The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) on Tuesday announced penalties for dozens of engineers and agencies who broke the rules on environmental impact assessment (EIA).
The MEP said in a statement that a recent national inspection showed most EIA agencies complying with the rules but some of them had problems such as profiting from conducting assessment for agencies without proper certification.
Cheng Lifeng, director of the MEP Environmental Impact Assessment Department, said the ministry will continue to crackdown on unlawful practices including the lease of EIA certifications. A new and tougher national regulation on EIA certification will come into effect on November 1.
China is improving its environmental impact assessment system. A better system is crucial to protecting the environment and preventing corruption.
According to the MEP, all environmental impact assessment agencies must cut their links to governments at all levels by the end of 2016 to avoid corruption.
Moreover, the ministry has launched random inspections of agencies and acted on information from the public, disqualifying dozens of agencies and engineers.
