Table of Contents
Chapter I: General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted for the purposes of protecting and improving the environment, reducing the discharge of pollutants, and promoting ecological civilization.
Article 2 Enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and operators that directly discharge taxable pollutants within the territory of the People’s Republic of China and other sea areas under the jurisdiction of the People’s Republic of China shall be taxpayers of environmental protection tax and shall pay environmental protection tax in accordance with the provisions of this Law.
Article 3 For the purposes of this Law, “taxable pollutants” means the air pollutants, water pollutants, solid wastes, and noise listed in the Table of Tax Items and Tax Amounts of Environmental Protection Tax and the Table of Taxable Pollutants and Equivalent Values attached to this Law.
Article 4 No environmental protection tax shall be levied in any of the following circumstances: (1) where enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and operators discharge taxable pollutants into legally established centralized urban sewage treatment plants or centralized domestic waste treatment plants; (2) where enterprises, public institutions, and other producers and operators store or dispose of solid wastes in facilities or premises that meet the national and local environmental protection standards.
Chapter II: Tax Bases and Tax Amounts
Article 5 The tax base for environmental protection tax shall be determined in accordance with the following methods: (1) for taxable air pollutants, the pollution equivalent calculated based on the amount of pollutants discharged converted into pollution equivalent values; (2) for taxable water pollutants, the pollution equivalent calculated based on the amount of pollutants discharged converted into pollution equivalent values; (3) for taxable solid wastes, the amount of solid wastes discharged; (4) for taxable noise, the number of decibels exceeding the prescribed national standard.
Article 6 The specific applicable tax amount for taxable air pollutants and water pollutants shall be the applicable tax amount per pollution equivalent proposed by the people’s government of each province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government within the range of tax amounts prescribed in the Table of Tax Items and Tax Amounts of Environmental Protection Tax attached to this Law, based on the environmental carrying capacity of the region, the current state of pollutant discharge, and the requirements for economic, social, and ecological development goals, and shall be submitted to the standing committee of the people’s congress at the same level for decision, and filed with the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and the State Council.
Article 7 The amount of environmental protection tax payable shall be calculated in accordance with the following methods: (1) for taxable air pollutants and water pollutants, the amount of tax payable shall be the pollution equivalent multiplied by the specific applicable tax amount; (2) for taxable solid wastes, the amount of tax payable shall be the amount of solid wastes discharged multiplied by the specific applicable tax amount; (3) for taxable noise, the amount of tax payable shall be the number of decibels exceeding the prescribed national standard multiplied by the specific applicable tax amount.
Article 8 The pollution equivalent of taxable air pollutants and water pollutants shall be calculated based on the amount of pollutants discharged converted into the pollution equivalent values of such pollutants. The specific pollution equivalent values shall be determined in accordance with the Table of Taxable Pollutants and Equivalent Values attached to this Law.
Article 9 Where the discharge of each taxable air pollutant or water pollutant is ranked by pollution equivalent values, the top three pollutants shall be subject to environmental protection tax. The people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may, based on the need to reduce pollutant discharge in their respective regions, increase the number of taxable pollutants subject to environmental protection tax for the same discharge outlet, and submit the increase to the standing committee of the people’s congress at the same level for decision, and file it with the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and the State Council.
Article 10 The amount of taxable air pollutants, water pollutants, and solid wastes discharged and the number of decibels of noise shall be calculated and determined in accordance with the following methods and in order: (1) where the taxpayer installs and uses automatic monitoring equipment for pollutant discharge that conforms to state regulations and meets the requirements of norms, the calculation shall be based on the automatic monitoring data of pollutant discharge; (2) where the taxpayer has not installed automatic monitoring equipment for pollutant discharge, the calculation shall be based on the monitoring data issued by monitoring institutions that conform to the relevant state regulations and meet the requirements of norms; (3) where the conditions for monitoring as specified in items (1) and (2) are not met, the calculation shall be based on the pollutant emission factors and material balance calculation methods prescribed by the competent environmental protection department under the State Council; or (4) where the calculation cannot be made under item (3), the calculation shall be based on the sampling calculation method prescribed by the competent environmental protection department under the State Council, and the verified pollutant discharge amount shall be used for calculation.
Chapter III: Tax Reductions and Exemptions
Article 11 Environmental protection tax shall be exempted for any of the following circumstances: (1) where agricultural production (excluding large-scale livestock and poultry farming) discharges taxable pollutants; (2) where motor vehicles, railway locomotives, off-road mobile machinery, vessels, aircraft, and other mobile pollution sources discharge taxable pollutants; (3) where urban centralized sewage treatment plants and domestic waste treatment plants discharge taxable pollutants that do not exceed the corresponding national or local discharge standards; (4) where taxpayers comprehensively utilize solid wastes in compliance with national and local environmental protection standards; and (5) other circumstances where environmental protection tax is exempted with the approval of the State Council.
Article 12 Where a taxpayer discharges taxable air pollutants or water pollutants at a concentration lower than 30% of the national or local prescribed pollutant discharge standards, the environmental protection tax shall be levied at a reduced rate of 75%. Where a taxpayer discharges taxable air pollutants or water pollutants at a concentration lower than 50% of the national or local prescribed pollutant discharge standards, the environmental protection tax shall be levied at a reduced rate of 50%.
Chapter IV: Collection Administration
Article 13 The tax authorities shall levy environmental protection tax in accordance with the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Tax Collection and the relevant provisions of this Law. The competent environmental protection department shall monitor and administer the discharge of pollutants in accordance with this Law and the relevant laws and regulations on environmental protection. The tax authorities and the competent environmental protection department shall establish a working platform for the sharing of tax-related information and a working coordination mechanism.
Article 14 The competent environmental protection department shall deliver the pollutant discharge information of the taxpayer to the tax authorities on a regular basis in accordance with the relevant provisions. The tax authorities shall deliver the tax-related information of the taxpayer to the competent environmental protection department on a regular basis in accordance with the relevant provisions.
Article 15 A taxpayer shall declare and pay environmental protection tax with the tax authorities on a monthly basis based on the calculation made for each quarter. Where a taxpayer cannot calculate the environmental protection tax on a quarterly basis, he may declare and pay on a monthly basis.
Article 16 Environmental protection tax shall be calculated on a monthly basis and declared and paid on a quarterly basis. Where the declaration and payment cannot be made on a quarterly basis, the tax shall be declared and paid on a monthly basis. For taxpayers declaring and paying tax on a quarterly basis, they shall, within 15 days after the end of the quarter, declare and pay the tax with the tax authorities. For taxpayers declaring and paying tax on a monthly basis, they shall, within 15 days after the end of the month, declare and pay the tax with the tax authorities.
Article 17 Taxpayers shall install and use automatic monitoring equipment for pollutant discharge in accordance with the relevant state provisions and ensure the normal operation of the monitoring equipment. Taxpayers shall truthfully declare and pay environmental protection tax with the tax authorities based on the actual situation of pollutant discharge and shall bear legal liability for the authenticity and accuracy of the declaration.
Chapter V: Supplementary Provisions
Article 18 Where any provisions of this Law are violated, penalties shall be imposed in accordance with this Law, the Law on the Administration of Tax Collection, the Environmental Protection Law, and other relevant laws and regulations; where a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with law.
Article 19 The tax authorities and the competent environmental protection department and their staff members shall keep confidential the taxpayer’s information that they become aware of in the course of tax collection and administration and environmental monitoring and administration.
Article 20 This Law shall come into force on January 1, 2018.
Translation note: This is an unofficial English translation for reference purposes. The original Chinese text shall prevail in all legal matters.
