, from the bottom to the top of the organization，It is helpful to consolidate the foundation of government environmental emergency plan preparation，It is helpful to promote the improvement of emergency management capacity of grassroots environmental protection departments，It is also easy for enterprises to execute。

　　Considering the fact that some county-level environmental protection departments have insufficient capacity and are difficult to meet the objective reality of filing needs，Some localities have more mature experience in municipal record management，The filing Management Measures also provide that "provincial environmental protection authorities can be based on the actual situation.，The filing acceptance department will be uniformly adjusted to the municipal environmental protection department."，Give some autonomy to local environmental protection departments。

　　(8) How to record the enterprise

　　When the enterprise first records, within 20 working days from the date of signing and issuing the environmental emergency plan, the environmental emergency plan record form, environmental emergency plan and preparation instructions, environmental risk assessment report, environmental emergency resources investigation report, environmental emergency plan review opinions and other five documents submitted to the filing and acceptance department。The enterprise receives the environmental emergency plan record form signed by the accepting department, and completes the first record。

　　When the enterprise makes a major revision of the environmental emergency plan, it shall also file the change with the original accepting department within 20 working days from the date of the release of the revised content。The change filing does not require the submission of all the filing documents required for the first filing, but only the revised documents。Individual content adjustment, do not need to change the record, only need to inform the original acceptance department in the form of documents。

　　(9) How does the accepting department accept the case

　　The acceptance department shall check the filing documents submitted by the enterprise within 5 working days after receiving them。If the documents are complete, a record form of emergency plan for environmental emergencies with the seal of the administrative organ shall be issued。The acceptance department has completed the record of the environmental emergency plan。

　　The acceptance department's verification of the filing documents is only a formal review, examining whether the filing documents are complete, and does not conduct a substantive review of the content of these documents。

　　In addition to the "face to face" filing in the office of the filing acceptance department, combined with the online filing practice carried out in some places, in order to reduce the burden on enterprises and adapt to the work requirements, the "filing Management Measures" put forward principled requirements on the filing methods such as letters and electronic data exchange。Local environmental protection departments may, in light of the actual situation, carry out electronic filing, letter filing and other related work。

　　(10) How does the environmental protection department supervise after filing

　　The supervision of the environmental protection department on the record of enterprises mainly includes three ways: summary, guidance and backward responsibility check。Summarizing, sorting, archiving and establishing a database is mainly to collect and sort out information and consolidate the foundation of the government's plan。The record guidance is based on the requirements for environmental protection departments to improve the quality of enterprise environmental emergency plans, including individual key guidance in the form of archive inspection, field verification, and overall guidance in the form of summary analysis of random inspection results, and the time node is after the record。Liability backtracking means that after the occurrence of an environmental emergency, the environmental protection department will incorporate the development, filing, daily management and implementation of the environmental emergency plan into the scope of incident investigation and treatment。The "Measures for the Administration of the record" also provides for the disclosure of record information, requiring the record acceptance department to publish the list of record enterprises in a timely manner, and enterprises to actively disclose relevant information about environmental emergency plans。

　　The supervision of environmental protection departments shall be carried out at different levels according to the environmental risks of enterprises。The filing Management Measures provide that county-level environmental protection departments will submit the filing documents of larger or more environmental risk enterprises to municipal environmental protection departments within 5 working days, and major or more to provincial environmental protection departments。Provincial and municipal environmental protection departments implement key supervision according to the archival documents they have。

　　For enterprise environmental risk assessment and classification, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued the Technical Guide for Risk Assessment of Enterprise Environmental Emergencies (Trial) (Environmental Affairs Office [2014] No. 34), which gives the general method of environmental risk assessment, covering most of the enterprises prone to and prone to environmental emergencies。At present, the Ministry of Environmental Protection will also introduce the method and standard for the classification of environmental risk levels of enterprise environmental emergencies, and further strengthen the technical guidance for the classification of enterprise environmental risk。In practice, some places have also formulated and implemented documents on enterprise environmental risk management, and implemented hierarchical risk management for enterprises and institutions。The "Filing management Measures" also stipulates that local environmental protection departments at or above the county level can refer to the relevant risk assessment standards or guiding technical documents for environmental emergencies, and guide enterprises to determine environmental risk levels in combination with actual conditions。

　　(11) What responsibility does the enterprise need to bear for violating the filing management measures

　　In order to urge enterprises to standardize the development of environmental emergency plans and record，For enterprises do not formulate, do not record，Or the act of providing false documents for record，The environmental protection department at or above the county level shall order rectification within a time limit，In accordance with the Marine Environmental Protection Law, the Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste, the Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution and other laws and regulations as well as the rules formulated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection，Give penalties such as fines。

　　(12) What responsibility should the environmental protection department bear for violating the relevant provisions such as the filing management measures

　　In order to regulate the record management behavior of environmental protection departments and their staff, the illegal and disciplinary behaviors such as non-record filing, disorderly record filing, and non-notification are listed and the boundaries of responsibility are clearly defined。

　　(13) How does the filing system link up with other management systems

　　The connection between filing and other environmental management systems has been reflected in some regulations and normative documents。Such as hazardous chemicals Environmental Management Registration Measures (Trial) (Ministry of Environmental Protection Order No. 22) Article 9，When an enterprise producing and using hazardous chemicals applies for the registration of environmental management for the production and use of hazardous chemicals，An emergency plan for environmental emergencies shall be submitted;Article 19 of the Measures for the Prevention and Control of Waste Hazardous Chemicals Pollution (Order No. 27 of the State Environmental Protection Administration)，Units that produce, collect, store, transport, utilize and dispose of waste hazardous chemicals，Emergency plans shall be formulated for emergent environmental incidents of hazardous chemicals，Report to environmental protection departments at or above the county level for the record;Article 31 of the New Environmental Management Measures for Chemical Substances (Ministry of Environmental Protection Order No. 7)，Holders of registration certificates routinely declared and corresponding processing users，Emergency plans and emergency handling measures shall be formulated;Notice on Further Strengthening Environmental Impact Assessment Management to Prevent Environmental Risks (2012) No. 77)，When the relevant construction project applies for trial production，The filing materials of the enterprise emergency response plan for environmental emergencies shall be submitted。It could be further strengthened in other documents in the future。

　　(14) How to further deepen the management of enterprise environmental emergency plans in the future

　　"Filing Management Measures" is the programmatic document of enterprise environmental emergency plan management。In the future, the environmental protection department mainly realizes the guidance and management of enterprise environmental emergency plans through the filing of this starting point。As the development and implementation of environmental emergency plans involve a lot of technical content, in order to continuously improve the level of plan management, the Ministry of Environmental Protection will successively issue supporting documents such as the compilation guide of key industry plans, the survey guide of emergency resources, and the drill guide。All localities can also issue relevant implementation rules and guiding documents according to the actual situation, constantly improve the management level, and promote the continuous improvement of the enterprise plan。