Energy Conservation Law of China

Compendium on Energy Conservation Legislation
in Countries of the Asia and Pacific Region

Part Four: Selected National and State Laws and Regulations for Promotion of
Energy Conservation and Efficiency in Countries of the Asia and Pacific Region

Note: In China, the Energy Conservation Law was approved by the 28th Standing Committee Meeting of the 8th National People's Congress on 1 November 1997. The text of the law was published in the People's Daily on 3 November 1997. The law came into effect on 1 January 1998. The following text is the unofficial English translation of the Law.

Energy Conservation Law of China
Presidential Act of the People's Republic of China No. 90
(1 November 1997)

The Energy Conservation Law of the People's Republic of China which was adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress at its 28th meeting on 1 November 1997 is hereby promulgated and shall come into force as of 1 January 1998.

Article 1 This law has been formulated with a view to facilitating energy savings throughout society, improving efficiency and economic benefits of energy use, protecting the environment, guaranteeing national economic and social development and meeting the needs of peoples livelihood.

Article 2 Energy as mentioned in this law refers to coal, crude oil, natural gas, electricity, coke, coal gas, thermal power, oil products, liquefied petroleum gas, biomass and a variety of the resources which can provide useful energy directly or through processing and conversion. <return to top>

Article 3 Energy conservation as mentioned in this law refers to reducing loss and waste in various energy stages from energy production to energy consumption, and using energy more efficiently and rationally by strengthening management of energy use and adopting measures which are technologically feasible, economically sound and environmentally and socially affordable.

Article 4 Energy conservation is a long-term strategy for the national economic development. The State Council and the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central Government shall strengthen work on energy conservation, pursue, as appropriate, restructuring of industries, enterprises, products mix and energy consumption pattern, facilitate upgrading of energy conservation technology, reduce energy consumption of both unit production value and unit product output, improve energy development, processing and conversion, transportation and supply, gradually increase efficiency of energy use and promote an energy conservation-oriented national economic development. The state shall encourage the development and utilization of new and renewable sources of energy.

Article 5 The state shall formulate energy conservation policies and plans and incorporate them into the national economic and social development program with a view to ensuring rational utilization of energy in tune with economic development and environmental protection.

Article 6 The state shall encourage and support research and popularization in the science and technology of energy conservation. The state shall enhance dissemination of information and education on energy conservation so as to popularize scientific knowledge of energy conservation and promote public awareness of energy conservation.

Article 7 Any entity or individual shall have the obligation to save energy and shall have the right to inform against acts of wasting energy.

The people's government at various levels shall grant rewards to entities and individuals who have made remarkable achievements in energy savings or in research and popularization of energy conservation science and technology.

Article 8 The competent energy conservation agency under the State Council shall be in charge of the supervision and management of the energy conservation work of the whole country. The relevant departments under the State Council shall be in charge of the supervision and management of energy conservation work in their respective areas of responsibilities. <return to top>

The competent energy conservation agencies under the local people's government at the county level and above shall be in charge of the supervision and management of the energy conservation work within their respective administrative area. The relevant departments under the local people's government at the county level and above shall be in charge of the supervision and management of energy conservation work in their respective area of responsibilities.

Article 9 The State Council and the local people's Government at all levels shall strengthen their leadership in energy conservation work and, shall plan, coordinate, supervise, examine and promote energy conservation work every year.

Article 10 In accordance with the policy of pursuing both energy conservation and energy development simultaneously while giving first priority to energy conservation, the State Council and the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central Government shall select investment projects of energy conservation and energy development on the basis of technological, economic and environmental comparisons and validations of the projects, and compile energy investment plans.

Article 11 The State Council and the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central Government shall allocate energy conservation funds from both capital construction and technological restructuring investment funds to support rational energy utilization and development of new and renewable sources of energy.

The people's governments of the cities and counties shall allocate energy conservation funds according to local conditions to support rational energy utilization and development of new and renewable sources of energy.

Article 12 The feasibility study of a fixed asset investment project shall include a specific evaluation of rational energy utilization of the project.

Designs and construction of fixed asset investment projects shall follow standards of rational energy utilization and norms of energy saving designs.

The agency with the authority to examine and approve projects in accordance with the law shall not approve construction of the project which does not meet the standards of rational energy utilization and norms of energy saving designs, and shall not issue certificate of acceptance for such projects after their construction is completed. <return to top>

Article 13 Construction of new industrial projects exploiting backward technologies characterized by excessive energy consumption and severe waste of energy is prohibited. The agency under the State Council in charge of the management of energy conservation work shall, in consultation with other relevant departments under the State Council, compile a list of industrial projects requiring excessive energy consumption whose construction is prohibited, and formulate specific rules of enforcement.

Article 14 The competent administration under the State Council in charge of standardization shall establish national standards for energy conservation.

The relevant departments under the State Council which are not covered by the national standards shall establish, in accordance with the law, the relevant sectional standards of energy conservation, and file them with the competent administration in charge of standardization under the State Council.

Formulation of the standards for energy conservation shall be aimed at technological advantages, economic soundness and continuous improvement.

Article 15 The competent agency under the State Council in charge of the management of energy conservation work shall, in cooperation with other relevant departments under the State Council, strengthen supervision of the sectors engaged in mass production of widely-used energy-consuming products with a view to urging them to adopt energy saving measures, actively improve product designs and manufacturing technologies and gradually reduce energy consumption per unit product output in the respective sectors.

Article 16 The agency under the people's government at the provincial level and above in charge of the management of energy conservation work shall, in consultation with other relevant departments at the same level, set limit to energy consumption per unit product output for products highly energy-consuming in the manufacturing process.

The energy consumption limits per unit product output shall be set in a scientific and rational manner.

Article 17 The State shall institute a phase-out system for backward and excessively energy-consuming products and equipment. <return to top>

The agency under the State Council in charge of the management of energy conservation work shall, in consultation with other relevant departments under the State Council, identify and publish a list of the excessively by energy-consuming products and equipment to be phased out and eliminated from production. The specific measures of implementation shall be formulated by the agency under the State Council in charge of the management of energy conservation work in consultation with other relevant departments under the State Council.

Article 18 On a voluntary basis, enterprises may, in accordance with the state regulations of product quality authentication, apply for energy-saving quality authentication for energy intensive products with the agency under the State Council in charge of the regulation and supervision of product quality, or with the authentication organizations approved by the departments which are authorized by the agency under the State Council in charge of the regulation and supervision of product quality. After satisfying the qualifications for authentication, the authentication certificate for energy-saving attribute shall be issued, and the label of authentication of energy saving attribute shall be put on the energy intensive products or the packages thereof.

Article 19 The statistical departments of the people's government at the county level and above shall, in cooperation with other relevant departments at the same level, carry out statistical work on energy consumption and energy utilization, and regularly issue bulletins to publish unit product energy consumption data for major energy-intensive products and other relevant information.

Article 20 The state shall strengthen energy conservation management for key energy-using entities. The key energy-using entities are defined as follows:

1) Energy-using entities with the total annual energy consumption exceeding 10,000 tons of coal equivalent; and

2) Energy-using entities which are designated by the relevant departments under the State Council or by the departments under the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central Government in charge of the management of energy conservation, with the total annual energy consumption of over 5,000 tons of coal equivalent and less than 10,000 tons of coal equivalent. <return to top>

The departments in charge of the management of energy conservation under the people's government at the county level or above shall organize other relevant departments to supervise and examine energy utilization in key energy-using entities, and may entrust the entities that possess testing and measuring technology to carry out tests and measurements of energy savings.

The requirements, measures and management procedures of energy conservation for key energy-using entities shall be formulated by the agency under the State Council in charge of the management of energy conservation in consultation with other relevant departments under the State Council.

Article 21 Energy-using entities shall, in accordance with the principle of rational utilization of energy, strengthen energy management, and formulate and implement technical measures for energy saving in their respective entity with a view to reducing energy consumption.

Energy-using entities shall conduct education in energy conservation and organize energy conservation training for the relevant personnel.

Personnel who have not received education and training in energy conservation shall not operate energy consuming equipment.

Article 22 Energy-using entities shall strengthen management of energy measurement and establish a sound system of energy consumption statistics and energy utilization analysis.

Article 23 Energy-using entities shall establish a responsibility system for energy conservation and grant rewards to the groups and individuals who have made achievements in energy conservation.

Article 24 Products which are highly energy consuming in the course of production are subject to the officially established energy consumption ceiling per unit product.

Entities which exceed the energy consumption ceiling per unit product, in serious cases, shall be subject to a time-bound rectification. The case of time-bound rectification shall be decided by the departments in charge of the management of energy conservation under the people's government at the county level and above within their competence authorized by the State Council. <return to top>

Article 25 Entities and individuals engaged in producing and marketing energy-consuming products, must stop producing and marketing the energy-consuming products which have been ordered explicitly by the State to be phased out, and entities and individuals using energy-consuming equipment, must stop using the energy-consuming equipment which have been ordered explicitly by the state to be phased out within the time limit jointly set by the agency under the State Council in charge of the management of energy conservation and other relevant departments under the State Council, and must not transfer such equipment to other people to use.

Article 26 Entities and individuals engaged in producing energy-consuming products shall accurately indicate the energy consumption index in the product manual and on the product label.

Article 27 Entities and individuals engaged in producing energy-consuming products shall not use a counterfeit label of authentication for energy saving attribute and falsely use the label of authentication for energy saving attribute.

Article 28 Key energy-using entities shall regularly submit reports on the status of energy utilization in accordance with the relevant state regulations. The status of energy utilization should cover, inter alia, energy consumption, an analysis of energy use efficiency and benefits of energy savings and energy conservation measures.

Article 29 Key energy-using entities shall set up posts for energy conservation management, appoint energy conservation managers from those at the level of an engineer or above who possess professional knowledge and practical experiences in energy conservation, and file the appointment with the agency in charge of the management of energy conservation and other relevant departments of the people's governments at the county level and above.

Energy conservation managers are responsible for supervising and examining energy utilization in their entities.

Article 30 Employees of entities and other urban and rural residents who utilize electricity, coal gas, natural gas, coal and other energy produced by entities shall measure and pay for their energy consumption in accordance with state regulations, and shall not utilize the energy without pay or for lump-sum payment.

Article 31 Entities engaged in energy production and the energy business shall supply energy for energy-using entities in accordance with stipulations in the laws and statutes and agreements in the contracts. <return to top>

Article 32 The state shall encourage and support developing advanced energy conservation technologies, determine the key areas and directions in development of advanced energy conservation technologies, establish and improve technical service systems of energy conservation, and develop and regulate the market of energy conservation technologies.

Article 33 The state shall organize and carry out key projects of scientific research and technology development in energy conservation and key demonstration projects in energy conservation, propose projects for popularization of energy conservation, and guide enterprises, institutional entities and individuals to adopt advanced energy conservation processes, technologies, equipment and materials.

The state shall formulate a favourable policy to support energy conservation demonstration projects and energy conservation popularization projects.

Article 34 The state shall encourage introduction of advanced energy conservation technologies and equipment from abroad and prohibit introduction of backward energy use technologies, equipment and materials from abroad.

Article 35 Funds shall be earmarked from scientific research funds allocated by the State Council and the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central Government, and used for research in advanced energy conservation technology.

Article 36 The people's government at the county level and above shall organize the relevant departments, in accordance with the state policy for sectorial development and the state energy conservation technology policy, to promote scientifically specialized production that meet the energy conservation requirements.

Article 37 Building designs and construction shall, in accordance with the relevant laws and administrative regulations, employ energy-saving types of construction structures, materials, facilities and products, improve heat insulation properties and reduce energy consumption for space heating, cooling and lighting. <return to top>

Article 38 Based on the policy of fitting local conditions, multiple complementation, comprehensive utilization and priority of economic benefits, the people's government at various levels shall strengthen the support, development and utilization of biogas, solar energy, wind, hydropower and geothermal energy.

Article 39 The state shall encourage the following general energy conservation technologies:

1) Co-generation of thermal power and district heating, improving utilization rates of the thermal turbine sets, technologies of thermal energy gradient utilization, co-generation of heat, electricity and cooling and co-supply of heat, electricity and coal gas, and enhanced rates of comprehensive thermal energy utilization;

2) Gradually realization of economic operation for electrical motors, industrial fans and pumping equipment as well as their systems; developing speed adjustable motors for energy savings and electrical and electronic energy-saving technologies for electric power; developing, manufacturing and popularizing high-quality and low-price energy saving instrument and facilities with a view to increasing the efficiency of electric power utilization;

3) Developing and popularizing clean coal technologies in fluidized bed combustion, smokeless combustion, liquefaction and gasification and others; increasing rates of coal energy utilization; and

4) Developing and popularizing other general energy conservation technologies which have demonstrated their maturity and remarkable economic benefits.

Article 40 All sectors shall formulate sectorial energy conservation policies, develop and popularize new energy saving technologies, techniques, equipment and materials limit or phase out dated technologies, techniques, equipment and materials.

Article 41 The agency under the State Council in charge of the management of energy conservation shall, in consultation with the relevant departments under the State Council, formulate the general and sectional specific technical indicators, requirements and measures for energy conservation and modify them in a timely manner in light of the status of both economic development and advancement of energy conservation technology with a view to improving energy utilization efficiency and reducing energy consumption, so as to enable our country to gradually catch up with advanced international standard in terms of energy utilization. <return to top>

Article 42 Where new and highly energy consuming industrial projects which are explicitly prohibited by the State regulations for construction have been built in violation of provisions of Article 13 of this Law, the agency in charge of the management of energy conservation under the people's government at the county level and above shall prepare recommendations and submit them to the people's government at the same level for issuing an order to stop the project from coming into operation or utilization of the project within the competence stipulated by the State Council.

Article 43 Where an entity whose products are highly energy consuming in the production process exceeds the limits of unit product energy consumption in violation of provisions of Article 24 of this Law, and if the case is serious, and is subject to rectification within a deadline, but failed to comply or to reach the required level of rectification, the agency in charge of the management of energy conservation under the people's government at the county level and above shall prepare recommendations and submit them to the people's government at the same level for issuing an order to stop the operation of the entity for rectification or shut it down within the competence stipulated by the State Council.

Article 44 Where there is production and sale, in violation of the provisions of Article 25 of this Law, of the energy-consuming products which are explicitly ordered to be phased out by the state the agency in charge of the management of product quality supervision under the people's government at the county level and above shall order the cessation of the production and sale of such products and confiscate those products and the illegal income, and impose a fine of the amount more than 1 time and less than five times the amount of the illegal income. The administrative bureau of industry and commerce under the people's government at the county level and above may revoke the business license.

Article 45 Where there is utilization of the energy-consuming equipment which are explicitly ordered to be phased out by the state in violation of provisions of Article 25 of this Law, the agency in charge of the management of energy conservation under the people's government at the county level and above shall order the cessation of use and confiscate such equipment; if the case is serious, the agency in charge of the management of energy conservation under the people's government at the county level and above shall prepare recommendations and submit them to the people's government at the same level for issuing an order to stop the business operation for rectification or shut it down within the competence stipulated by the State Council. <return to top>

Article 46 Where there is transfer of the energy-consuming equipment which is already phased out to others to use in violation of provisions of Article 25 of this Law, the agency in charge of the administration of product quality supervision under the people's government at the county level and above shall confiscate the illegal income from the transfer and impose a fine of the amount more than one time and less than five times the amount of the illegal income.

Article 47 Where there is no indication of the energy consumption index in the product manual and on the product label in violation of provisions of Article 26 of this Law, the agency in charge of the administration of product quality supervision under the people's government at the county level and above shall issue an order for rectification within a deadline and may impose a fine of less than 50,000 yuan (RMB).

Where the indication of the energy consumption index in the product manual and on the product label does not fit the actual energy consumption of the product in violation of provisions of Article 26 of this Law, in addition to the penalties as prescribed in the preceding paragraph, responsibility for any civil liability in accordance with the relevant laws shall be undertaken.

Article 48 Where there is use of counterfeit label of authentication for energy saving attribute or false uses of the label of authentication for energy saving attribute in violation of provisions of Article 27 of this Law, the agency in charge of the administration of product quality supervision under the people's government at the county level and above shall issue an order for a public correction, confiscate the illegal income and impose a fine of the amount more than 1 time and less than 5 times the amount of the illegal income.

Article 49 Where public servants in position of energy conservation management abuse their powers, neglect their duties and bend the law for their own benefits, and if such acts constitute an offense, such public servants shall be subject to investigation for affixing criminal liabilities in accordance with the law. Where such acts do not constitute an offense, administrative disciplinary action shall be taken against them.