The State Council: Photovoltaic projects can be filed online, and site selection opinions, land preliminary review and environmental impact assessment are no longer preconditions

Compared with wind power projects that adopt the "approval system", photovoltaic projects have always adopted the "filing system" and can be filed online. The site selection proposal, EIA approval, land preliminary review comments, energy conservation review comments, etc. are no longer preconditions for project approval or filing!

According to the Regulations on the Administration of the Approval and Filing of Enterprise Investment Projects issued by the State Council (Order No. 673 of the State Council):

Article 3 Projects related to national security, involving the distribution of major national productive forces, strategic resource development and major public interests shall be subject to the examination and approval administration. Items other than those specified in the preceding paragraph shall be put on record.

Article 4 Except for projects involving state secrets, project approval and filing shall be handled through the national online project supervision platform (hereinafter referred to as the online platform).

Article 6 When going through the formalities of project approval, an enterprise shall submit a project application to the approval authority; For projects approved by the State Council, a project application shall be submitted to the competent investment department under the State Council. The project application shall include the following contents:

（1） Basic information of the enterprise;

（2） Project information, including project name, construction site, construction scale, construction content, etc;

（3） Analysis of resource utilization and impact on ecological environment;

（4） Analysis of the impact of the project on economy and society.

The enterprise shall be responsible for the authenticity of the contents of the project application.

Where relevant formalities are required by laws and administrative regulations as preconditions for project approval, the enterprise shall submit documents proving that relevant formalities have been completed.

Article 13 For a project subject to record management, the enterprise shall inform the record filing authority of the following information through the online platform before the construction starts:

（1） Basic information of the enterprise;

（2） Project name, construction site, construction scale and construction content;

（3） Total investment of the project;

（4） Statement that the project conforms to the industrial policy.

The enterprise shall be responsible for the authenticity of the information of the filed project.

The filing authority shall be deemed as having received all the information specified in the first paragraph of this article; If the information notified by the enterprise is incomplete, the filing authority shall guide the enterprise to make corrections.

If an enterprise needs a filing certificate, it may require the filing authority to issue it or print it by itself through the online platform.

It can be seen from the above that no matter the project is under approval management or filing management, the project site selection proposal, EIA approval, land preliminary review comments and energy conservation review comments are no longer the preconditions for project approval or filing. In addition, the filing management does not need to handle any approval, and the filing authority is deemed to have received all the information submitted by the enterprise. (Photovoltaic project is for record management)

At the same time, Article 25 of the new EIA Law also clearly stipulates that:

If the environmental impact assessment document of a construction project has not been examined by the examination and approval department according to law or has not been approved after examination, the construction unit shall not start construction. Therefore, the EIA approval is no longer required to be completed before project initiation, but must be completed before project commencement.

Old regulations

The previous Measures for the Administration of Government Approved Investment Projects (NDRC Decree No. 11)

Article 12& nbsp; When submitting the project application report, the project unit shall attach the following documents in accordance with the provisions of national laws and regulations:

（1） The proposal on site selection issued by the administrative department in charge of urban and rural planning (only refers to projects that provide state-owned land use rights by means of allocation)& nbsp;

（2） Preliminary review opinions on land use issued by the administrative department of land and resources (land use preliminary review may not be conducted for projects that do not involve new land use and that are to be reconstructed or expanded within the approved construction land);

（3） Approval documents of environmental impact assessment issued by the competent administrative department of environmental protection;

（4） Review opinions on energy conservation issued by the energy conservation review authority& nbsp;

（5） Other documents that shall be submitted according to relevant laws and regulations.

It can be seen that the original Management Method clearly stipulates that the project site selection proposal, EIA approval, land preliminary review comments, energy conservation review comments, etc. are all preconditions for project approval.

Full text of the new policy Order of the State Council of the People's Republic of China

No. 673

The Regulations on the Administration of the Approval and Filing of Enterprise Investment Projects, adopted at the 149th executive meeting of the State Council on October 8, 2016, are hereby promulgated and shall come into force as of February 1, 2017& nbsp;

Premier; Li Keqiang

November 30, 2016