On January 23, the second session of the 14th Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region People's Congress held a press conference to brief on the Regulations of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on the Promotion of Ecological Civilization Construction (Draft) (hereinafter referred to as the Draft Regulations).

Photo shows the press conference site. Photo courtesy of the Guangxi People's Congress

The Draft Regulations, it was introduced, are divided into eight chapters with a total of 70 articles, mainly setting out provisions on the ecological civilization construction responsibilities of the government, departments and the public, the formulation of ecological civilization construction plans, safeguarding ecological security, developing an ecological economy, promoting ecological culture, building a safeguard and supervision system, and the legal liability for acts violating the Regulations.

The current session of the People's Congress will deliberate the Draft Regulations. The promulgation of the Regulations will promote ecological civilization construction in Guangxi, guide and drive the building of a Beautiful Guangxi and a strong region in ecological civilization, and firmly build the national ecological security barrier in southern China.

At present, the energy waste and environmental pollution caused by non-standard production and uncontrolled use of plastic products are prominent problems in ecological and environmental protection. The state has issued a series of laws, regulations and documents that specify the categories, industries, regions and deadlines for prohibiting the production, sale and use of plastic products.

The Draft Regulations implement national requirements and actively respond to public concerns. Paragraph 1 of Article 36 provides for strengthening plastic pollution control, prohibiting and restricting the production, sale and use of certain plastic products in a planned and step-by-step manner in accordance with national provisions; Paragraph 1 of Article 37 provides that operators in such industries as commodity retail, e-commerce, catering, accommodation, exhibitions and express delivery shall, in accordance with national provisions, prohibit and restrict the use of disposable plastic products. Through these provisions, Guangxi is driven to implement the national requirements on banning and restricting plastics and to control plastic pollution in a vigorous, orderly and effective manner.

Paragraphs 2 to 4 of Article 37, on the basis of national provisions, further provide for catering service operators and accommodation service operators to reduce the use of disposable items. On the one hand, catering service operators are prohibited from using non-degradable disposable plastic straws and other disposable plastic tableware in violation of national provisions, and accommodation service operators are prohibited from proactively providing disposable plastic items in violation of national provisions; on the other hand, this Article further regulates operators in the two industries, prohibiting them from proactively providing other disposable tableware and disposable items in violation of the provisions, and no such items may be proactively provided in violation of the provisions, whether or not they are plastic products.

Article 68 of the Draft Regulations sets out the legal liability for violating the provisions on reducing the use of disposable items. Where a catering service operator provides disposable plastic tableware whose use is prohibited by the state, or an accommodation service operator proactively provides disposable plastic items whose use is prohibited by the state, the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste already provides for penalties, and the violator will face an order to make corrections and a fine of not less than 10,000 yuan but not more than 100,000 yuan. Where a catering service operator proactively provides other disposable tableware in violation of the provisions, or an accommodation service operator proactively provides other disposable items in violation of the provisions, the Draft Regulations provide that the market regulation department and the culture and tourism department shall respectively order correction within a time limit; if correction is not made within the time limit, a fine of not less than 500 yuan but not more than 5,000 yuan, or not less than 1,000 yuan but not more than 10,000 yuan, shall be imposed respectively. In setting the types and ranges of penalties, emphasis is placed on education and reminder, with a correction period granted first and a fine imposed only if correction is not made within the time limit, and the fine amounts are also lower than those for illegally providing plastic products whose use is banned or restricted by the state.