The "Energy Law" legislative work is nearing completion

On June 28, an official of the Bureau of Industry and Commerce of the Legal Affairs Office of the State Council disclosed to the "Financial National Weekly" that the draft of the "Energy Law" has basically been completed, and the Legislative Affairs Office is reviewing and modifying it. It is not far from the finalized draft. "If it goes well, the fastest It is expected to be promulgated in the next year."

According to the current progress, the "Energy Law" will be finalized before the end of this year, submitted to the State Council executive meeting for consideration and adoption, and then enter the legislative process.

Three years sword

As the world's largest energy producer and the second largest energy consumer, China has successively issued many laws and regulations such as the “Coal Law” and the “Electricity Law”. However, the Energy Basic Law has been lacking for a long time. In August 2005, a proposal was formulated. The Energy Law report was submitted to the State Council leadership.

At that time, the Chinese economy was facing an energy bottleneck. In April and May of that year, the “oil shortage” took the lead in the economically active Guangdong region, and quickly spread northward to most parts of the country. Excluding more than 20 years of queuing rushes, it was staged before gas stations. .

In this context, the drafting of the "Energy Law" has attracted great attention.

In January 2006, the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Council Legal Affairs Office, and the Ministry of Finance formed a working group for the drafting of an inter-departmental “Energy Law”. Drafting officially kicked off. In March of this year, 16 well-known experts from the industry formed a drafting team to draft draft.

The energy plan set by the Energy Office is to complete the drafting of the energy law in two years or so. Facts have proved that this plan is too optimistic. The expert group lasted nearly two years and took the first draft and publicly solicited comments at the end of 2007. In November 2008, the National Development and Reform Commission submitted a draft for review to the State Council.

Experts involved in the amendment revealed to reporters that the State Council Legislative Affairs Office revised the two drafts at least on the basis of the drafts submitted within one and a half years. “Before the Spring Festival this year, EU experts are invited to discuss.”

The aforementioned officials of the State Council Legislative Affairs Office confirmed that up till now, the Legal Affairs Office of the State Council is still reviewing and amending the draft of the Energy Law, which has been more varied than the draft submitted for review. “We have done a lot of work and further defined the policy orientation of some major issues. Finalization will not be too far."

"The "Energy Law" has already been included in the legislative plan of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council this year. According to the plan, it will be finalized before the end of this year and submitted to the State Council Executive Meeting for deliberation." The official said.

In accordance with the legislative process, after the Legal Affairs Office submitted to the State Council Executive Meeting for deliberation and successful adoption, the draft of the “Energy Law” will be submitted to the entire country. The legislation of the National Standing Committee generally goes through a three-reading procedure with at least 3 readings per reading. Month. The National People's Government passed the deliberation, and the issue of a national ** can be formally promulgated and implemented.

“The current important first step is to get out of the door of the State Council. The next step will be to enter the ** legislative process and it will be faster. The progress of the planning can be successfully completed, first of all depends on the maturity of the manuscript.” National Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission Researcher Wu Zhonghu, member of the Energy Law Drafting Panel, said.

Tangled

The finalization of the "Energy Law" still requires clarification of many important issues. Among them, the legal status of traditional energy and new energy is one of the focuses of the debate.

In the public consultation draft, the development of new energy and renewable energy has been placed in a prominent position. Article 5 of the General Regulations states that “the state actively optimizes the energy structure and encourages the development of new and renewable energy sources...”. Chapter 4 “Energy "Development and Processing Conversion" also proposed that "the state will give priority to the development of new fuels and industrial raw materials that will replace petroleum."
The "Financial National Weekly" has learned that in the revision of the Legal Affairs Office of the State Council, will priority be given to the development of new energy and renewable energy, and will be fixed as a substitute for the development direction of fossil energy as legal provisions, and the relevant parties have serious differences.

The “traditional energy camp” believes that “priority development” does not conform to China’s reality. At present, fossil fuels are still the most important energy source, accounting for more than 70% of China’s energy structure. This situation will be in the long term. continued.

However, if new energy is only targeted at "encouraging" development, it will bring new problems.

Wu Zhonghu told the “Financial National Weekly” that positioning “encouraging” development is too low, because encouragement is not a clear legal concept. “What kind of encouragement is it? To encourage new energy development for many years, but why there is no development? The key is to lack a clear legal status."

"Priority is very clear, put new energy and renewable energy development in a very high position, from a strategic standout." Wu Zhonghu said.

However, Wu's views cannot be recognized by traditional energy companies.

“They worry that once they place new energy priorities, their dominant position will be lost. They fear that after the national strategy is transferred, it will weaken policy support and invest the funds in the development of new energy,” said an industry source.

The “Financial National Weekly” understands that in the latest revision of the “Energy Law”, it is still emphasized that fossil fuels such as oil and gas should be cleaned, efficiently, and comprehensively utilized. Renewable energy will not establish a priority for development; however, this positioning can Can not pass the deliberations of the State Council executive meeting and the national **, still full of variables.

The market position of traditional energy companies is also under difficult balance.

The draft of the “Energy Law” Opinions stipulates that: Enterprises that engage in energy development and utilization activities in the energy sector related to the national economy and the lifeblood of the national economy should assume corresponding social and public responsibilities, and must not abuse monopoly or dominance to the detriment of state and public interests. The competent department of energy of the State Council and relevant departments shall exercise supervision and control over the business activities of the enterprises mentioned in the preceding paragraph according to law.

Ye Rongji, president of the Energy Law Research Association of the China Law Society and deputy head of the “Energy Law” drafting expert group, said: “The monopoly issue itself is very vague and there is no clear explanation for the abuse of monopoly or dominance. We have to pay this issue. Given to the State Council, it is defined by other laws and regulations such as the "Anti-Monopoly Law." In the future, the direction of market-oriented reforms will not be clear."

Regret

At the beginning of its enactment, the "Energy Law" fully borrowed from the United States' National Energy Policy Act - 2005. The drafting group even organized personnel translations for the important chapters of the bill, attempting to draw lessons from it.

However, the intrinsic principle of China's legal system is too many things and the relatively poor operability issues make the Energy Law inevitable in avoiding and obfuscating some major issues.

At the initial stage of drafting, Ye Rongzhen hoped that some quantitative indicators such as energy saving and emission reduction targets, clean energy proportions, and energy strategic reserve days would be stipulated in the law. “We need some hard or soft indicators if government departments fail to meet targets. , it should explain the reasons to the country **, the major issues should be accountable."

This idea was not up to date in the latest revision of the State Council Legislative Affairs Office.

"Energy law requires the relevant supporting laws and regulations and policy documents to be issued. After the introduction of the energy law, a series of sub-laws of the energy law need to be intensified." Ye Rongzhen said.
In the current legal system of energy law, the unclear definition of legal subjects is already a "common problem." This is an important reason that causes many operability clauses to be difficult to define. In the "Energy Law" law, this problem also exists.

The draft of the Exposure Draft stipulates to the energy management department: “The State Council’s energy authority shall organize and implement the national energy strategy according to law, formulate and implement energy planning and energy policies, manage all energy industries across the country, and coordinate overall responsibility for the development and reform of the energy sector. The specific responsibilities of the State Council's energy authority are set by the State Council."

“It is not clear who the Department of Energy of the State Council is in charge here, and the legal subjects of the Energy Law are not clear,” said Han Xiaoping, Chief Technical Director of China Energy Network.

"Financial National Weekly" learned that the latest revision of the Energy Commission will be written into the "Energy Law"; and the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Agency's division of labor, the revised version is not further clear.

In accordance with the functions defined by the General Office of the State Council, the Energy Commission is not an administrative organization. Its functions are merely deliberations and coordination; the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration have assumed more authority for energy management, but their powers and responsibilities and division of labor are often unclear. Office, vested in the National Energy Administration hosted by the National Development and Reform Commission.