Recently Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China (MEP) has printed and issued The Notice About More Efforts to Improve the Transparency of the Regulatory Information on Pollution Sources (hereinafter referred to as The Notice) and The Catalog of the Regulatory Information on Pollution Sources (The First Group), which require that departments responsible for environmental protection at all levels should spare no efforts to ensure the transparency of the regulatory information on pollution sources under the principles of standardization by following the laws, equity and justice, timeliness and comprehensiveness, objectivity, honesty and easy access since September, 2013.

The primary objectives to issue The Notice are to standardize and enhance the transparency of the regulatory information on pollution sources and safeguard the rights and benefits of every corner of society to get access to the regulatory information on pollution sources according to the laws as well as put the polluting enterprises under the public supervision and encourage the public to protect the environment.

The Notice clearly requires that departments responsible for environmental protection at all levels, under the principle of “The one who acquires the information is the one who publicizes it” should publicize the regulatory information on pollution sources and classify the information into eight categories and 31 items including the basic information, the detection and the total amount control of pollution sources, pollution prevention, the levels on pollution, supervision and law enforcement, administration and punishments as well as environmental emergency. The Notice Also requires that those departments should be strict with the time limit of information publicity and standardize the methods adopted to make the information public. Meanwhile The Notice requests that government websites, as an important platform to issue the information, should set up a special column to release the regulatory information on pollution sources. For those departments in counties which have difficulties in setting up a website, the information about pollution sources within their areas should be issued by departments at the upper level or the website of local people’s government at the same level.

Meanwhile, The Notice calls for that departments responsible for environmental protection at all levels should make the internal division of tasks explicit, classify the duties in details, strengthen the evaluation of responsibility and that the departments at the upper level should devote more efforts to supervise and guide the ones at the lower level.