China's Ecological and Environmental Code will enter into force on 15 August 2026, establishing a comprehensive and unified legal framework for environmental protection by consolidating China's major environmental legislation into a single code. On the same date, 10 existing environmental laws will be repealed; however, the vast majority of their substantive requirements have been incorporated into the Code, ensuring seamless continuity of existing compliance obligations.
The Code also introduces new or more stringent requirements in areas including environmental impact assessment, pollutant discharge permitting, chemical substance reporting, electromagnetic radiation, light pollution, and green supply chain management.
Due to the scale of the regulatory changes and the number of requirements involved, we have adopted a phased implementation approach. Ahead of the Code's entry into force, we have been progressively reviewing and relinking existing requirements to the Code where the underlying compliance obligations remain unchanged.
We expect to complete the entire set of content updates relating to the Ecological and Environmental Code by the end of September 2026, including the publication of approximately 30 new or materially changed requirements arising from its implementation.
In parallel, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) has begun a comprehensive review of existing environmental regulations and normative documents to ensure consistency with the Code. As part of this effort, the MEE released consultation drafts proposing a package of repeals and amendments to existing environmental regulations and normative documents. The proposals are intended to align the broader environmental regulatory framework with the Code through the repeal of outdated or inconsistent instruments and the amendment of instruments that remain necessary.
Additional information on these regulatory developments has already been published in our Forecaster service. The following updates provide an overview of the regulatory developments and their anticipated implications for companies:
"Companies will be subject to additional and more stringent requirements on environmental impact assessment, pollutant discharge permitting, chemical reporting, and the prevention and control of electromagnetic radiation and light pollution" (published 26 March 2026)
"Companies will be required to establish green supply chains for the first time as of 15 August 2026" (published 26 March 2026)
"China proposes repeal and amendment of multiple environmental regulations to align with the Ecological and Environmental Code" (published 28 July 2026)
"China proposes repeal of multiple environmental normative documents to align with the Ecological and Environmental Code" (published 28 July 2026)