Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 4 (Reporter Gao Jing) Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with relevant units, issued the "Opinions on Several Specific Issues Concerning Deepening the Reform of the Ecological and Environmental Damage Compensation System", to promote the resolution of prominent problems in practice and respond to local concerns.

This opinion puts forward specific requirements for the full process of case handling procedures such as screening, initiation, investigation, assessment, consultation, and judicial confirmation of clues in ecological and environmental damage compensation cases. It focuses on three types of cases that are significantly minor, simple and major. It stipulates the judgment principles and handling requirements, improves the connection with administrative law enforcement and environmental public interest litigation, strengthens the guarantee mechanisms such as fund management, publicity and training, and information reporting, and guides the normal operation of reform.

Relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment introduced that establishing and improving the ecological environment damage compensation system is an important part of the construction of the ecological civilization system and a major decision made by the Party Central Committee and the State Council. The ecological and environmental damage compensation system has started from scratch. After a series of explorations, the system has been basically built. As of the end of 2024, the total number of cases in various places has been handled by more than 50,000 cases, and the amount of compensation involved has exceeded 30 billion yuan. However, there are still some problems in practice, such as the principles and case handling requirements for significantly minor cases, simple cases and major cases in various places are unclear, the connection with administrative law enforcement is insufficient, and the relevant regulations on compensation consultation need to be further improved.

The person in charge said that the opinions issued this time aim to improve the standardization and operability of ecological and environmental damage compensation work, and to "reduce burden" and "increase efficiency" for local governments. On the one hand, the local work burden will be reduced by clarifying the situations where the clue screening can be not included, the situation where the claims can be not initiated, and the situation where the restoration effect assessment is not required. On the other hand, the efficiency of claims is improved through relevant measures: First, the divergence of traditional and simple cases and the implementation of policies in a classified manner; Second, the problem of "long-term consultation is not resolved" is improved and resolved in response to the situation where consultations are not completed; Third, the scope of major cases is unified and the supervision of major cases is promoted; Fourth, the connection with administrative law enforcement and environmental public interest litigation is strengthened, and the formation of institutional synergy is promoted.