China to Severely Punish Illegal Polluting Companies      

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) recently issued a joint notice of 2009 Special Environmental Protection Action on Controlling Illegal Polluting Companies, in which they claim to speed up the elimination of outdated steel capacity, and conduct an overall assessment for all arsenic-related industries covering the mining, ore dressing and smelting of phosphate ore and sulfides, production of phosphorus chemicals, sulfides and arsenides. The government mainly aims to supervise and prosecute the companies that have mismatches and incongruence with policies for environmental protection permit and industrial development, and those adopt outdated processes that are prohibited by the government, or those start construction or operation without authorization. The government will also severely punish those who have been forced to close yet but revive in an illegal way. For companies who discharge pollutants that exceed the national standards, use toxic and harmful raw materials for production or discharge toxic substances during production, and those fail to complete the task of energy conservation and pollutant reduction, the government will implement compulsory clean production audit.