• The State Council has issued Decision on Amending the Regulation on Public Holidays for National Annual Festivals and Memorial Days, increasing the statutory holidays from 11 days to 13 days since 2025.
• The Discretion Benchmark for Emergency Management Administrative Penalties further guide local emergency management departments at all levels to implement their discretionary power of emergency management administrative penalties in a standardized manner.
• To deepen and refine the reform of the emission permit system and fully implement the emission permit system, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has gazetted the Implementation Plan for fully implementing Emission Permit System.
• To strengthen the prevention and control of soil pollution source, in collaboration with 6 other national government bodies, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has gazetted the Action plan for Soil Pollution Source Prevention and Control.
• Updated Minimum Wage Standard of Yunnan Province and Inner Mongolia.

Labour

< Decision on Amending the Regulation on Public Holidays for National Annual Festivals and Memorial Days >

Health and Safety

< Discretion Benchmark for Emergency Management Administrative Penalties >

Environment

< Implementation Plan for Fully Implementing Emission Permit System >

< Action plan for Soil Pollution Source Prevention and Control >

Minimum Wage Standard Update

Yunnan Province and Inner Mongolia

Labour

1. < Decision on Amending the Regulation on Public Holidays for National Annual Festivals and Memorial Days > (2024-11-10)

The State Council has issued the Decision on Amending the Regulation on Public Holidays for National Annual Festivals and Memorial Days (hereinafter referred to as the Decision), which will come into effect on 1^st January 2025. The Decision will bring four major changes to labor employment:

• Change 1: The statutory holidays have increased from 11 days to 13 days.
  The Decision designates New Year's Eve and May 2nd as statutory holidays, thereby increasing the statutory holidays from 11 to 13 days. For the employee who has a rest during statutory holidays, the employer shall pay the employee according to the normal attendance standard.
• Change 2: Overtime wages for employees may increase.
  After the implementation of the Decision, employers who arrange employees to work on New Year's Eve or May 2nd will be required to pay overtime wage at 300% of the workers' normal wage rate. This move will undoubtedly increase overtime wages for employees working on the aforementioned dates.
• Change 3: The average monthly working hours will be decreased.
  After the implementation of the Decision, the monthly comprehensive calculation of working hours will be adjusted to (365-104-13) ÷ 12=20.67 days (it is 20.83 days before the adjustment), which is 165 hours; The annual comprehensive calculation work time has been adjusted to 248 days (it is 250 days before the adjustment), which is 1984 hours. It is worth noting that due to employers shall pay wages on statutory holidays in accordance with the law, and the monthly days with wages are still 21.75 days. Therefore, the criteria for calculating daily and hourly wages remain unchanged. Daily wage=monthly wage ÷ 21.75, and hourly wage=monthly wage ÷ 21.75 ÷ 8.
• Change 4: In principle, there will no longer be continuous work for 7 days.
  Article 7 of the Decision stipulates: "All citizens may reasonably arrange for unified vacation and compensatory leave during their holidays, and in combination with the implementation of paid annual leave and other systems, longer holidays may be formed in practice. Except for a few special circumstances, continuous work before and after statutory holidays generally does not exceed 6 days." This provision, on the premise of affirming the principle of compensatory leave, makes clear requirements for the rationality of compensatory leave.

Health and Safety

1. < Discretion Benchmark for Emergency Management Administrative Penalties > (2024-11-01)

The Discretion Benchmark for Emergency Management Administrative Penalties (hereinafter referred to as the Discretion Benchmark) was reviewed and approved by the Ministry of Emergency Management of the PRC on 1^st November 2024, and has come into effect from the date of its release; The Discretionary Standards for Administrative Penalties for Work Safety formulated by the former State Administration of Work Safety has been abolished simultaneously. The relevant content of the Discretion Benchmark is as follows:

1. The Discretion Benchmark has compiled a total of 37 effective laws, administrative regulations, and departmental rules in the field of emergency management. Its core part is the "Discretionary Rules", which can be summarized into six aspects: illegal behavior, legal provisions, penalty basis, discretion level, applicable conditions, and specific standards.
2. The Discretion Benchmark has simultaneously issued applicable instructions and a list of minor violations of emergency management that may not be subject to administrative penalties. Clarify the purpose basis, scope of application, conceptual definition, hierarchical division, applicable rules, situations of lenient and severe penalty, situations of no administrative penalty, situations of no setting of discretionary power benchmark, and situations of citing legal and regulatory update time, etc., to provide guidance for law enforcement personnel at all levels of local emergency management departments to standardize and accurately use the "Discretion Criteria".
3. The Discretion Benchmark filters out 7 illegal behaviors, stipulates the applicable subjects, situations, and regulatory measures that are not subject to administrative penalties, and guides localities to further improve the work related to inclusive and prudent supervision and law enforcement.

Environment

1. < Implementation Plan for Fully Implementing Emission Permit System > (2024-11-04)

The Implementation Plan for Fully Implementing Emission Permit System (hereinafter referred to as the Implementation Plan) has been gazetted by the General Office of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on 4^th November 2024.  The main contents are as follows:

1.Objectives of the Implementation Plan 

• By 2025, the emission permit management for industrial noise and industrial solid waste will be fully completed, the emission permit management for marine engineering will be basically completed, and the full coverage of environmental management elements will be basically achieved. A series of technical specifications for emission permits, such as methods for calculating pollutant emissions, will be formulated or revised. The integration of ecological environment statistics and emission permits for industries such as thermal power, steel, and cement nationwide will be completed, promoting comprehensive linkage in the reform of fixed pollution sources.
• By 2027, the emission permit system for fixed pollution sources will be further improved, with all major pollutant emissions under licensed control. The regulatory system for fixed pollution sources with the emission permit system will be implemented as the core, and the "one-permit" management approach for emission permits will be fully adopted. The comprehensive, integrated, and full-cycle management of fixed pollution sources emission permits will be basically achieved, and the effectiveness of the emission permit system will be fully exerted.

2.Key tasks of the Implementation Plan

• Continuously deepen the reform of the emission permit system. Focus on improving the system of laws, regulations, and standards, optimizing the emission permit management system, strengthening the management of discharge permits during and after the process, and supporting the battle against pollution prevention and control, to promote the inclusion of all environmental elements into the emission permit management in accordance with the law and enhance the quality and efficiency of emission permit.
• Implement the regulatory system for fixed pollution sources with the emission permit system as the core. Focus on the control of pollutant emissions and promote further integration of various environmental management systems in both depth and breadth. Clarify the pathways for the connection between the emission permit system and other systems such as environmental impact assessment, total emission control, self-monitoring, ecological environment statistics, and environmental protection taxes. Actively explore the integration of river (sea) discharge outlet settings, hazardous waste operating permits, and other related systems with the emission permit system.
• Fully implement the "one-permit" management system for fixed pollution sources. Focus on the responsibilities of three parties to promote the establishment of an environmental governance responsibility system. At the level of pollutant-discharging units, promote the construction of an environmental management system based on emission permits. At the level of management departments, strengthen joint supervision, resource sharing, and information exchange among emission permits, environmental monitoring, and environmental law enforcement, and innovate information-based supervision methods. At the level of the social public, establish an environmental credit supervision system by promoting the sharing mechanism of environmental compliance and integrity information, ensuring the public's right to supervise.
• Strengthen the foundational support for the emission permit system. Enhance the foundational support for the emission permit system by optimizing the national emission permit management information platform and strengthening organizational guarantees. Improve the standardization, intelligence, and convenience of the permit platform to provide solid support for the full implementation of the emission permit system.

2. < Action plan for Soil Pollution Source Prevention and Control > (2024-11-07)

The Action plan for Soil Pollution Source Prevention and Control (hereinafter referred to as the Action Plan) has been gazetted by the General Office of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on 7^th November 2024.  The main contents are as follows:

1.Overall objectives and targets of the Action Plan

• The overall objective is to achieve significant results in soil pollution prevention and control at source by 2027, with three specific indicators set for industrial and mining enterprises and contaminated soil, that are: achieving a qualified rate of over 90% for the investigation and rectification of potential risk at key soil pollution-supervised units, ensuring a safe utilization rate of contaminated farmland exceeding 94%, and effectively guaranteeing the safe utilization of construction land.

2.Key tasks of the Action Plan

• Improve the policy system for preventing soil pollution source. Implement requirements for zoned management and control of ecological environments, deepen the classified management of agricultural land and the safe utilization of construction land, and delineate key areas for preventing groundwater pollution. Strictly enforce the requirements of the guidance catalogue for industrial restructuring in industries such as coking, nonferrous metals, and petrochemicals, and accelerate the green transformation of related industries. Promote mandatory cleaner production audits for enterprises in key industries involving heavy metals in accordance with the law. Strengthen the protection of uncontaminated soils such as black soil and saline-alkali soil.
• Strictly implement pollution prevention and control measures. Strengthen the responsibility implementation of key units, strictly enforce inventory management, hidden danger investigation, and self-monitoring. Strictly prevent the leakage of sewage and waste liquor, and implement the policy of "one enterprise, one pipeline, exposed pipe transportation, and real-time monitoring" for chemical enterprises. Encourage the adoption of source control measures to reduce the emission of heavy metal-containing waste gas. Promote the reduction at source and comprehensive utilization of solid waste and strengthen the supervision of construction waste disposal.
• Address long- accumulated severe pollution problem. Strengthen the traceability and remediation of contaminated agricultural land, and coordinate efforts in carrying out ecological restoration and pollution treatment of mines. Promote the supervision of sites vacated by hazardous chemical production enterprises and launch a special soil pollution remediation campaign for chemical industry sites vacated within 1 kilometer along rivers. Strengthen risk management and remediation of contaminated sites in key industries. Enhance the management of priority sites under supervision and implement risk management for chemical industrial parks with high risks of groundwater pollution.
• Improve institutional mechanisms. Enhance laws and regulations system, study and improve relevant provisions on due diligence, and formulate supervision and management measures for groundwater pollution prevention and control. Strengthen inter-departmental coordination, report work progress to the State Council annually, and establish a notification, feedback, and information sharing mechanism for soil and groundwater pollution issues. Emphasize the role of typical examples, create a number of model cities, solicit a batch of typical cases, and cultivate a group of leading enterprises.

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