The "Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft") was recently publicly solicited for opinions from the public on the website of the National People's Congress.

The public can directly log on to the website of the National People's Congress (www.npc.gov.cn) to submit opinions, or send them to the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (No. 1, Qianmen West Street, Xicheng District, Beijing, Postal Code: 100805. The envelope must be marked with "Request for Comments on the Draft Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law"). The deadline for soliciting opinions is July 27, 2017.

It is understood that the "Draft" emphasizes the improvement of environmental quality as the core and implements the most stringent environmental protection system. It stipulates the management system, government responsibilities, target responsibilities and assessments for soil pollution prevention and control; strengthens the responsibilities of the government, enterprises and the public in soil pollution prevention and control. It stipulates the general rights and obligations of units and individuals, and establishes a system framework for the soil pollution responsible person, land user and government to bear the responsibility for prevention and control in sequence.

The "Draft" clearly requires the establishment of a soil pollution prevention and control standard system, stipulates that a soil environmental survey will be organized every ten years, and the country will implement a soil pollution status monitoring system.

The draft also specifically points out that when formulating and revising land use planning and urban and rural planning, soil pollution prevention and control requirements should be fully considered and land use should be reasonably determined. At the same time, national and local soil pollution prevention and control work will be included in environmental protection planning, and some places will need to formulate special plans. Uncontaminated cultivated land, forest land, garden land, pasture land and drinking water source soil should be given priority protection; ecological land and unused land soil should be protected.