Huan Fa [2006] No.114

July 28, 2006

Chapter I General Rules

Article 1 These Provisions are formulated according to the "Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China" and other related laws and regulations so as to enhance the management level of environment monitoring quality, regulate the work of environment monitoring quality management, guarantee the accuracy and reliability of the monitoring data and information, and provide a scientific and accurate basis for environmental administration and governmental decision-making.

Article 2 These Provisions shall apply to the environment monitoring centers (stations) at each level and the radiating environment monitoring institutions within the environmental protection sector (hereinafter collectively referred to as environment monitoring institutions).

Article 3 "Work of environment monitoring quality management" refers to all the activities and measures conducted in the whole process of environment monitoring to guarantee the typicality, accuracy, precision, comparability and entirety of monitoring data and information, and include quality planning, quality guaranty, quality control, quality improvement and quality supervision, etc.

Article 4 Environment monitoring quality management is a significant part of environment monitoring work, which shall permeate the whole process of the monitoring work.

Chapter II Institutions and Duties Thereof

Article 5 The administrative department of environmental protection of the State Council shall implement administration of the work of environment monitoring quality management uniformly. All local administrative departments of environmental protection shall have the leading and administering duties in the work of environment monitoring quality management within their jurisdiction. The environment monitoring institutions at all levels shall provide guidance to the work of environment monitoring quality management of the environment monitoring institutions at lower levels under the leadership of the administrative department of environmental protection at the same level.

Article 6 The environment monitoring institution at each level shall take the responsibility of the monitoring data issued by it. It shall actively accept the guidance of the environment monitoring institution at a higher level concerning the work of environment monitoring quality management, and actively participate in technical research on environment monitoring quality management, monitoring eligibility certification, eligibility certificate assessment before taking a position, quality management appraisal and review, information exchange, trainings for the staff, etc., and shall make continuous improvement to the environment monitoring quality.

Article 7 The environment monitoring institution at each level shall have a quality management institution or quality management staff, clarify its/their duties and functions, and have necessary special experiment conditions.

1. To be responsible for supervising and administering all the monitoring activities of its environment monitoring institution and the establishment, effective operation and continuous improvement of the quality management system, and to earnestly guarantee the quality of the work of environment monitoring;
2. To organize and carry out quality control assessment, capacity verification, comparison, method verification, quality supervision, measurement traceability, measurement transmission, and other quality management work, and assessing the results thereof;
3. To being responsible for handling the applications for assessment of the work of the environment monitoring staff of its environment monitoring institution before taking a position, and conducting the daily management; as to a national or provincial environment monitoring institution, it shall organize and conduct the assessment of the work of the staff of the environment monitoring institution at the lower level on their certificates for their positions;
4. To set up environment monitoring standards, technical norms and regulations, and a dynamic information on the basis of the quality management work;
5. To organize and conduct technical trainings and exchanges on environment monitoring technologies and quality management;
6. To organize and develop the supervision and inspections concerning the monitoring quality and quality management of the environment monitoring institution at the lower level;
7. To be responsible for gathering information concerning the quality management of its environment monitoring institution and to summarizing the work thereon; and
8. To take part in the monitoring activities related to disputes such as environmental pollution events, environmental pollution arbitration, complaints of users, cases on environmental disputes, monitoring upon entrustment of judicial organs, etc.

Chapter III Contents of the Work

Article 8 The environment monitoring institutions at all levels shall, in accordance with the requirements of the "Standards for Construction of Environment Monitoring Stations (for Trial Implementation)" and the "Standards for Construction of Radiating Environmental Supervision Stations (for Trial Implementation)" released by the State Environmental Protection Administration, carry out capacity construction, improve the base of environment monitoring quality management on staff, apparatus, equipment, and laboratory environment, etc.

Article 9 The environment monitoring institutions at all levels shall receive the eligibility necessary for providing data in accordance with law, and shall carry out the work of environment monitoring in order to guarantee the legality and effectiveness of the monitoring data within the permitted scope.

Article 10 The persons who engage in the monitoring, data assessment, quality management and other related monitoring activities shall have passed the assessment and certification of the administrative department of environmental protection at the national or provincial level or its authorized department, and obtained the qualification certificate for working on their positions. The environment monitoring apparatuses in use shall have been affirmed by the state metrological department or its authorized entity in accordance with the related requirements or have been adjusted in light of the prescribed procedures. The standard substance in use shall be a certificated standard substance or can be traced to the state reference substance.

Article 11 The environment monitoring institutions at all levels shall set up and improve a quality management system, in order to conduct the quality management work in light of the prescribed procedures, set up archival files for it, and regulate it with rules and norms, and guarantee the effective operation of the system.

Article 12 Quality management shall be actualized in the whole process involving the layout of environment monitoring sites, the sampling, the on-site tests, the sample preparations, the analysis tests, the data appraisals, the comprehensive reports and the data transmissions, etc.

1. A monitoring site shall be set up based on the object for monitoring, the nature of pollutant and the specific conditions in accordance with national standards, industrial standards as along with related technical norms and provisions promulgated by the related department of the state, so as to guarantee the typicality and entirety of the monitoring information.
2. The frequency, time and method of sampling shall be determined according to the requirements concerning the object for monitoring and the method of analysis, in accordance with national standards, industrial standards as along with related technical norms and provisions promulgated by the related department of the state, so that the actual situation, fluctuation scope and change rule of the object for monitoring can be accurately reflected by the monitoring information.
3. The collection, transport, preservation, handover, preparation and analysis test of a sample shall strictly comply with the operational rules, so that the quality of the sample can be guaranteed
4. The on-site tests and the sample analysis tests should firstly adopt the methods under national standards or industrial standards; when it is necessary to adopt international standards or the standards of any foreign country, the equivalence or adaptability inspection shall be made, and the inspection results shall be kept in the archives of the relevant environment monitoring institution.
5. The assessment and comprehensive report of the monitoring data, the information shall, in view of the different objects for monitoring, be assessed and analyzed in accordance with corresponding national or local standards or in a corresponding assessment method. And
6. The consistency and reproducibility of all information data shall be guaranteed by the data transmission.

Article 13 The environment monitoring institution at each level shall energetically carry out and take part in the quality management activities such as quality control assessment, capacity verification, comparison and method verification, etc., and shall control the internal quality through taking cipher sample, explicit code sample, blank sample, parallel sample or through marked recovery, etc.

Article 14 The quality management should apply report system. The environment monitoring institutions at a lower level shall, in the end of each year, hand its quality management summary of this year over to the administrative department of environmental protection at the same level and the environment monitoring institution at the next higher level and such a summary of each environment monitoring institution within its jurisdiction, and shall meanwhile hand its quality management work plan of the next year over to the environment monitoring institution at the next higher level.

Article 15 The administrative department of environmental protection shall organize the check of users' objections to environment monitoring data, the arbitration regarding the complaints concerning environment monitoring quality, and the settlement of the environment monitoring quality accidents, etc and under its leadership the investigation shall be conducted and the evidence shall be collected.

Chapter IV Guaranty of Expenses

Article 16 The environment monitoring quality management expenses (including public service expenses, work expenses and equipment purchase costs, etc.) shall be guaranteed, and must be used for the specified purposes.

Chapter V Penalties

Article 17 The local or the superior administrative department of environmental protection shall order the person whoever violates these Provisions by committing any of the following acts to make a correction within a time limit, and penalize the related entity and the persons held liable.

1. He declares that the monitoring data was finished by a person who has not got a qualification certificate for working on his position;
2. He has caused a major quality accident; or
3. He fabricates or changes the monitoring data, or incites someone else to fabricate or change the monitoring data.

Chapter VI Supplementary Rules

Article 18 The administrative department of environmental protection of all provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government may constitute detailed implementation rules according to these Provisions.

Article 19 The State Environmental Protection Administration shall be responsible for interpreting these Provisions.

Article 20 These Provisions shall enter into force as of the date of promulgation. The former "Provisions on the Administration of Guaranty of Environment Monitoring Quality (for Trial Implementation)" shall be concurrently abolished.