Xinhuanet Beijing August 29 th
Circular Economy Promotion Law of the People’s Republic of China
Catalogue
Chapter I General Principles
Chapter II Basic Management System
Chapter III Reduction
Chapter IV Reuse and Resource Utilization
Chapter V Incentive Measures
Chapter VI Legal Liability
Chapter VII Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Principles
Article 1 This Law is formulated in order to promote the development of circular economy, improve the efficiency of resource utilization, protect and improve the environment and realize sustainable development.
Article 2 The term "circular economy" as mentioned in this Law refers to the activities of reduction, reuse and recycling in the process of production, circulation and consumption.
The term "reduction" as mentioned in this Law refers to the reduction of resource consumption and waste generation in the process of production, circulation and consumption.
Reuse as mentioned in this Law refers to the direct use of waste as a product or its continued use as a product after repair, renovation and remanufacturing, or the use of all or part of waste as a component of other products.
The term "recycling" as mentioned in this Law refers to the direct utilization of wastes as raw materials or the recycling of wastes.
Article 3 The development of circular economy is an important strategy for the country’s economic and social development, and it should follow the principles of overall planning, rational layout, adjusting measures to local conditions, paying attention to actual results, government promotion, market guidance, enterprise implementation and public participation.
Article 4 The development of circular economy shall be carried out on the premise that the technology is feasible, the economy is reasonable, and it is conducive to saving resources and protecting the environment, in accordance with the principle of giving priority to reduction.
In the process of waste reuse and recycling, production safety should be ensured, product quality should meet the standards set by the state, and re-pollution should be prevented.
Article 5 The comprehensive management department of circular economy development in the State Council is responsible for organizing, coordinating, supervising and managing the development of circular economy throughout the country; The State Council environmental protection and other relevant competent departments shall be responsible for the supervision and management of circular economy according to their respective responsibilities.
The comprehensive management department of circular economy development of local people’s governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for organizing, coordinating, supervising and managing the development of circular economy in their respective administrative areas; Relevant competent departments of environmental protection of local people’s governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the supervision and management of circular economy according to their respective responsibilities.
Article 6 The formulation of industrial policies by the state shall meet the requirements of developing circular economy.
The people’s governments at or above the county level shall formulate plans for national economic and social development and annual plans, and the relevant departments of the people’s governments at or above the county level shall formulate plans for environmental protection, science and technology, etc., which shall include the development of circular economy.
Article 7 The State encourages and supports the research, development and popularization of circular economy science and technology, and encourages the publicity, education, popularization of scientific knowledge and international cooperation of circular economy.
Article 8 People’s governments at or above the county level shall establish a target responsibility system for developing circular economy and take measures such as planning, finance, investment and government procurement to promote the development of circular economy.
Article 9 Enterprises and institutions shall establish and improve management systems, take measures to reduce resource consumption, reduce the amount and discharge of waste, and improve the level of reuse and resource utilization of waste.
Article 10 Citizens should enhance their awareness of saving resources and protecting the environment, rationally consume and save resources.
The state encourages and guides citizens to use products that are energy-saving, water-saving and material-saving, and are conducive to environmental protection and recycled products, so as to reduce the amount and discharge of waste.
Citizens have the right to report acts of wasting resources and damaging the environment, and have the right to know the information of the government’s development of circular economy and put forward opinions and suggestions.
Article 11 The State encourages and supports trade associations to play the role of technical guidance and service in the development of circular economy. People’s governments at or above the county level may entrust qualified trade associations and other social organizations to carry out public services to promote the development of circular economy.
The state encourages and supports intermediaries, societies and other social organizations to carry out circular economy propaganda, technology popularization and consulting services to promote the development of circular economy.
Chapter II Basic Management System
Article 12 The comprehensive management department of circular economy development in the State Council shall, jointly with the relevant competent departments of environmental protection in the State Council, prepare a national circular economy development plan, which shall be promulgated and implemented after being submitted to the State Council for approval. The comprehensive management department of circular economy development of the local people’s government at or above the municipal level with districts shall, jointly with the relevant competent departments of environmental protection of the people’s government at the corresponding level, prepare the circular economy development plan of the administrative region, and report it to the people’s government at the corresponding level for approval before promulgation and implementation.
Circular economy development planning should include planning objectives, scope of application, main contents, key tasks and safeguard measures, etc., and stipulate indicators such as resource output rate, waste reuse and resource utilization rate.
Article 13 Local people’s governments at or above the county level shall plan and adjust the industrial structure of their respective administrative regions according to the control indicators of major pollutant discharge, construction land and total water consumption issued by the people’s governments at higher levels, so as to promote the development of circular economy.
New construction, renovation and expansion projects must meet the requirements of the main pollutant discharge, construction land and total water consumption control indicators in this administrative region.
Article 14 The comprehensive management department of circular economy development in the State Council shall establish and improve the evaluation index system of circular economy in conjunction with relevant departments in charge of statistics and environmental protection in the State Council.
The people’s government at a higher level shall regularly assess the development of circular economy by the people’s government at a lower level according to the main evaluation indicators specified in the preceding paragraph, and take the completion of the main evaluation indicators as the content of assessment and evaluation of local people’s governments and their responsible persons.
Fifteenth enterprises that produce products or packages listed in the compulsory recycling list must be responsible for recycling abandoned products or packages; Those that can be used shall be used by each production enterprise; For those that are not suitable for use because they do not have technical and economic conditions, each production enterprise shall be responsible for harmless disposal.
Where the producer entrusts a seller or other organization to recycle the waste products or packages specified in the preceding paragraph, or entrusts a waste utilization or disposal enterprise to utilize or dispose of them, the trustee shall be responsible for recycling or utilizing and disposing of them in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations and the contract.
For the products and packages listed in the compulsory recycling list, consumers shall hand over the abandoned products or packages to the producers or the sellers or other organizations entrusted by them to recycle.
The catalogue and management measures of products and packages that are subject to compulsory recycling shall be formulated by the comprehensive management department of circular economy development in the State Council.
Article 16 The state shall implement a key supervision and management system for energy consumption and water consumption of key enterprises whose annual comprehensive energy consumption and water consumption exceed the total amount stipulated by the state in industries such as steel, nonferrous metals, coal, electric power, petroleum processing, chemical industry, building materials, construction, paper making, printing and dyeing.
Energy conservation supervision and management of key energy consuming units shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the Energy Conservation Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Measures for the supervision and management of key water users shall be formulated by the comprehensive management department of circular economy development in the State Council in conjunction with relevant departments in the State Council.
Article 17 The state shall establish and improve the statistical system of circular economy, strengthen the statistical management of resource consumption, comprehensive utilization and waste generation, and publish the main statistical indicators to the society regularly.
The standardization department in the State Council shall, jointly with the relevant departments in charge of comprehensive management of circular economy development and environmental protection in the State Council, establish and improve the standard system of circular economy, and formulate and improve the standards of energy saving, water saving, material saving, waste reuse and resource utilization.
The state shall establish and improve the resource consumption labeling system for products such as energy efficiency labeling.