Analysis of Chinese environmental law with a focus on the development in statutory regulation, institution building and judicial innovation.

Even though China has created an administrative structure and regulatory programs to curb pollution, environmental quality has continued to deteriorate. Are polluters following the rules? How do regulators and polluters alike respond to ChinaOs environmental controls? This thoroughly documented study examines these central questions by analyzing compliance with programs involving wastewater discharge standards, fees, and permits. The successes and failures of these programs are tracked in comprehensive case studies and remarkably candid surveys of factory managers in six Chinese cities. The authorsO final chapter adds an international dimension by comparing Chinese water pollution control programs with their counterparts in the United States.

Though recently improved, Chinese legislation on environmental permits is still weak and urgent measures are needed to help the country in moving towards an effective permitting system. This book examines this legislation gap and presents a contribution to solving China’s pollution problems. By analysing the deficiencies of current Chinese provisions on permitting in light of EU legislation, and its Italian application, the book determines which permitting legislative structure and approach China should embrace in practice in order to build more comprehensive legislation on emission permitting. It is argued that a set of ad hoc legislative measures should be implemented so as to strengthen China’s environmental protection and efficiently tackle pollution. The book will be a valuable resource for researchers, academics and policy-makers working in the areas of international environmental law and comparative law.

Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this book provides ready access to legislation and practice concerning the environment in China. A general introduction covers geographic considerations, political, social and cultural aspects of environmental study, the sources and principles of environmental law, environmental legislation, and the role of public authorities. The main body of the book deals first with laws aimed directly at protecting the environment from pollution in specific areas such as air, water, waste, soil, noise, and radiation. Then, a section on nature and conservation management covers protection of natural and cultural resources such as monuments, landscapes, parks and reserves, wildlife, agriculture, forests, fish, subsoil, and minerals. Further treatment includes the application of zoning and land-use planning, rules on liability, and administrative and judicial remedies to environmental issues. There is also an analysis of the impact of international and regional legislation and treaties on environmental regulation. Its succinct yet scholarly nature, as well as the practical quality of the information it provides, make this book a valuable resource for environmental lawyers handling cases affecting China. Academics and researchers, as well as business investors and the various international organizations in the field, will welcome this very useful guide, and will appreciate its value in the study of comparative environmental law and policy.

This volume assembles a group of eminent scholars to look at the problem of growth and environment from the perspective of environmental regulation. The questions addressed are: How does economic growth interact with regulation, and what are the best approaches to regulation in use today? The context for the volume is the current situation in China, where twenty years of rapid growth have created a situation in which there are both demands for environmental regulation and needs for choosing a future development path. The advent of "A Macro-Environmental Strategy" for China presents an opportunity to ask how and why China should introduce regulation into its management of its development. The volume includes contributions from leading Chinese experts and established environmental economists from other countries including Timo Goeschl, Ben Groom and Andreas Kontoleon. The volume looks at both the demand side of environmental regulation and the supply side. The demand side of regulatory intervention examines how regulation operates to supplement existing resource-allocation mechanisms, via effective demand aggregation and implementation mechanisms. The supply side of regulation examines how regulation operates to guide industrial growth down particular pathways, in the pursuit of managed development. Both sides of environmental regulation involve the important issue of implementation and enforcement. This volume will be of most value to academics and scholars of environmental economics, growth economics, the Chinese economy and policy-makers of environmental regulations.

This new book takes as its focus a simple yet critical question: Does foreign direct investment lead to weakened environmental regulation, thereby turning developing countries into "pollution havens"? The debate over this question has never before been the focus of a book about China. Phillip Stalley examines the development of Chinese law governing the environmental impact of foreign investors, describes how regional competition for investment has influenced environmental regulation, and analyzes the environmental practices of foreign and Chinese companies. He finds only modest evidence that integration with the global economy has transformed China into a pollution haven. Indeed, after China opened its domestic market, the entry of foreign films largely strengthened the environmental protection regime, including the oversight of foreign firms' environmental practices. Nevertheless, foreign firms (and the competition to lure them) have posed new challenges to controlling industrial pollution. Stalley identifies the conditions under which foreign investment contributes to and undermines environmental protection, offering readers a solid understanding of China's environmental challenges. He also builds on existing theory and provides hypotheses that can be tested with other developing nations.