China mulls credit-based restrictions on environmental violators

BEIJING - The Chinese government is considering a nationwide credit system based on company environmental practices that will make it difficult for offenders during loan applications and other requests.

Each company's credit record will cover its environment-related certificates, safety supervision details, charged environmental fees and taxes as well as administrative punishment history for environmental violations and ensuing corrective progress, said an official document released Tuesday.

"Many companies have a weak sense of environmental credit and have been found with severe violations such as commencing construction before a project is approved, discharging more waste than they should and fabricating data to cheat government financial allowances," said the document, which was jointly released by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the National Development and Reform Commission.

Enterprises with a good track record will be favored when applying for loans, administrative certificates, and bidding for government procurement, while the same requests from those with past violations will be scrutinised with stricter standards or refused outright.

Past violators will also be subjected to more frequent inspections from environmental authorities.

Credit records, especially for industries known for waste discharge, as well as automobile manufacturing and import companies, should be shared among institutions to provide credit-based services across the country and also be made available for public inquiries.

The credit network will be established by 2020, with credit records covering all companies at national, provincial, city and county levels, said a document, hoping that the move will pressure companies into voluntarily obeying environmental regulations.