Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 23rd (Reporter Rong Qihan, Yang Weihan) The Central Office and the State Council recently issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Pilot Reform of Vertical Management System for Monitoring, Supervision and Law Enforcement of Environmental Protection Institutions Below the Provincial Level", which marked the official start of the reform of vertical management system for monitoring, supervision and law enforcement of environmental protection institutions below the provincial level. How will this widely concerned reform be carried out? What changes will it bring? Xinhua News Agency interviewed Li Ganjie, Vice Minister of Environmental Protection.
Focus on solving "four outstanding problems"
Q: What is the significance of implementing this reform?
Li Ganjie: Implementing the vertical management system of monitoring, supervision and law enforcement of environmental protection institutions below the provincial level is an arrangement made by the CPC Central Committee from the overall situation, a major reform in system of ecological civilization, a major adjustment of China’s environmental protection management system, and a key task that must be attached great importance to and effectively promoted during the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan period.
There are "four outstanding problems" in China’s current local environmental protection management system: first, it is difficult to implement the supervision responsibility to local governments and their relevant departments; second, it is difficult to solve the interference of local protectionism in environmental monitoring, supervision and law enforcement; third, it is difficult to adapt to the new requirements of coordinating and solving cross-regional and inter-basin environmental problems; fourth, it is difficult to standardize and strengthen the team building of local environmental protection institutions.
This reform adheres to the problem orientation and goal orientation. By reforming the basic system of environmental governance, "four benefits" can be realized: first, it is conducive to solving "four outstanding problems"; Second, it is conducive to the clarification, decomposition and implementation of environmental responsibility objectives and tasks; Third, it is conducive to mobilizing the enthusiasm of all parties to form a joint force; Fourth, it is conducive to the smooth transition of the old and new systems of environmental protection.
Establishing and perfecting vertical management, the basic system of environmental protection, will provide a strong institutional guarantee for the implementation of Air Pollution Prevention Action Plan, Water Pollution Prevention Action Plan and Soil Pollution Prevention Action Plan, and is of great and far-reaching significance for coordinating and promoting the "five in one" overall layout and the "four comprehensive" strategic layout.
The key path: two strengthening, two focusing and two improving.
Q: What is the key path of this reform? How to do a good job of "landing" in various places?
Li Ganjie: The opinion puts forward the key path of the reform of vertical management system of environmental protection, which is "two strengthening, two focusing and two improving".
— — Two enhancements refer to strengthening the definition and implementation of environmental protection responsibilities of local party committees and governments and their relevant departments, and strengthening the supervision and inspection and accountability of the implementation of environmental protection responsibilities of local party committees and governments and relevant departments; Two focuses mean that the provincial environmental protection department focuses on ecological environment quality monitoring and environmental monitoring, and the city (prefecture) and county levels focus on environmental law enforcement; "Two Perfections" refers to the establishment and improvement of the deliberation and coordination mechanism and the establishment and improvement of the information sharing mechanism.
Moving system, moving mechanism, moving personnel, pulling one hair and moving the whole body. The opinions require all pilot provinces to seek truth from facts, emancipate their minds, be good at innovation, actively and steadily advance in accordance with the spirit and requirements of the opinions, and promote the research, preparation and pilot work of local reform implementation plans.
— — First, the party committees and governments of the pilot provinces and cities should take overall responsibility, and the provincial governments should formulate and implement reform plans, implement responsibilities, refine reform measures, implement supporting policies, and implement opinions as good construction drawings. Second, the pilot provinces should pay close attention to issues closely related to the interests of cadres and workers, such as organization establishment, transfer and resettlement, and treatment guarantee, do a solid job in ideological stability of cadres and workers, and handle the relationship between the whole and the part, the individual and the system. Third, the pilot provinces must complete the reform task before the end of June 2017. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Central Editorial Office will sum up the pilot experience in time and strengthen guidance and supervision.
Solve difficult problems: solve local protectionism in law enforcement and cross-regional environmental problems
Q: For a long time, the intervention of local protectionism in environmental monitoring and law enforcement has been a difficult problem in environmental protection work. What new measures do you have to solve this problem?
Li Ganjie: The opinion tries to solve the problem of local intervention from three levels.
First of all, solve the intervention from the system design. First, the provincial environmental protection department directly manages the city (prefecture) level environmental monitoring institutions to ensure that the monitoring data of ecological environment quality are true and effective. Second, the city (prefecture) level unified management of environmental law enforcement forces within the administrative region, independently exercising law enforcement power according to law, moving down the focus of law enforcement and strengthening enterprise inspection.
Secondly, solve the intervention from the protection of people and property. First, the human and property management of the environmental monitoring institutions in the city (prefecture) is in the provincial environmental protection department (bureau), and the city (prefecture) has no control. Second, the personnel and property management of county-level environmental protection agencies and monitoring and law enforcement agencies is in the municipal environmental protection bureau, and there is no control right at the county level.
Finally, solve the intervention from the management authority of leading cadres. Opinions on the management of leading cadres are both followed and innovative. The provincial environmental protection department is in charge of all city (prefecture) environmental protection directors, as well as the personnel of environmental supervision and monitoring institutions in the city (prefecture), and their regulatory capacity has been significantly enhanced.
Q: Cross-regional and inter-basin environmental problems have long been a difficult problem in China’s environmental protection work. How is this reform considered?
Li Ganjie: The opinions made overall consideration on this issue, and proposed to strengthen cross-regional and cross-basin environmental management, integrate and set up environmental monitoring and law enforcement agencies in municipal districts, and implement unified monitoring and law enforcement in regional basins. At the same time, the opinion encourages the establishment of environmental supervision and administrative law enforcement agencies and cross-regional environmental protection agencies according to river basins, and strengthens the joint prevention and control of cross-regional and cross-basin environmental pollution.
Specifically, it mainly includes three aspects. First, the pilot provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities are required to actively explore the establishment of environmental supervision and administrative law enforcement agencies and cross-regional environmental protection agencies according to river basins, and orderly integrate regulatory forces in different fields, departments and levels. Second, pilot provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. Provincial environmental protection departments take the lead in establishing and improving regional cooperation mechanisms, promoting joint prevention and control of cross-regional and cross-basin environmental pollution, and strengthening joint monitoring, joint law enforcement and cross-enforcement of cross-regional and cross-basin environmental problems. The third is to encourage the municipal (prefectural) Party committees and governments to implement overall management in accordance with the integrity of the ecological environment system within the city, unified planning, unified zoning, unified standards, unified environmental assessment, and integrated the establishment of environmental law enforcement and environmental monitoring institutions across municipal districts.
Three aspects focus on filling the shortcomings of institutions and teams.
Q: Standardizing and strengthening the team building of local environmental protection agencies is also an important part of this reform. How are the opinions considered?
Li Ganjie: There are long-standing problems in the ranks of local environmental protection agencies, such as the difficulty in establishing the identity of environmental protection agencies and personnel, and the insufficient level of specialization of environmental protection teams, which is the basis for doing a good job in environmental protection. The opinions attach great importance to standardizing and strengthening the team building of local environmental protection institutions, and clearly put forward that the establishment of environmental protection institutions and the identity of personnel involved in the system reform should be solved as a whole, and the normative documents on the standardization of environmental monitoring, supervision and law enforcement should be accelerated, and efforts should be made to fill the shortcomings of institutions and teams from three aspects.
The first is to standardize the nature of institutional personnel and ensure the need to perform their duties. Local authorities are required to combine the reform of public institutions and gradually transform the county environmental protection bureau, which is still in the nature of public institutions and uses public institutions, into an administrative unit. Standardize the establishment of environmental law enforcement agencies in the nature of public institutions, which will be included in the sequence of government law enforcement departments, and dressing the, an environmental law enforcement officer, so that the unity, authority and effectiveness of environmental law enforcement will be greatly improved. In particular, the opinions put forward specific requirements for the construction of township environmental protection institutions, requiring the establishment of full-time and part-time environmental protection institutions in towns and villages to ensure that people are responsible and do things.
The second is to strengthen team building and improve the level of specialization. The environmental protection departments at the provincial, city and county levels should focus on the main business, properly handle the problem of personnel transfer and resettlement, rationally adjust and optimize the allocation to achieve personnel consistency, vigorously strengthen team training, implement the system of administrative law enforcement personnel holding certificates and qualification management, continuously improve the comprehensive quality and ability of personnel, and enhance the ability of ecological environment management.
The third is to lay a solid foundation for capacity and improve the efficiency of environmental management. We will comprehensively promote the standardization of environmental monitoring, supervision and law enforcement capabilities, equip environmental law enforcement investigation and evidence collection, mobile law enforcement and other equipment, implement coordination between environmental monitoring and law enforcement measurement and management, establish and operate a big data platform to improve the level of informationization and sharing, and strengthen coordination and linkage to ensure smooth and efficient.