Wang Haijun: The ecological environment code should be forward-looking
Wang Haijun, Senior Partner and Deputy Director of Beijing Deheheng Law Firm
The "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reforms and Promoting Chinese-Style Modernization" points out the need to further improve the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, and clearly puts forward a specific action program for deepening administration according to law. Recently, Wang Haijun, senior partner and deputy director of Beijing Deheheng Law Firm, accepted an exclusive interview with our reporter and elaborated on the importance of the rule of law in the process of Chinese-style modernization from the professional perspective of legal practitioners. At the same time, we conduct in-depth discussions around practical problems existing in the current law enforcement and supervision process, carbon emissions trading, etc., and put forward opinions and suggestions.
China Environment News: Can you talk about the importance of the rule of law in the process of Chinese-style modernization based on your own professional experience, especially in the field of ecological and environmental governance, what key role does administration according to law play?
Wang Haijun:As a lawyer in the field of ecological environment, in the past 20 years of practice, I have personally experienced the establishment, development and improvement of my country's ecological and environmental legal system. I have also personally experienced the key role played by administration according to law in the field of ecological and environmental governance. The key to administration according to law is that statutory powers must be exercised and cannot be exercised without authorization by the law. Ecological environmental protection must be promoted within the framework of the law and pollution control in accordance with the law.
At present, my country has gradually fully incorporated the administrative actions of the ecological and environmental departments into the track of the rule of law. The promulgation of the Yangtze River Protection Law and the Yellow River Protection Law, and the revision of the Marine Environmental Protection Law and the Environmental Impact Assessment Law have laid the foundation for my country's rule of law in the field of ecological and environmental governance, promoted the construction of ecological civilization and achieved green development goals.
On the premise of gradually improving the ecological and environmental legal system, the ecological and environmental departments strictly enforce the law, investigate and deal with ecological and environmental violations, and ensure the deterrent power of the law; courts at all levels administer justice fairly, resolve environment-related disputes, and use the environmental public interest litigation system to protect the public's legal environment. Rights and interests; publicity and education on ecological and environmental laws and regulations have been gradually strengthened, raising the awareness of the rule of law and environmental responsibility in the whole society, and making pollution control according to law a social consensus.
China Environment News: The "Decision" clearly proposes to promote the cross-regional connection of administrative law enforcement standards. Regarding the problem of different penalties for the same case in the field of ecological environment, what institutional levels do you think should be started to promote the unification and connection of cross-regional law enforcement standards?
Wang Haijun:Develop unified law enforcement standards to reduce discretionary space in law enforcement. In this regard, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has issued relevant documents to provide guidance, and various localities have also issued relevant regulations on the discretion benchmark. When enforcing the law, ecological and environmental administrative law enforcement personnel should standardize the exercise of discretion in accordance with the relevant provisions of the discretion benchmark and make administrative penalties.
Strengthen the training of law enforcement personnel and build a professional law enforcement team. Ecological and environmental administrative law enforcement personnel are the basis for promoting standardization and standardization in the field of ecological and environmental administrative law enforcement. At present, there are objectively differences in the professional level of law enforcement personnel in different places. Therefore, strengthening the training of law enforcement personnel and improving the professional level and legal understanding of law enforcement personnel can further improve the consistency and accuracy of law enforcement.
Standardize administrative law enforcement procedures, ensure that administrative law enforcement procedures are legal and transparent, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of administrative counterparts. Among them, special attention must be paid to giving full play to the role of the legal review system, allowing the internal supervision procedures of administrative agencies to supervise the legality and rationality of law enforcement actions, and ensuring the legitimacy of major law enforcement decisions.
China Environment News: The "Decision" mentioned the need to improve the benchmark system for administrative discretion in areas such as administrative penalties. In the field of ecological environment, how to refine and improve the benchmark system for discretion for administrative penalties to ensure that law enforcement is both strong and warm, strictly protect the ecological environment, and avoid excessive law enforcement? Can it be combined with specific cases?
Wang Haijun:The key to "combining hardness and softness" in administrative law enforcement lies in clarifying the system of exemption from punishment for minor violations and prudent punishment for first-time violations. All localities need to take reasonable and appropriate measures based on factors such as economic and social development, law enforcement objects, and harmful consequences to ensure that penalties and The degree of fault is commensurate with the degree of minor violations and first-time violations can be exempted from punishment or given a lighter punishment depending on the specific circumstances.
For example, if law enforcement officers discovered abnormalities in online monitoring facilities, a law enforcement team in a certain place launched an investigation after initiating law enforcement procedures. During the on-site investigation and evidence collection process, it was found that the equipment operation and maintenance company had carried out calibration before the abnormality occurred. However, the abnormal situation in the facility was analyzed by professionals and found that it was unstable due to equipment hardware problems.
The law enforcement officers comprehensively considered the results of investigation and evidence collection and judged that the company did not have subjective intention and laissez-faire, and that the problem was discovered on the same day that the abnormal situation occurred, and that there was no ecological and environmental impact. The illegal act was significantly minor and corrected in a timely manner, so they made a decision not to punish. For the company, while avoiding economic losses, it will also make it more confident in ecological and environmental administrative law enforcement, achieving the unity of legal effects and social effects.
China Environment News: Improving the two-way connection system between administrative penalties and criminal penalties is crucial to improving the efficiency of ecological and environmental law enforcement. The "Decision" emphasizes the need to improve the two-way connection system between administrative penalties and criminal penalties. In your opinion, what are the shortcomings of the "connection between the two laws" in the field of ecological environment? How to more effectively achieve the "connection of executions" and increase the intensity of cracking down on ecological and environmental crimes?
Wang Haijun:At present, the effectiveness of the existing connection mechanism between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice has not yet been fully exerted. Although the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate have established a mechanism for the "connection of the two laws" in relevant judicial interpretations and made relevant provisions in relevant regulations issued in various places, in practice, there is still a lack of a long-term linkage mechanism, and there are problems such as insufficient timely linkage between the connection departments of environmental resources, judicial and administrative law enforcement, insufficient unified understanding, and insufficient smooth information channels.
In order to better realize the "connection between the two laws", we should make full use of information technology and establish a unified database. On the one hand, we can better realize data sharing, efficiently and conveniently conduct data intercommunication, and use the information sharing platform to analyze cases related to illegal activities. clues and evidence materials are transmitted; on the other hand, we can use big data and other means to analyze case clues to assist in judging whether they are situations that should be transferred to judicial organs for handling.
China Environment News: As an attorney, you represented the first series of environmental public interest litigation cases involving carbon emission data fraud in China. In your opinion, compared with traditional environmental cases, what are the unique legal characteristics and controversial focuses of carbon emissions trading cases? How should we accurately apply the existing legal framework and explore innovative legal application methods to adapt to the rapid development and complexity of the carbon market?
Wang Haijun:At present, my country's carbon-related cases are still in their infancy, with a small number and difficult trial. The main problem is that no greenhouse gas mainly composed of carbon dioxide is not an air pollutant, and carbon-related cases cannot be handled in the same way as air pollution cases. How to calculate the ecological and environmental damage caused by greenhouse gases and how to calculate the amount of compensation for excessive emissions of greenhouse gases are also the main problems faced by carbon-related cases. In addition, with the active carbon emissions trading market, disputes surrounding carbon emissions trading have also begun to increase, which has provided ideas and directions for the further improvement of laws and regulations related to carbon emissions.
In recent years, administrative regulations and departmental regulations such as the "Interim Regulations on the Administration of Carbon Emissions Trading","Carbon Emissions Trading Management Rules (Trial)" and "Carbon Emissions Trading Management Measures (Trial)" have been promulgated one after another, and relevant rules and regulations for carbon emissions trading have also been gradually improved with the in-depth development of practice. When handling carbon-related cases, we mainly rely on existing legal provisions and conduct in-depth research with professionals in the field of carbon emissions to find breakthrough points in cases.
China Environment News: As a senior environmental lawyer, do you have any suggestions for the compilation of an ecological environment code?
Wang Haijun:The compilation of the Ecological Environment Code will comprehensively cover all aspects of environmental protection, including pollution prevention, ecological protection, resource management, environmental responsibility, etc., forming a systematic legal framework. Therefore, the Ecological Environment Code should be forward-looking. In addition to integrating current relevant legal provisions in the field of ecological environment, it should also provide solutions to possible environmental problems and challenges in the future, and provide legal guidance for emerging technologies and industrial transformation. This also requires the Ecological Environment Code to have certain adaptability and flexibility and be able to adapt to different situations in different regions and different environmental issues. In the process of compiling the Ecological Environment Code, it is necessary to extensively solicit opinions from ecological and environmental protection professionals, legal experts and legal workers from all walks of life, but also encourage public participation and collect opinions and suggestions from various parties to ensure that the code can reflect social needs and public interests.
China Environment News: Faced with the new challenges of ecological and environmental governance, what innovative paths or measures do you think are worth exploring in administration according to law?
Wang Haijun:Faced with the new challenges of ecological and environmental governance, innovative paths that can be tried in administration according to law include using modern information technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to improve the efficiency and accuracy of environmental supervision; exploring economic policies such as green taxation, carbon trading, and ecological compensation to encourage enterprises and individuals to reduce environmental pollution; strengthen education and training on environmental protection laws and regulations, and improve national environmental awareness and legal literacy; Against the background of the world facing global warming, we will strengthen cooperation and coordination on cross-regional and cross-border environmental issues and jointly respond to regional and global environmental issues.
