Environmental Legal Framework Initially Formed in China ����According to the State Environmental Protection Administration, the director and a production responsible member of the Huanda Chemical Factory in Mingshan County in Sichuan Province were sentenced to a term of three years' imprisonment by the local court for the accident crime of causing heavy environmental pollution, which is the country's second criminal case related to environment after the promulgation of the new Criminal Law. This indicates the fact that China's environmental protection work has made a big stride forward in performing administration according to law since the Environmental Protection Law was promulgated and implemented. ����At the meeting commemorating the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the Environmental Protection Law convened by State Environmental Protection Administration on October 15, Xie Zhenhua, director-general of the Administration made a review and preview concerning China's environmental legal construction. ����Since China's first environmental protection law, the Environmental Protection Law (Trial Implementation) of the People's Republic of China, was adopted by the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress on September 13, 1979, there have now been six sets of law concerning environmental protection, nine sets of law on resources protection and more than 990 rules and regulations published by environmental protection departments, and China has concluded and participated in 37 international environmental conventions, thus initially forming an environmental legal framework suited to the socialist market economic structure. The fact that special sections regarding crimes of damaging resources environment are added to the 1997 revised Criminal Law indicates that major progress and breakthrough have been made in environmental legislation. ����Environmental protection law-enforcement efforts have been constantly enhanced, ability and level have been gradually improved and marked results have been achieved. Environmental protection departments at all levels have strictly implemented the various environmental supervision and control systems and investigated and legally dealt with cases of violating the environmental protection law. ����Xie Zhenhua noted that in the future, we should, on the basis of improving environmental protection law enforcement, earnestly strengthen administrative law enforcement, so as to put an end to the situation in which law is not abided by, law is not enforced strictly and law-breakers are not prosecuted HomeNews 1999-10-18 Page5 Full Story in Chinese