The State Council recently promulgated the Regulations on the Administration of the Approval and Recording of Enterprise Investment Projects (Order No.673 of the State Council), effective as of February 1, 2017. Documents clearly the location of the project proposal, the EIA approval, land pre-advice, energy conservation review comments are no longer project approval or filing the pre-conditions, the following specific analysis of the differences between old and new provisions.

The original provisions:
Article 12 of the "Measures for the Administration of the Approval of Investment Projects by the Government" (Development and Reform Commission Order No. 11) stipulates that when submitting the project application report, the project unit shall, in accordance with the provisions of the state laws and regulations,

(1) The opinions on location selection issued by the administrative departments of urban and rural planning (refer only to the projects for providing state - owned land use rights by way of allocation);

(2) Opinions on land pre - examination issued by the competent administrative department of land and resources (not involving new land use, and may not carry out pre - examination of land use projects in the scope of approved construction land);

(3) The environmental impact assessment approval document issued by the administrative department of environmental protection;

(4) Opinions on energy - saving examination issued by the energy - saving examination authority;

And (5) other documents that should be submitted in accordance with the provisions of the relevant laws and regulations.

Can be seen that the original "management approach" clearly states: the project site selection submissions, EIA approval, land pre-trial opinions, energy-saving review of the project are all pre-approved conditions for project approval.

New regulations:
The State Council recently issued a "business investment project approval and record management regulations" provides that:
Article III of the relationship between national security, involving the layout of the country's major productive forces, strategic resources development and major public interests and other projects, the implementation of approved management. In addition to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the implementation of record management.
Article 6 An enterprise shall submit a project application to the approval authority for the approval of the project, and a project application letter to the competent department of investment under the State Council for the project approved by the State Council. The project proposal shall include the following contents:
(1) the basic situation of the enterprise;
(2) the project situation, including the project name, construction site, construction scale, construction content;
(3) Analysis of the utilization of resources of the project and analysis of the impact on the ecological environment;
(4) the impact of the project on the economy and society.
Article XIII of the record management of the project, enterprises should start before the construction of online platform through the following information to the filing authorities:
(1) the basic situation of the enterprise;
(2) the project name, construction site, construction scale, construction content;
(3) The total investment of the project;
(4) The declaration of the project conforms to the industrial policy.
The enterprise shall be responsible for the authenticity of the information recorded in the project.
All the information provided in the first paragraph of this Article shall be filed by the record-filing authority; if the information provided by the enterprise is not complete, the record-filing authority shall instruct the enterprise to make corrections.
In this document released by the State Council, we can see that, whether the implementation of the approved project management, or the implementation of the record management project, project site submissions, environmental assessment approval, land pre-advice and energy review opinions are no longer project Approval or filing of the project pre - conditions.
And the new regulations on the project is more simple, do not need to apply for any approval, the record company received all the information submitted by the enterprise shall be filed.
At the same time, the new "EIA Law" Article 25 also clearly states: construction project environmental impact assessment documents have not been examined and approved by the examination and approval departments or not approved, the construction unit shall not start construction.
In other words, the EIA approval is no longer project must be completed before the project, but must be completed before the project started.

The full text of the Regulations:
Order of the State Council of the People 's Republic of China
No. 673
"Enterprise investment project approval and filing management regulations" has been October 8, 2016 the 149th executive meeting of the State C