Published by ChinaMNC ยท Yunhe
Dust Pollution Rules in Lishui: Compliance Guide for Foreign Founders
A practical English summary of Lishui City's dust pollution prevention regulations, covering construction sites, material transport, bare land, inspections, penalties, and how foreign-invested companies operating in China should prepare.
What the Lishui Dust Pollution Regulation Covers
Lishui City, in Zhejiang Province, has adopted local rules on dust pollution control. The regulation was passed by the Lishui Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee on 26 November 2021 and approved by the Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress Standing Committee on 22 December 2021. It was later amended under a decision passed by the municipal standing committee on 30 July 2026 and approved provincially on 22 September 2026, which revised six local regulations including this one. The legal basis cited is the PRC Ecological Environment Code and the Zhejiang Provincial Air Pollution Prevention and Control Regulation.
For foreign founders setting up or running a company in China, the regulation matters if the business involves construction, demolition, material handling, mining and processing, landscaping, or the management of urban open land.
How Dust Pollution Is Defined
The regulation defines dust pollution as particulate matter released into the atmosphere by activities including:
- Construction projects
- Demolition of buildings and structures
- Transport and storage of materials
- Cleaning of public urban spaces and urban roads
- Landscaping work
- Extraction and processing of mineral resources
- Exposed land within built-up urban areas
The stated policy approach is prevention first, combining prevention with control, and holding parties accountable for damage. The framework assigns government the leading role, enterprises the primary responsibility, and provides for participation by social organizations and the public.
Which Authority Regulates What
Responsibilities are split among several departments, which is useful to understand when planning approvals or responding to inspections:
- Ecology and environment authorities exercise unified supervision, coordinate other departments, and directly oversee dust control at stone and other mineral processing operations and industrial material storage yards.
- Housing and urban-rural development authorities oversee dust control at building and ancillary facility construction, municipal infrastructure, urban landscaping, and construction waste disposal sites.
- Transport (port) authorities oversee highway construction and transport, ports and docks, and road freight terminals where materials are stored or handled.
- Public security traffic management sets routes and permitted travel times for vehicles carrying dust-generating materials such as construction waste, spoil, sand and gravel, earth, cement, coal, ready-mixed concrete, and ready-mixed mortar in restricted or prohibited zones.
- Natural resources authorities, housing authorities, and designated housing expropriation departments oversee dust control during building demolition within their respective duties.
Obligations on Construction and Project Owners
Developers must include dust prevention and monitoring costs in the project budget, specify the contractor's dust control responsibilities in the construction contract, and monitor the contractor's performance. At the site entrance, the contractor must post the dust control measures, the responsible person, the supervising department, and the complaint hotline. Where vehicles carrying dust-generating materials must pass through restricted or prohibited areas or road sections, an application for route and travel time must be made to traffic management.
If a project supervision contract includes dust control within its scope, the supervisor must perform that duty. Where the contractor fails to follow the dust control plan or commits other violations, the supervisor must require immediate correction and, if correction is inadequate or refused, report to the developer and the supervising department.
Site-Level Technical Requirements
The regulation sets specific measures. Site entrances, main roads, and processing areas must be hardened, with watering or spraying as a supplement; where hardening is not feasible for ecological or farming reasons, other effective dust measures apply. A vehicle washing facility with drainage and mud sedimentation must be installed inside the site entrance, and vehicles must be washed before leaving. Roads within 50 metres of the entrance must be kept clean.
When dismantling scaffolding, boards, and safety netting, residual dust and debris must first be cleared or sprayed with water. For housing construction sites larger than 5,000 square metres, dust video monitoring and particulate online monitoring equipment must be installed and connected to the housing authority's monitoring network. Demolition requires water trucks, fog cannon machines, or other spraying equipment sufficient for the task, applied before and during demolition.
For landscaping, tree pits that cannot be planted within 48 hours, exposed land not replanted within 48 hours of vegetation removal, and soil or waste not yet removed must be covered or watered.
Transport, Bare Land, and Enforcement
Vehicles carrying construction waste, spoil, sand, gravel, earth, cement, coal, ready-mixed concrete, and ready-mixed mortar must follow the rules set out in the regulation. Exposed land in built-up urban areas must be greened, surfaced with permeable paving, or covered. Responsibility is allocated by land type: property service providers for residential compounds they serve, owners' committees for self-managed compounds, and village or residents' committees where neither exists.
Supervising departments must conduct routine patrols and on-site inspections, and the ecology and environment authority organizes joint enforcement. Companies and individuals must cooperate, report accurately, and provide requested materials; refusal or obstruction is not permitted. Anyone may report violations through government service platforms or the 12345 hotline, and authorities must handle reports, inform the reporter of the outcome, and keep the reporter's identity confidential.
Where effective dust measures are not taken under the relevant construction, demolition, transport, storage, landscaping, or bare land provisions, the responsible department orders correction and imposes a fine of RMB 10,000 to RMB 100,000. If correction is refused, work is ordered stopped; for the landscaping-related provision, business operations may also be ordered stopped.
Practical Takeaways for Foreign Founders
- Build dust control and monitoring costs into project budgets and contracts from the start.
- Confirm which department supervises your activity before work begins, since oversight is split by sector.
- Keep site signage, vehicle washing records, and monitoring connections in place before inspections occur.
- Respond promptly to supervisor or inspector findings; refusal to correct escalates to stop-work orders and higher fines.
This summary is based on information published by the relevant Chinese government website and is general information, not legal or tax advice.