The Political Framework in China – Impacts on the E-waste Recycling System
China is a one-party state with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) having been in power since 1949. The real centre of power in China resides in the CCP’s Politburo, where policy is effectively decided. Since the 1990’s, the Chinese government has been strengthening legislation on natural resource protection and solid waste protection. Impressive environmental laws and regulations have been adopted; a dedicated environmental bureaucracy extends from Beijing down through the provinces, cities, and counties to the township level; and China participates actively in the global environmental community. Yet, much of the environmental energy generated at the national level dissipates as it diffuses through the multilayered state structure, producing outcomes that have little concrete effect.
| System | Sub-categories | Indicator | Unit | Value / Qualitative description |
| Politics & Legislation | Political system | Political system | [-] | China has a multilevel political system in which the major territorial levels are: the Centre, covering the entire country; thirty-one provinces; more than six hundred cities; over two thousand counties; nearly one hundred thousand townships; and close to a million villages. The national government in Beijing, the State Council (China’s cabinet) is at the top; commissions such as the State Planning Commission are one step down; ministries are another step down; bureaus within ministries are yet another step down; and so forth. Provincial governments are the same bureaucratic rank as ministries, and provincial bureaus share the same rank as their ministerial counterparts. No ministry can issue a binding order to a province, even though on an organizational chart it appears that the ministries (which are at the Centre) sit above the thirty-one provinces. Authority is channelled by function as well as by rank. The State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), for example, is at the top of a hierarchy of EPAs at, respectively, the township, county, city, and provincial levels. Typically, each of these specialized organs has at least two potential masters: the government at each organ’s own territorial level of the system and the office in the same functional sphere one level “up†the territorial hierarchy (e.g., the Hunan Provincial EPA is under both the Hunan Provincial Government and NEPA). Reforms since the late 1970s have resulted in the territorial governments becoming more powerful than the central-level functional units such as ministries. Source: Kenneth Lieberthal, China’s Governing System and its Impact on Environmental Policy Implementation, China Environment Series. |
| Sustainability in politics | Sustainable thinking in politics | [-] | China has been improving its environmental legislation and has been an active participant in global environmental treaties. It is one of the signatories of the www.basel.int ">Basel Convention and has issued several directives with regards to pollution prevention and control. In the Government Work Report 2004, Chinese premier Wen stressed the need to vigorously implement the strategy of sustainable development, intensifying law enforcement to strengthen ecological and environmental control, and promoting recycling and clean production. | |
| Civil and political liberties | Civil and political liberties | [-] Index 1 - 7 | 6.5 (2003) (1 – 2.5 = free, 3 – 5.5 = partly free, 5.5 – 7 = not free) Source: www.freedomhouse.org | |
| Legal framework | Legal framework | [-] | Article Three, sections 24 and 25 govern the import of hazardous waste as raw material and Article Four of China’s Solid Waste Law governs the management and disposal of hazardous waste. Article Five, section 66 sets forth the fines to be levied and the authority to conduct investigation for possible criminal violations. |
| Name | Date of Issue | Legal Authority |
| Basel Convention ratification by China | Â | Â |
| Regulation on Waste Imports for Environmental Protection and Management (Interim) | March, 1996 | SEPA |
| Directive on strenfthening environmental management of WEEE | August, 2003 | SEPA |
| Management of WEEE recycling | Draft (~2006) | NDRC |
| Pollution prevention & control and management regulation on electronic information products | Draft (~2004) | MoII |
| Technical policy on pollution prevention and control of WEEEP | Draft (~2004) | SEPA |
