China’s New Environmental Impact Assessment Qualification Rules

By Dorothy Deng and Alex Wang

In October 2005, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) strengthened the domestic environmental impact assessment (EIA) market by conducting a nationwide review of the environmental impact assessment agencies (EIA Agencies) and re-issuing qualification certificates. This action follows SEPA’s issuance of the PRC Administrative Rules Concerning Construction Project Environmental Impact Assessment Qualifications (EIA Qualification Rules) on August 15, 2005. The new EIA Qualification Rules replaced the old rules promulgated by SEPA in 1999 (Old Rules)1 and became effective on January ¹, 2006.

China strengthened its EIA system by promulgating the new Environmental Impact Assessment Law (EIA Law) in late 2002.² Under the EIA Law, EIA is defined as a system for (1) analyzing, forecasting and assessing the potential impact on the environment after implementation of planning and construction projects, (2)