Collection of New Laws and Regulations for Environmental Protection   

China's supreme authority passed the Tort Liability Act and the Island Protection Act on December 26th, 2009.
   * The Tort Liability Act, to be enacted on July 1st, 2010, rules that environmental polluters should bear tort liability.
   * The Island Protection Act, effective March 1st, 2010, states that the development and construction of inhabited islands must give priority to the use of renewable energy sources like wind power, ocean energy and solar power and such technologies like rainwater harvesting, seawater desalination, and sewage recycling.
   * Since January 1st, 2010 onwards, a unified emission standard will be in practice in the four major river basins in Shandong province. The four river basins include the areas along the South-to-North Water Transfer Project, the Haihe River basin, the Xiaoqinghe River basin and the Shandong Peninsula basin. The former three basins have been subject to new emission standards since 2006 and 2009 respectively. More stringent emission standards for the Shandong Peninsula basin has been also implemented since January 1st, 2010, that is to say, the new standards limit COD emission at 60 mg/L and ammonia/nitrogen at 10mg/L for key protected areas. So far, the four river basins in Shandong province are subject to the unified local environment protection standards that are stricter than national standards.
   * The Environmental Protection Regulations of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, which had been in place for 15 years, has been revised and the new version takes effect on January 1st, 2010. The new regulation marks the first in China to come with the legal principle for environmental priorities and for the first time establishes the citizen's environmental right. The revised regulations set up a policy and environmental impact assessment system and greatly enhanced the implementation of punishment and deterrence, as well as clarified the obligation for citizens to protect the environment.
   * The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) announced the amendments to "The directory of toxic chemicals that are strictly restricted for imports and exports" (2010). The imports and exports of toxic chemicals in the list need the approval from the ministry effective January 1st, 2010. Chemicals including dichloromethane, chloroform, trichlorethylene, ethylene oxide, aniline, and methamidophos are on the list.
   * MEP also issued "the list of ozone-depleting substances for controlled imports and exports (5th)", which came with a licensing system for imports and exports effective January 1st, 2010. Importers and exporters must notify the content of HCFCs to the management office of ozone-depleting substances when they apply for permission for trade.
   * MEP released a safety management regulation on the transport of radioactive materials in order to enhance safety transport management and protect human health and the environment, as well as advance the development and utilization of nuclear energy and technology.
   * A set of technical requirements for the leather and PU synthetic leather fields (HJ 507-2009) went into effect on January 1st, 2010, in a bid to reduce the negative impact on environment and human health caused during the manufacture and use of leather and synthetic leather products.