Source: Ministry of Environmental Protection, Ministry of Policies and Regulations

Contents

Chapter I  General Provisions

Chapter II  Tax Basis and Tax Amount payable

Chapter III  Tax Reduction and Exemption

Chapter IV  Tax Collection Administration

Chapter V  Supplementary Provisions

Chapter I  General Provisions

Article 1  This Law is enacted for the purposes of protecting and improving the environment, reducing pollutant discharges, and promoting ecological civilization construction.

Article 2  Withinthe territory of the People's Republic of China and other sea areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China, the enterprises, public institutions and other producers and              operators that directly discharge pollutants to the environment are taxpayers of environmental pollution tax, and shall pay environmental pollution tax in accordance with the provisions of this                        Law.

Article 3  For the purpose of this Law, “taxable pollutants” means the air pollutants, water pollutants, solid wastes and noises as prescribed in the Schedule of Tax Items and Tax Amounts                              of Environmental Protection Tax and the Schedule of Taxable Pollutants andEquivalent Values.

Article 4  Where an enterprise, public institution or any other producer or operator falls under any of the following circumstances, it shall not be deemed as directly discharging pollutants to the                        environment, and shall not pay environmental protection tax on the corresponding pollutants：

(1) It discharges taxable pollutants to a centralized sewage or domestic garbage treatment site established in accordance with the law.；

(2) It stores or disposes of solid wastes at any facility or site that meets the national and local environmental protection standards.

Article 5  Where a centralized urban and rural sewage or domestic garbage treatment site established in accordance with the law discharges taxable pollutants to the environment in excess of the                    discharge standards as prescribed by the state or the local area, it shall pay environmental protection tax.

Where an enterprise, public institution or any other producer or operator that stores or disposes of solid wastes fails to comply with the national or local environmental protection standards, it                          shall pay environmental protection tax.

Article 6  Tax items and tax amounts of environmental protection tax shall be governed by the Schedule of Tax Items and Tax Amounts of Environmental Protection Tax attached to this Law.

The people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall, by taking into overall consideration the environmental carrying                        capacities, status quo of pollutant discharges, and the requirements of economic, social and ecological development goals, determine and adjust the specific tax amounts applicable to taxable                        air pollutants and water pollutantswithin the range of the tax amounts as prescribed in the Schedule of Tax Items and Tax Amounts of Environmental Protection Tax attached to this Law, and                          report them to the standing committees of the people's congresses at the same levels for decision, and to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the State Council for                        recordation.

Chapter II  Tax Basis and Tax Amount payable

Article 7 The tax basis for taxable pollutants shall be determined by using the following methods：

(1) The tax basis for taxable air pollutants shall be determined on the basis of the pollution equivalents converted frompollutant emissions；

(2) The tax basis for taxable water pollutants shall be determined on the basis of thepollutant equivalents converted from pollutant discharges；

(3) The tax basis for taxable solid wastes shall be determined on the basis of the discharges of solid wastes；

(4) The tax basis for taxable notices shall be determined on the basis of the decibels in excess of the standards as prescribed by the state.

Article 8  The pollution equivalents of taxable air pollutants and water pollutants shall be calculated by dividing the pollutants discharged by the pollution equivalent values of such pollutants. The specific        pollution equivalent values of various categories of air pollutants and water pollutants shall be governed by the Schedule of Taxable Pollutants and Equivalent Values attached to this Law.

Article 9  Of the air pollutants discharged from each discharge outletor for which no discharge outlet is established, the first three items of pollutants ranked in descending order of pollution equivalents          shall be subject to environmental protection tax.

The taxable water pollutants at each discharge port shall be classified according to the "Tourable Contaminants and Equivalent Values Table" attached to this Law, and the first type of water pollutants and other water-like pollutants shall be distinguished according to the pollution equivalent number from large to small. Sorting, the first type of water pollutants are subject to environmental protection tax according to the first five items, and the other three types of water pollutants are subject to environmental protection tax according to the first three items.

The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may increase the number of taxable pollutants subject to environmental protection tax at the same discharge port according to the special needs of pollutant emission reduction in the region, report to the Standing Committee of the people's congress at the same level, and report to the national people's representative. The Standing Committee of the General Assembly and the State Council shall file the record.

Article 10 The taxable air pollutants, water pollutants, solid waste emissions and the decibels of noise are calculated according to the following methods and sequences:

(1)If the taxpayer installs and uses automatic pollutant monitoring equipment that complies with national regulations and monitoring regulations, it shall be calculated according to the automatic monitoring data of pollutants;

(2)If the taxpayer does not install the automatic monitoring equipment for the use of pollutants, it shall be calculated according to the monitoring data issued by the monitoring organization in accordance with relevant national regulations and monitoring specifications;

(3)If there are no monitoring conditions due to various types of pollutants discharged, etc., the calculation shall be based on the discharge coefficient and material balance method prescribed by the environmental protection department of the State Council;

(4)If it cannot be calculated in accordance with the methods specified in Items 1 to 3 of this Article, it shall be verified and calculated according to the sampling and calculation method prescribed by the environmental protection department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government.

Article 11 The environmental tax payable is calculated according to the following methods:

(1)The taxable amount of taxable atmospheric pollutants is the number of pollution equivalents multiplied by the specific applicable tax amount;

(2)The taxable amount of taxable water pollutants is the number of pollution equivalents multiplied by the specific applicable tax amount;

(3)The taxable amount of taxable solid waste is the amount of solid waste discharged multiplied by the specific applicable tax amount;

(4)The taxable amount of taxable noise is the specific applicable tax amount corresponding to the decibel number exceeding the national standard.

Chapter III  Tax Reduction and Exemption

Article 12 The environmental protection tax is temporarily exempted in the following cases:

(1)Agricultural production (excluding large-scale farming) discharges taxable pollutants;

(2)Mobile pollution sources such as motor vehicles, railway locomotives, non-road mobile machinery, ships and aircraft emit taxable pollutants;

(3)The urban and rural sewage centralized treatment and domestic garbage centralized treatment places established according to law shall discharge the corresponding taxable pollutants, and shall not exceed the discharge standards stipulated by the state and local governments;

(4)The solid waste comprehensively utilized by taxpayers meets the national and local environmental protection standards;

(5)Other circumstances in which the State Council approves tax exemptions.

The fifth tax exemption clause of the preceding paragraph shall be filed by the State Council on the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

Article 13 If the taxpayer's emission of taxable atmospheric pollutants or water pollutants is less than 30% of the national and local pollutant discharge standards, the environmental protection tax shall be levied at 75 percent. If the taxpayer's emission of taxable atmospheric pollutants or water pollutants is less than 50% of the national and local pollutant discharge standards, the environmental protection tax. 

Chapter IV  Tax Collection Administration

Article 14 The environmental protection tax shall be levied and managed by the tax authorities in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on Tax Collection and Administration and the relevant provisions of this Law.

The competent department of environmental protection shall be responsible for the monitoring and management of pollutants in accordance with this Law and the relevant environmental protection laws and regulations.

Local people's governments at or above the county level shall establish a mechanism for the division of labor between the tax authorities, the competent environmental protection departments and other relevant units, strengthen the management of environmental protection tax collection, and ensure that taxes are paid into the warehouse in full and on time.

Article 15 The competent department of environmental protection and the tax authorities shall establish a tax-related information sharing platform and a work coordination mechanism.

The competent department of environmental protection and the tax authorities shall establish a tax-related information sharing platform and a work coordination mechanism.

The tax authorities shall regularly submit the taxpayer's tax return, tax warehousing, tax reduction, tax owed, and risk suspected information to the environmental protection authorities.

Article 16 The tax liability occurs on the date when the taxpayer discharges the taxable pollutants.

Article 17 The taxpayer shall declare and pay the environmental protection tax to the tax authorities of the place where the taxable pollutants are discharged.

Article 18 The environmental protection tax is calculated on a monthly basis and is reported on a quarterly basis. If it cannot be calculated according to a fixed period, it can be paid in accordance with the declaration.

When the taxpayer declares and pays, it shall report to the tax authorities the type and quantity of the taxable pollutants discharged, the concentration values of atmospheric pollutants and water pollutants, and other taxation materials submitted by the tax authorities according to actual needs.

Article 19 If the taxpayer declares and pays quarterly, it shall, within 15 days from the end of the quarter, file a tax return with the tax authorities and pay the tax. If the taxpayer submits the payment in accordance with the declaration, it shall, within 15 days from the date of the occurrence of the tax liability, file a tax return with the tax authorities and pay the tax.

Taxpayers shall truthfully handle tax returns in accordance with the law and shall be responsible for the truthfulness and completeness of the declaration.

Article 20 The tax authorities shall compare the taxpayer's tax return data with the relevant data submitted by the environmental protection authority.

If the tax authorities find that the taxpayer's tax return data is abnormal or the taxpayer fails to file the tax return according to the prescribed time limit, it may submit it to the competent department of environmental protection for review. The competent department of environmental protection shall, from the date of receipt of the data of the tax authority, fifteen. In the day, the tax authorities will issue a review opinion. The tax authorities shall adjust the taxpayer's taxable amount in accordance with the data reviewed by the competent department of environmental protection.

Article 21 Where the discharge of pollutants is calculated and approved in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 4 of Article 10 of this Law, the tax authorities shall, together with the competent department of environmental protection, verify the types, quantities and taxable amounts of pollutants discharged.

Article 22 Taxpayers engaged in marine engineering to discharge taxable atmospheric pollutants, water pollutants or solid wastes to the sea areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China, and the specific measures for reporting and paying environmental protection taxes shall be prescribed by the competent taxation department of the State Council in conjunction with the State Council's marine authorities.

Article 23 If taxpayers and tax authorities, environmental protection authorities and their staff violate the provisions of this Law, they shall be investigated for legal responsibility in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on Tax Collection and Administration, the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China and relevant laws and regulations.

Article 24 The people's governments at all levels shall encourage taxpayers to increase investment in environmental protection construction and provide financial and policy support for taxpayers' investment in automatic pollutant monitoring equipment.

Chapter V  Supplementary Provisions

Article 25 The meaning of the following terms in this Law:

　　(1)Pollution equivalent refers to a comprehensive indicator or unit of measurement for measuring the environmental pollution of different pollutants according to the degree of harmfulness of the pollutants or pollution discharge activities and the technical economy of the treatment. The pollution levels of different pollutants with the same pollution equivalent of the same medium are basically the same.

　　(2)The discharge coefficient refers to the statistical average of the amount of pollutants that should be discharged from the production unit product under normal technical economic and management conditions.

　　(3)Material balance refers to a method for measuring the raw materials used in the production process, the products produced, and the waste generated according to the principle of conservation of mass of materials.

Article 26 Enterprises and institutions and other producers and operators who directly discharge taxable pollutants to the environment shall, in addition to paying environmental protection taxes in accordance with the provisions of this Law, be liable for the damage caused.

Article 27 From the date of the implementation of this Law, the environmental protection tax shall be levied in accordance with the provisions of this Law, and the sewage charges shall not be levied.

Article 28 This law shall come into force on January 1, 2018.

Schedule 1

Environmental protection taxation tax

Schedule 2：

Taxable pollutants and equivalent value table

一、The first type of water pollutant pollution equivalent value

二、The second type of water pollutant pollution equivalent value

三、pH value, color, coliform group, residual chlorine content

四、Pollution equivalent value of water pollutants in poultry breeding industry, small enterprises and tertiary industry

      （This table is only applicable to the calculation of water pollutant pollution equivalents of small polluters in poultry 

         farming, small enterprises and tertiary industries that cannot be physically monitored or materialized.）

五、Air pollutant pollution equivalent value