China Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law

China's Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law is one of China's fundamental environmental laws, aimed at preventing and improving air pollution, protecting public health, and improving the ecological environment. It covers stationary sources such as coal-fired power plants, steel mills, chemical plants, and cement plants, as well as mobile sources such as motor vehicles, and comprehensively governs air pollutant emission controls, emission standards, monitoring systems, and administrative enforcement. In recent years its scope has expanded beyond PM2.5 control to reducing volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and sulfur oxides (SOx), and to addressing ozone pollution, positioning it as the core law of China's air-quality policy. This law will be repealed on August 15, 2026, with its content fully consolidated into the Ecological and Environmental Code. It aims to prevent air pollution, protect public health, improve the ecological environment, continuously reduce emissions, and promote the transition to green industry, and it also serves as the basic law underpinning national air-quality improvement policies such as the "Blue Sky Protection Campaign." It applies to manufacturing, chemical plants, steel mills, cement plants, power plants, automotive manufacturers, VOC-emitting facilities, and operators of boilers and combustion equipment; local governments may set emission standards stricter than the national standard based on regional circumstances. Key areas include: air pollutant emission control (compliance with statutory and national emission standards, GB standards); emissions monitoring (measurement, continuous monitoring, data retention, and administrative reporting for facilities above a certain scale); VOC emission control (emission suppression, recovery equipment, leak management, and process improvements); and emergency response (production restrictions, operational suspension, and emission-reduction orders issued by local governments during severe air pollution events).