Due to environmental protection issues, what penalties might enterprises face?

According to laws and regulations such as the Environmental Protection Law, the Atmospheric Pollution Prevention and Control Law, the Marine Environmental Protection Law, and the Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Transfer of Suspected Environmental Crimes by Environmental Protection Administrative Departments (issued jointly by the State Environmental Protection Administration, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate), what penalties might enterprises face for environmental violations? I. Administrative Penalties 1. Legal consequences for refusing environmental inspections Pursuant to Article 98 of the Atmospheric Pollution Prevention and Control Law, any entity that refuses entry to inspection sites—or otherwise obstructs inspections conducted by environmental protection authorities, their commissioned environmental supervision institutions, or other departments responsible for atmospheric environmental protection supervision—or provides false information during inspections shall be ordered by the competent environmental protection department of the county-level or higher people’s government (or other relevant supervisory department) to rectify the violation and shall be fined between RMB 20,000 and RMB 200,000. Where such conduct constitutes a violation of public security administration, the public security organ shall impose punishment in accordance with law. 2. Sixty-five types of unlawful acts stipulated under the Atmospheric Pollution Prevention and Control Law (1) Refusing environmental inspections by means such as denying site access, or providing false information during inspections; (2) Discharging atmospheric pollutants without having obtained a valid pollutant discharge permit; (3) Discharging atmospheric pollutants exceeding national or local emission standards, or exceeding total control limits for key atmospheric pollutants; (4) Discharging atmospheric pollutants by evading regulatory oversight; (5) Encroaching upon, damaging, or arbitrarily relocating or altering atmospheric environmental quality monitoring facilities or automatic atmospheric pollutant emission monitoring equipment; (6) Failing to monitor industrial exhaust gases and toxic/hazardous atmospheric pollutants as required, or failing to retain original monitoring records; (7) Failing to install or use automatic atmospheric pollutant emission monitoring equipment as required, failing to connect such equipment to the monitoring devices of environmental protection authorities as required, or failing to ensure normal operation of the monitoring equipment; (8) Key pollutant-emitting entities failing to disclose, or failing to truthfully disclose, automatically monitored data; (9) Failing to set up atmospheric pollutant discharge outlets in accordance with prescribed requirements; (10) Producing, importing, selling, or using equipment or products prohibited under the State’s comprehensive industrial policy catalog; adopting processes prohibited under the same catalog; or transferring obsolete equipment or products to others; (11) Coal mines failing to construct supporting coal washing facilities as required; (12) Mining coal containing radioactive substances or arsenic and other toxic/harmful substances at concentrations exceeding prescribed standards; (13) Selling coal or petroleum coke failing to meet quality standards; (14) Producing or selling raw materials or products whose volatile organic compound (VOC) content fails to meet quality standards or requirements; (15) Producing or selling fuels, engine oils, nitrogen oxide reductants, fuel and lubricant additives, and other additives for motor vehicles, ships, and non-road mobile machinery that fail to meet applicable standards; (16) Selling high-pollution fuels within designated no-burning zones; (17) Importing coal or petroleum coke failing to meet quality standards;

What legal liabilities must enterprises bear for discharging air pollutants above permitted emission limits?

Enterprises discharging air pollutants above permitted emission limits must bear the following primary legal liabilities: I. Administrative Penalties 1. Orders to rectify, production restrictions, or suspension for remediation: ・Pursuant to Article 99 of the People’s Republic of China Atmospheric Pollution Prevention and Control Law, ecological environment authorities at or above the county level may order enterprises to rectify violations or adopt measures such as restricting production or suspending operations for remediation in response to超标 emissions of air pollutants. 2. Substantial fines: ・The amount of fine is generally determined based on the severity of the illegal discharge and its environmental impact, taking into account factors such as the operating costs of pollution prevention and control facilities, direct losses caused by the violation, or unlawful gains derived therefrom. Under relevant laws, fines may range from RMB 100,000 to RMB 1,000,000. ・For example, in a typical case involving air-related violations released by Deyang City, a papermaking company in Mianzhu City was administratively fined RMB 425,000 for emitting unorganized exhaust pollutants at concentrations exceeding the limits specified in its pollutant discharge permit. 3. Orders to cease operations or close down: ・For particularly serious cases of超标 emissions, ecological environment authorities—upon approval by the competent people’s government—may order enterprises to cease operations or shut down entirely. II. Criminal Liability ・Where an enterprise’s unlawful discharge constitutes a criminal offense—for instance, illegal discharge, dumping, or disposal of hazardous waste, or other acts causing severe environmental pollution—the responsible personnel may face criminal liability, including fixed-term imprisonment, criminal detention, and/or monetary fines.

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