Law Commons^™

The Paper Tiger Gets Teeth: Developments In Chinese Environmental Law, Erin Ryan

Erin Ryan

This very short essay reports on the 2014 amendments to China’s Environmental Protection Law, following a series of internationally reported air and water pollution crises leading to unprecedented public protests. The changes promise more meaningful oversight of industrial pollution and harsher penalties for violations, targeting not only polluters but officials who fail to enforce applicable regulations against them. The amendments also empower certain non-governmental organizations to bring environmental litigation on behalf of the public. Official news accounts openly acknowledge the government’s hope that increased public access to legal redress will reduce the growing trend of mass environmental protests. These are …

The Elaborate Paper Tiger: Environmental Enforcement And The Rule Of Law In China, Erin Ryan

Erin Ryan

Why Chinese Wildlife Disappears As Cites Spreads, John C. Nagle

John Copeland Nagle

No abstract provided.

The Missing Chinese Environmental Law Statutory Interpretation Cases, John C. Nagle

John Copeland Nagle

No abstract provided.

How Much Should China Pollute?, John C. Nagle

John Copeland Nagle

The debate concerning how much China should pollute is at the heart of international negotiations regarding climate change and environmental protection more generally. China is the world’s leading polluter and leading emitter of greenhouse gases. It insists that it has a right to emit as much as it wants in the future. China interprets the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” to mean that China has a responsibility to help avoid the harmful consequences associated with climate change, but that its responsibility is different from that imposed on the United States and the rest of the developed world. In fact, …

The Effectiveness Of Biodiversity Law, John C. Nagle

John Copeland Nagle

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) has generated a heated debate between those who believe that the law has succeeded and those who believe that the law has failed. The resolution to that debate depends upon whether the law’s stated purposes or some other criteria provide the basis for judging a law’s effectiveness. Meanwhile, since the enactment of the ESA in 1973, biodiversity protection has received growing attention in the nations of southeastern Asia. So far, the law has been much less effective in protecting Asian biodiversity from habitat loss, commercial exploitation, and other threats, yet southeastern Asia’s biodiversity law has …

United States - Certain Measures Affecting Imports Of Poultry From China. Just Another Sps Case?, Lukasz A. Gruszczynski

Lukasz A Gruszczynski

The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) may apply to budgetary measures if they are motivated by SPS concerns. Equivalence-based measures are subject to the regular disciplines of the SPS Agreement, including but not limited to Article 4 SPS. This means that WTO Members, when engaging in the recognition process, need to observe other SPS provisions such as the requirement of a scientific risk assessment (Articles 5.1-5.3) or the quasi-consistency obligation of Article 5.5. A measure which has been found inconsistent with certain provisions of the SPS Agreement (e.g. Articles 2 and 5) cannot be …

China In Context: Energy, Water, And Climate Cooperation, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Climate resilient communities can be achieved with the support of global research, development, deployment, and diffusion of environmentally sound low GHG emission technologies and processes. Technology cooperation should lower emissions remaining mindful of biodiversity, ecosystem services and livelihoods. China and the United States need to respond effectively to both economic and climate crises and can do so in part by cooperating on environmentally sound technology that transforms the global use of energy.

The Challenge Of Chinese Environmental Law, Robert V. Percival

Robert Percival

China faces some of the most difficult environmental problems in the world as rapid industrial growth has produced horrendous air and water pollution. How China’s government responds to these challenges will have profound effects on the global environment. This essay discusses how Chinese environmental laws are evolving to cope with these problems and the severe obstacles that Chinese authorities face. It notes that the highly decentralized nature of China’s system of environmental laws makes it difficult for the central government to implement and enforce the laws. The essay concludes that, despite some progress, the lack of an independent judiciary and …