Environmental Protection Tax Law of the People's Republic of China

(Effective from the date of the founding of the People's Republic of China)

Contents

Chapter I General Provisions

Chapter II Tax Basis and Tax Payable

Chapter III Tax Reduction and Exemption

Chapter IV Collection Management

Chapter V Supplementary Provisions

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 This Law is formulated to protect and improve the environment, reduce pollutant emissions, and promote the construction of ecological civilization.

Article 2 Enterprises, institutions and other producers and operators that directly discharge taxable pollutants into the environment within the territory of the People's Republic of China and other sea areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China are taxpayers of environmental protection tax and shall pay environmental protection tax in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

Article 3 Taxable pollutants referred to in this Law refer to air pollutants, water pollutants, solid wastes and noise as specified in the "Tax Items and Tax Amounts Table of Environmental Protection Tax" and "Taxable Pollutants and Equivalent Value Table" attached to this Law.

Article 4: Any of the following circumstances shall not be deemed as direct discharge of pollutants into the environment, and the environmental protection tax on the corresponding pollutants shall not be paid:

(i) Enterprises, institutions and other producers and operators discharge taxable pollutants into centralized sewage treatment and domestic waste treatment sites established in accordance with the law;

(ii) Enterprises, institutions and other producers and operators store or dispose of solid waste in facilities or sites that meet national and local environmental protection standards.

Article 5: If centralized urban and rural sewage treatment and domestic waste treatment sites established in accordance with the law discharge taxable pollutants into the environment in excess of the national and local emission standards, environmental protection tax shall be paid.

Enterprises, institutions and other producers and operators that store or dispose of solid waste that does not meet national and local environmental protection standards shall pay environmental protection tax.

Article 6: The tax items and tax amounts of environmental protection tax shall be implemented in accordance with the "List of Tax Items and Tax Amounts of Environmental Protection Tax" attached to this Law.

The determination and adjustment of the specific applicable tax amounts for taxable air pollutants and water pollutants shall be made by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government within the tax amount range specified in the "Tax Items and Tax Amounts Table of Environmental Protection Tax" attached to this Law, taking into account the environmental carrying capacity, current status of pollutant emissions and economic, social and ecological development goals of the region, and reported to the Standing Committee of the People's Congress at the same level for decision, and reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the State Council for record.

Chapter II Tax Basis and Tax Amount

Article 7 The tax basis for taxable pollutants shall be determined in accordance with the following methods:

(a) Taxable air pollutants shall be determined according to the pollution equivalent number converted from the pollutant emissions;

(b) Taxable water pollutants shall be determined according to the pollution equivalent number converted from the pollutant emissions;

(c) Taxable solid wastes shall be determined according to the solid waste emissions;

(d) Taxable noise shall be determined according to the decibel number exceeding the national standard.

Article 8 The pollution equivalent number of taxable air pollutants and water pollutants shall be calculated by dividing the emission of the pollutant by the pollution equivalent value of the pollutant. The specific pollution equivalent value of each taxable air pollutant and water pollutant shall be implemented in accordance with the "Taxable Pollutants and Equivalent Value Table" attached to this Law.

Article 9 Taxable air pollutants at each discharge outlet or without a discharge outlet shall be ranked from large to small according to the pollution equivalent number, and environmental protection tax shall be levied on the first three pollutants.

Taxable water pollutants at each discharge outlet shall be distinguished from Class I water pollutants and other types of water pollutants in accordance with the "Taxable Pollutants and Equivalent Value Table" attached to this Law, and ranked from large to small according to the pollution equivalent number. Environmental protection tax shall be levied on the first five items of Class I water pollutants and on the first three items of other types of water pollutants.

The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may increase the number of taxable pollutant items subject to environmental protection tax at the same discharge outlet in accordance with the special needs of pollutant emission reduction in their respective regions, and report to the Standing Committee of the People's Congress at the same level for decision, and report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the State Council for record.

Article 10 The emission of taxable air pollutants, water pollutants, solid waste and the decibel number of noise shall be calculated in accordance with the following methods and order:

(i) If the taxpayer installs and uses automatic pollutant monitoring equipment that complies with national regulations and monitoring specifications, the calculation shall be based on the automatic pollutant monitoring data;

(ii) If the taxpayer does not install and use automatic pollutant monitoring equipment, the calculation shall be based on the monitoring data issued by the monitoring agency that complies with relevant national regulations and monitoring specifications;

(iii) If the monitoring conditions are not available due to the large number of pollutants discharged, the calculation shall be based on the emission coefficient and material balance method prescribed by the ecological environment department of the State Council;

(iv) If the calculation cannot be based on the methods prescribed in Items 1 to 3 of this Article, the calculation shall be based on the sampling measurement method prescribed by the ecological environment department of the provincial, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government.

Article 11 The taxable amount of environmental protection tax shall be calculated in accordance with the following method:

(i) The taxable amount of taxable air pollutants is the pollution equivalent multiplied by the specific applicable tax amount;

(ii) The taxable amount of taxable water pollutants is the pollution equivalent multiplied by the specific applicable tax amount;

(iii) The taxable amount of taxable solid waste is the solid waste discharge multiplied by the specific applicable tax amount;

(iv) The taxable amount of taxable noise is the specific applicable tax amount corresponding to the decibel number exceeding the national standard.

Chapter III Tax Reduction and Exemption

Article 12 The following circumstances shall be temporarily exempted from environmental protection tax:

(1) Agricultural production (excluding large-scale breeding) emits taxable pollutants;

(2) Mobile pollution sources such as motor vehicles, railway locomotives, non-road mobile machinery, ships and aircraft emit taxable pollutants;

(3) Urban and rural sewage centralized treatment and domestic waste centralized treatment sites established in accordance with the law emit corresponding taxable pollutants that do not exceed the emission standards stipulated by the state and local governments;

(4) Solid wastes comprehensively utilized by taxpayers meet the national and local environmental protection standards;

(5) Other circumstances where the State Council approves tax exemption.

The tax exemption provisions in the fifth item of the preceding paragraph shall be reported by the State Council to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for record.

Article 13 If the concentration value of taxable air pollutants or water pollutants emitted by taxpayers is lower than 30% of the pollutant emission standards stipulated by the state and local governments, the environmental protection tax shall be reduced to 75%. If the concentration value of taxable air pollutants or water pollutants emitted by taxpayers is lower than 50% of the pollutant emission standards stipulated by the state and local governments, the environmental protection tax shall be reduced to 50%.

Chapter IV Collection and Management

Article 14 Environmental protection tax shall be collected and managed by taxation authorities in accordance with the Tax Collection and Management Law of the People's Republic of China and the relevant provisions of this Law.

The competent ecological environment department shall be responsible for monitoring and managing pollutants in accordance with the provisions of this Law and relevant environmental protection laws and regulations.

The local people's governments at or above the county level shall establish a division of labor and cooperation mechanism between taxation authorities, competent ecological environment departments and other relevant units, strengthen the collection and management of environmental protection tax, and ensure that taxes are timely and fully deposited into the treasury.

Article 15 The competent ecological environment department and taxation authorities shall establish a tax-related information sharing platform and work coordination mechanism.

The competent ecological environment department shall regularly submit environmental protection-related information such as the pollution discharge permit, pollutant discharge data, environmental violations and administrative penalties of pollutant discharge units to the taxation authorities.

The taxation authorities shall regularly submit environmental protection tax-related information such as taxpayers' tax declarations, tax deposits, tax exemptions, unpaid taxes and risk points to the competent ecological environment department.

Article 16 The time when tax obligations occur is the day when the taxpayer discharges taxable pollutants.

Article 17 Taxpayers shall declare and pay environmental protection tax to the tax authorities at the places where taxable pollutants are discharged.

Article 18 Environmental protection tax shall be calculated on a monthly basis and declared and paid on a quarterly basis. If it cannot be calculated and paid on a fixed basis, it may be declared and paid on a per-time basis.

When declaring and paying, taxpayers shall submit to the tax authorities the types and quantities of taxable pollutants discharged, the concentration values of air pollutants and water pollutants, and other tax information required by the tax authorities to be submitted by taxpayers according to actual needs.

Article 19 If taxpayers declare and pay on a quarterly basis, they shall file a tax return and pay taxes to the tax authorities within 15 days from the end of the quarter. If taxpayers declare and pay on a per-time basis, they shall file a tax return and pay taxes to the tax authorities within 15 days from the date on which the tax obligation arises.

Taxpayers shall file tax returns truthfully in accordance with the law and bear responsibility for the authenticity and completeness of the declarations.

Article 20 Tax authorities shall compare the tax return data of taxpayers with the relevant data submitted by the competent department of ecological environment.

If the tax authorities find that the taxpayer's tax declaration data is abnormal or the taxpayer fails to file a tax declaration within the prescribed time limit, they may request the ecological environment department to conduct a review. The ecological environment department shall issue a review opinion to the tax authorities within 15 days from the date of receiving the data from the tax authorities. The tax authorities shall adjust the taxpayer's tax payable in accordance with the data reviewed by the ecological environment department.

Article 21: In accordance with the provisions of Article 10, paragraph 4 of this Law, the tax authorities shall determine the types, quantities and tax payable of pollutant emissions in conjunction with the ecological environment department.

Article 22: The specific measures for taxpayers engaged in marine engineering to discharge taxable air pollutants, water pollutants or solid wastes into the waters under the jurisdiction of the State Council shall be formulated by the tax authorities of the State Council in conjunction with the ecological environment department of the State Council.

Article 23: If taxpayers, tax authorities, ecological environment departments and their staff violate the provisions of this Law, they shall be held legally responsible in accordance with the provisions of the "Tax Collection and Management Law of the State Council", the "Environmental Protection Law of the State Council" and relevant laws and regulations.

Article 24 People's governments at all levels shall encourage taxpayers to increase investment in environmental protection and provide financial and policy support for taxpayers' investment in automatic pollutant monitoring equipment.

Chapter V Supplementary Provisions

Article 25 The following terms in this Law have the following meanings:

(a) Pollution equivalent refers to a comprehensive indicator or unit of measurement for measuring the environmental pollution caused by different pollutants based on the degree of harm to the environment caused by pollutants or pollution emission activities and the technical and economic feasibility of treatment. Different pollutants with the same pollution equivalent in the same medium have basically the same degree of pollution.

(b) Pollution emission coefficient refers to the statistical average amount of pollutants that should be discharged by a unit of production product under normal technical, economic and management conditions.

(c) Material balance refers to a method of measuring the raw materials used, products produced and wastes generated in the production process based on the principle of conservation of mass of matter.

Article 26 Enterprises, institutions and other producers and operators that directly discharge taxable pollutants into the environment shall bear legal liability for the damage caused in addition to paying environmental protection taxes in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

Article 27: From the date of implementation of this Law, environmental protection tax shall be levied in accordance with the provisions of this Law, and pollution discharge fees shall no longer be levied.

Article 28: This Law shall take effect from the date of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

附表一

环境保护税税目税额表

附表二

应税污染物和当量值表

　　一、第一类水污染物污染当量值

　　二、第二类水污染物污染当量值

　　三、pH值、色度、大肠菌群数、余氯量水污染物污染当量值

　　四、禽畜养殖业、小型企业和第三产业水污染物污染当量值

　　（本表仅适用于计算无法进行实际监测或者物料衡算的禽畜养殖业、小型企业和第三产业等小型排污者的水污染物污染当置数）

　　五、大气污染物污染当量值