A Study Of The Implementation Of The Continuing Daily Penalty Regime Established In The New Environmental Protection Law

In recent years, the environmental quality of China has been deteriorated. Under this circumstances, the new Environmental Protection Law of The People’s Republic of China establishes the continuing daily penalty regime, this regime follows the procedure that before the final decision of the continuing daily penalty, relevant law-breakers have a chance to correct their actions. This regime can only be applied to the incorrigible actors. The objects of the regime at present are environmental administrative offences such as discharge of pollutants in violation of environmental protection laws, typically includes actions like sewage over the total control indicators and evading supervision. The continuing daily penalty essentially is a kind of penalty belongs to administrative penalty, but it differs from the common fine because of its calculation. The number is determined in accordance with the days that actors illegally discharge pollutants. The implementation of the continuing daily penalty includes three links that have inherent logical relationship: enterprises discharge pollutants illegally; the environmental protection department imposes a fine and orders them to correct; enterprises are convicted of refusing to correct at the time of review. The regime pushes the potential illegal cost to the maximum extent, effectively changing the embarrassing situation that “illegal costs much lower than compliance costs”. Meanwhile, the purpose of the application of the regime is not for the fine, but to urge enterprises to correct illegal behaviors. As a result, if the application can’t achieve the goal, we need to take some coercive measures such as seizure and detention in order to solve the difficulty of implementation problems. The continuing daily penalty belongs to specific administrative actions, so we need to pay attention to the due process and the collection of evidence to protect the legitimate rights and interests of administrative counterparts.