Chinese exporters may see their production costs rise by five to
ten percent, if a new policy to force exporters to abide by
environmental protection rules comes into force, said an official
from the Ministry of Commerce.
The ministry has issued a notice that exporters would be banned
from trading abroad for one to three years if they were found
violating environmental protection rules.
Exporters would pay extra for discharge facilities and
environment testing, ministry official Chen Guanglong said on
Monday.
Some exporters have ignored the country's regulations on
environmental protection while striving for lower costs, according
to the notice jointly published by the commerce ministry and the
State Environmental Protection Administration.
Analysts said they were the most severe measures the commerce
ministry had adopted to crack down on environmental violations in
the last four years.
The commerce ministry would authorize local departments to stop
approving export-related applications, such as export quotas and
licenses, contracts for processing, and applications for
participating in national or regional trade fairs, of violating
companies, based on reports from local environmental watchdogs.
The applications would be processed only when local
environmental watchdogs confirmed that corrections had been made in
these companies.
The punitive measures were targeted at five sectors, including
metal processing, chemicals, cements, textiles and light industry,
said Chen, as these sectors accounted for 80 percent of the
country's energy consumption.
Under the pressure of higher costs, some small and medium-sized
enterprises would face closure, Chen said.
The ministry would soon launch a special inspection of the
enforcement of environmental rules in exporting enterprises, said
Chen.
(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2007)
