The purpose of these Interim Measures is to regulate the administration of pollutant discharge licenses. These measures consist of 37 articles divided into 5 Chapters: General provisions (I); Pollutant discharge license content (II); Application, review and issuance (III); Implementation, supervision and management (IV); Supplementary provisions (V).
The Ministry of Environmental Protection, depending on the amount of pollutants generated and discharged and on the degree of harm to the environment, shall administer the pollutant discharge licensing in a differentiate manner for pollutant discharge entities in different industries or those of different types in the same industry as provided in the catalogues for the classification-based management. Those entities discharging pollutants that do relatively little harm to the environment shall be subject to streamlined administration of pollutant discharging licensing.
The pollutant discharging license shall indicate the locations of all draining exits and the number thereof, ways of discharging pollutants, whereabouts of pollutants discharged etc.; types of pollutants discharged, permitted discharging concentration, permitted discharging amount; and other matters. The Provisions also provide in details for specific procedures for applying for, issuing and administering a pollutant discharging license, application materials and time limit for handling such matters.