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According to Zhang, currently the law in China stipulates that a company needs to release their waste discharge information within three months after the company has been cited by the environmental department for pollution violations over the threshold level. However, investigative measures confirm that “those companies did not follow the ‘Measures on Open Environmental Information (On Trial)’,” Zhang said. He added that since the law was introduced as recently as May 1, 2008, that may be the reason that not enough attention has been paid to it.
Mr. Zhang also pointed out that the law explicitly provided that local environmental protection departments have the duty of monitoring companies that pollute, and can impose fines to deter them from polluting. However, investigative measures have indicated that this aspect of their responsibilities has not been adequately pursued.
Mr. Zhang also pointed out that some clauses in the “Measures” are not very clear. There is no clear definition for what a serious polluting company is. It provides a clear definition on what exceeds the stipulated standard, however serious contamination is not an indicator that can be quantified.
“After we wrote the report, we suggested to relevant government departments that they should offer a more detailed explanation as soon as possible,” said Zhang.
Zhang Boju from Friends of Nature said that the media exposed many major heavy metal pollution infractions last year, which shocked the public. He emphasized that public monitoring, even in as circumscribed a communication environment as contemporary China, did have a positive effect in helping to curtail heavy metal pollution infractions.
After the publication of the report, the 34 environmental organizations, including the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs and Friends of Nature, a joint letter was sent to the CEOs of 29 well-known IT companies, urging them to take on more responsibility for environmental protection, and review their suppliers. Twenty of them have responded so far, but to date, Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent, Siemens, and Apple have failed to do so.
Read the original Chinese article.
