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Government officials found to have had a part in incidents that cause environmental damage can be held accountable and punished, according to the State Environmental Protection Administration and the Ministry of Supervision in a joint statement yesterday.

 

"The move is to enforce environment-related laws and remind officials of their responsibility towards protecting the environment," Li Yufu, vice minister of supervision, said at a press conference.

 

A set of regulations, consisting of 16 articles, spells out a series of penalties ranging from disciplinary warnings to expulsion from public employment, and also applies to government-appointed officials in enterprises.

 

China stepped up law enforcement in the environment sector in the wake of the major Songhua River pollution in November last year, which affected water supplies to millions of people in China and neighboring Russia.

 

Soon after the disaster, Director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) Xie Zhenhua was dismissed and a number of other officials punished.

 

"The environmental situation in China is still very severe, and the human factor is a big contributor to that," said Li.

 

Many localities pursue economic growth at the cost of the environment and even formulate "local regulations" to block the enforcement of laws, he said.

 

Negligent and/or corrupt officials have previously escaped punishment because of the lack of specific regulations targeting them, he said.

 

According to the new regulations, officials who fail to enforce the law against enterprises that are known to be causing large-scale pollution will be disciplined or even dismissed.

 

Officials who fail to report or fabricate reports about major environmental incidents will also be severely punished.

 

"The implementation of the regulations marks a turning point for environment-related law enforcement in China," SEPA Deputy Director, Zhu Guangyao, said.

 

Zhu said that SEPA and the Ministry of Supervision will soon jointly publicize a list of heavy polluters and will directly supervise the enforcement of law against these enterprises.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2006)