The commerce departments and the environmental protection bureaus (departments) of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and cities under separate state planning, as well as Sinkiang Production and Construction Corps:

In order to implement the requirements of the State Council for the work on energy saving and emission reduction, bring into play the leading role of various kinds of export enterprises in the aspect of environmental protection, put strong curbs on the export of "high-polluting, high-energy-consuming and resource-dependent" products, speed up the transformation of foreign trade growth mode, and promote balanced trade, the relevant issues about impelling export enterprises to take the lead in enhancing their environmental protection level are hereby notified as follows:

I. Fully understanding the significance of strengthening environmental monitoring over export enterprises

Generally speaking, the vast majority of export enterprises can implement state environmental protection laws and regulations, and do pay attention to environmental protection. While there are some enterprises that illegally discharge pollutants, discharge pollutants in excess of standards or overall volume, or illegally occupy environmental resources in order to reduce export costs. On one hand, the said phenomenon increases the pressure on resources and environment, as a result, their products are exported abroad but the pollution they caused is left at home; on the other hand, the said phenomenon makes the price of export products unable to correctly reflect social costs, increases trade friction, fuels the unreasonable growth in the trade surplus and damages the image of Chinese products. To strengthen the environmental monitoring over export enterprises and make such enterprises rigidly abide by state environmental protection laws and regulations will not only be the requirements for achieving the goals of energy saving and emission reduction and comprehensively building an environmentally-friendly society, but also the demands of protecting state environmental interests and promoting the transformation of trade growth mode. The commerce departments and the environmental protection departments at various levels shall, from the height of implementing the scientific concept of development and building a harmonious society, fully understand the significance and urgency of strengthening environmental monitoring over export enterprises, effectively increase the intensify of the work, cooperate with each other closely, and realize practical results.

II. Increasing the intensity of environmental monitoring over export enterprises

The environmental protection departments at various levels shall practically intensify the environmental monitoring over pollutant discharging enterprises that export goods, in particular, over the "high-polluting, high-energy-consuming and resource-dependent" enterprises. First, the environmental protection departments shall conduct a special environmental law compliance inspection to the aforesaid type of enterprises according to the actualities, and impose punishments according to legal provisions upon finding any environmental violation in the inspection; secondly, they shall strengthen daily environmental monitoring over the aforesaid type of enterprises, and increase the frequency of daily inspection and monitoring in accordance with the regulatory requirements for key pollution sources, and ensure that the discharge of pollutants always up to the standards; thirdly, they shall strengthen the management of environmental cases involving export enterprises, establish an environmental law compliance files management database of export enterprises on the basis of clarifying the number of enterprises, varieties and quantities of export products, main pollutants as produced, pollution discharge conditions and punishments against environmental violations, and conduct a dynamic management of punishments against and rectifications of environmental violations.

III. Strengthening the environmental protection compliance examination of the enterprises at the export management link

A local environmental protection department shall, according to the laws, regulations and rules on environmental protection, impose administrative punishments against the administrative violations as investigated and verified, and make announcements of such punishments, and simultaneously order the enterprises to make correction or correct their illegal acts within a time limit. A local environmental protection department shall regularly circulate a notice about the conditions concerning the aforesaid enterprises that commit illegal or wrong acts to the local commerce department, provide corresponding written punishment decisions, and report the conditions to the State Environmental Protection Administration of China via the provincial environmental protection department. The State Environmental Protection Administration of China shall report the conditions to the Ministry of Commerce upon collection thereof.

The Ministry of Commerce will deliver the list of the enterprises that commit illegal or wrong acts and the corresponding written punishment decisions to the local commerce departments, and authorize them to suspend accepting the export business applications filed by the aforesaid enterprises according to the written punishment decisions made by the environmental protection departments, and such applications include: applications for export quotas and licenses, examination and approval of processing trade contracts or projects, issuance of the certificates on processing trade situation and productivity, national and regional export commodity fairs and expos booths, etc. The local commerce department shall report the conditions about export business applications filed by the aforesaid enterprises to the Ministry of Commerce via the provincial commerce department. And the Ministry of Commerce may, according to Articles 34 and 63 of the Foreign Trade .....