China is getting tougher on environmental violations. According to a policy document issued by the State Council on Wednesday, governments at and above the county level should be responsible for law enformence in their jurisdiction and those who protect local polluters or fail to facilitate inspections will be held accountable.
A national inspection program on polluters will be completed by 2015, with findings to be released to the public. A draft amendment to the country’s air pollution law has also been approved.
Violators of those laws will result in public blacklisting. Polluters will be ranked according to a credit rating system and those who fail to rectify issues may incur an infinite amount of daily fines. This is a change from the current one-off fine of up to 32,000 dollars.