SMBEE D  [2021] No.2

 

Attention:all district bureaus of ecology andenvironment, all units subordinate to the bureaus and all divisions and offices under the bureaus： 

Procedures of Shanghai Municipality for Rewards for Reporting Ecological Environment-Related Illegal Acts have been deliberated and adopted at the directors’ executive meeting of the Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, and are hereby promulgated. They shall be effective as of June 5, 2021.

 

Procedures of Shanghai Municipality for Rewards for Reporting Ecological Environment-Related Illegal Acts

 

Article 1 (Purposes and Basis)

With a view to strengthening the social supervision overecological environment-related illegal acts and encouraging public participation, these Procedures are formulated in accordance with the Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Environmental Protection, the Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Optimizing the Doing Business Environment and other relevant laws and rules, and in the light of the actual circumstances of this Municipality.

Article 2 (Scope of Application)

These Procedures apply to the reports of ecological environment-related illegal acts and the rewards within the administrative area of this Municipality.

Article 3 (Public Participation)

All units and individuals have the obligation to protect the ecological environment and have the right to report illegal acts that destroy and pollute the ecological environment.

This Municipality encourages the informed insiders of the production and business operation units of this Municipality or the informed units and individuals with business contacts with the aforesaid units (hereinafter referred to as the “internal informants”) to report the illegal acts of polluting and destroying the ecological environment in their units and business-contact units.

Article 4 (Reporting Channels)  

Informants may report ecological environment-related illegal acts to the ecology and environment department through the following channels:

1. the WeChat official account “12369 Environmental Report”；

2. the hotline telephones 12345, 12369；

3. the “Online Reporting” column of the portal of Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment；

4. letters and visits; and

5. other relevant channels.

Article 5 (Rewarding Conditions)

This Municipality encourages informants to do real-name reporting according to law, and they shall be rewarded if the reported matters are verified to be true and meet the following conditions unless they explicitly refuse the rewards:

1. The reported matters are objective and true, and theinformantprovides definite targets and ecological environment-related illegal acts, evidence (clues, photos or videos), his/her true identity and valid contact information. The internal informant shall provide the labor contract, business contact descriptions and other materials;

2. The reported matters violate the laws and rules of ecological environmental protection;

3. The reported matters are under the jurisdiction of the ecology and environment department of this Municipality;

4. The reported matters are within the time limit for investigating the ecological environment-related illegal acts; and

5. The same report has not been rewarded by other departments.

Article 6 (No Rewarding)

The following cases that do not conform to the basic administrative principles or whose sources of evidence or clues are improper shall not be rewarded:

1. The informant intentionally commits ecological environment-related illegal acts, fabricates false reporting materials, extorts the person being reported against, and reports the acts;

2. The ecology and environment department has already filed a case or investigated and handled a reported matter before this informant’s report;

3. The informantsare staff members or auxiliary personnel of the ecology and environment department or their close relatives, or the aforementioned personnel deliberately disclose clues to the informants;

4. The reported matters are proved false upon verification; or

5. Other reported matters that shall not be rewarded.

Article 7 (Scope of Reporting)

The scope of reporting the ecological environment-related illegal acts includes:

1. Unlawfully commencing the construction of a project without submitting for approval its environmental impact report or report form in accordance with the law, or without reporting for re-examination the environmental impact report or report form in accordance with the law; unlawfully commencing theconstruction of a project without obtaining approval of its environmental impact report or report form or without obtaining new approval upon the re-examination;failing to legally undergo the filing formalities for the environmental impact registration form of a construction project; failing to implement the environmental impact assessment documents and official approval of the construction project; going into production or use of the accompanying environmental protection facilities of a construction project with an environmental impact report and a report form if the aforesaid facilities have not been inspected or have failed to pass the inspection.

2. Failing to obtain the Pollutant Discharge Permit in accordance with the provisions or failing to discharge pollutants in accordance with the provisions of the Pollutant Discharge Permit;

3. Falsifying or forging the monitoring data or other fraudulent practices by the pollutant discharge unit or a third party institution;

4. Illegally discharging pollutants prohibited by laws and rules;

5. Discharging pollutants through supervision-evading methods such as concealed pipes, seepage wells, seepage pits, rainwater outlets, tankers, perfusion or abnormal operation of pollution prevention and control facilities;

6. Committing ecological environment-related illegal acts in Grades I or II drinking water source reserves, various nature reserves and ecological red line areas;

7. Illegally transferring, utilizing, disposing of and dumping dangerous wastes or medical wastes, or failing to build and manage dangerous waste storage sites according to relevant provisions and therefore having potential environmental pollution risks;

8. Illegally producing, selling, using, assigning, transferring, importing or storing radioisotopes and radiation devices without the permission by or filing with the ecology and environment department;

9. Using pollutants containing toxic or hazardous substances in excess of the standards for land reclamation, or discharging, dumping or land-filling them in farmland; and

10. Other ecological environment-related illegal acts withfairlygreat impact.

Article 8 (Reward Standards)

The following reward standards are set according to the degree of difficulty in finding the ecological environment-related illegal acts, the extent of the damage caused, and the seriousness of such acts.

1. 1% of the fine may be rewarded for reporting fairly simple cases.The minimum reward is 500 yuan and the maximum reward is 5,000 yuan.

2. 1.5% of the fine may be rewarded for reporting fairly complicated cases; the reward may be increased by 0.5% of the fine on the basis of the original reward if the informant has provided details and assisted in the investigation and evidence-collecting. The minimum reward is 1,000 yuan and the maximum is 10,000 yuan.

3. In addition to the original reward, another 5,000 yuan may be rewarded if the reported matters are penalized in the forms of daily fines, sealing up, seizure, and limited and suspended production.

4. In addition to the original reward, another 10,000 yuan may be rewarded if the reported matters involve administrative detention.

5. A reward of not less than 20,000 yuan but not more than 30,000 yuan may be given if the reported matters involve investigation for criminal responsibility.

6. A one-time reward up to 500,000 yuan may be given if the reported matters contribute to prevention of ecological environment-related illegal acts, or elimination of major ecological and environmental safety risks, or if the informants have assisted in the investigation of major ecological environment-related criminal cases.

7. In the case of internal informants in enterprises who meet the conditions and whose reports are verified to be true, the maximum rewards prescribed in Items 1 to 6 above may apply.

In addition to the material rewards prescribed in the preceding Paragraphs, the units and individuals who have made outstanding contributions by reporting ecological environment-related illegal acts and improving the environment may be given spiritual awards such as circulars of commendation and certificates of honor.

Article 9 (Handling of the Report)

After receiving the reports, the municipal and district ecology and environment departments shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions, verify the reported matters in a timely manner, deal with them according to law, summarize a list of eligible rewards on a quarterly basis, and propose rewards.

According to the provisions of Articles 7 and 8 of these Procedures, the municipal ecology and environment department shall verify the list of rewards and notify the informants who meet the reward conditions to apply for the premiums or receive other relevant awards.

Article 10 (Methods of Receiving Rewards)

An informant shall, within 20 days from the date of receipt of the notice, apply for the premium on the strength of the notice and his/her valid identity documents. If the informant entrusts another person, the trustee shall apply for the premium with copies of the notice, power of attorney, identity documents of the informant and the trustee, bank accounts, etc., as well as provide the originals for verification. An internal informant shall also provide the labor contract, business-contact descriptions and other materials. Overdue application for the premium shall be deemed as abandonment.

When the ecology and environment department finds the information provided by an informant is incomplete and inaccurate in the process of verifying the list of rewards, it shall notify the informant to supplement relevant materials.If the informant fails to provide the materials or provides inaccurate information resulting in failure to pay the premium or wrong payment of the premium, the informant shall be held responsible.

Article 11 (Obligation of Confidentiality)

The ecology and environment department and its staff have the confidentiality obligation for the informants and shall not disclose relevant information aboutthem. In the case of matters that are obviously reported internally, the key information such as the name of the informant shall be kept strictly confidential in the process of material transfer.

Ifa staff member of the ecology and environment department discloses the identity information of the informants in violation of the provisions, his/her unit or the administrative supervision department shall pursue his/her responsibility.

Article 12 (Implementation Period)

These Procedures shall be effective as of June 5, 2021, with a valid period of five years. The original Procedures of Shanghai Municipality for Rewards for Reporting Environmental-Related Illegal Acts (SMBEE D [2018] No.5) shall be abolished at the same time.