On 25 January 2021, the EPA preannounced the draft Environmental Analysis Act  and stated that its purpose was to enhance the quality and credibility of environmental analysis data. The legislation's main points included setting up a fund, establishing a management platform, optimizing the management of environmental analysis organizations, and establishing systems for staff certification and equipment inspections.

Through the Act, the EPA plans to announce individual enterprises related to environmental analysis as designated analysis obligors, who will pay analysis fees into an "environmental analysis fund." An objective third party "environmental analysis management platform" will be established to help select highly qualified organizations that EPA can contract to carry out environmental analysis for the obligors and provide independent working spaces for environmental analysis. To further ensure professionalism and quality, and credibility of data, the EPA is also planning to incorporate mechanisms to optimize the permit system and establish certification criteria for environmental analysis personnel and equipment inspection systems. Moreover, the legislation will incorporate clauses for whistleblowers and mechanisms for rewarding people who report violations, confiscation of illegal gains, and; rewarding analysis organizations for good performance or canceling their permits for violating regulations to deter enterprises from evading laws and regulations.

Enterprises to be regulated will be announced in batches and stages over the years to lessen the impacts of implementing the law. In the first stage, enterprises that can cause more environmental impacts will be announced as designated environmental analysis subjects, including the air and water pollution sources of a specific scale that are listed for control and are required to conduct regular analysis. The legislation is expected to change the current practice where enterprises directly commission organizations to conduct analysis and influence analysis operations and outcomes. After the preannouncement, the EPA will invite relevant ministries, local government agencies, industry representatives, analysis organizations, and other stakeholders for further discussion, opinion gathering, and consensus-building to complete the legislative process and improve the draft.

Excerpt from Major Environmental Policies, Feb 2021

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