In a bid to reduce the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and protect the environment, on Jun 18th, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) issued the Pilot Measures on VOC Emission Charge. The Measures will go into effect from Oct 1st, 2015.
The pilot program will be tested on the petro-chemical industry and packaging and printing industry. The Measures apply to enterprises that discharge VOCs directly into the atmosphere. The VOCs emission charge is calculated by factoring in all kinds of VOCs, except the VOCs that are already charged subject to emission charges, such as benzene, methylbenzene and xylene. The Measures provide detailed methods for calculation of emission volumes as well as the corresponding charging protocols.
According to the measures, enterprises should notify total VOCs emission to the local environmental authorities. The latter is to entrust a qualified third party institute to review and verify the notifications of the enterprises. The notification should contain detailed information on VOCs emission, including the production facilities that release VOCs, the VOCs treatment equipment and so on. If the notification turns out to be false or incomplete, the local authorities have the right to impose penalties on the enterprises.
