It will come into effect on March 1. Compulsory Environmental Liability Insurance for Environmental High Risk Enterprises such as Shandong Chemical Industry

Recently, Shandong Provincial Bureau of Ecological Environment, Shandong Provincial Financial Supervision and Administration and Shandong Supervision and Administration of China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission jointly issued "Measures for the Implementation of Enterprise Environmental Pollution Liability Insurance in Shandong Province", which came into effect on March 1, 2019 and is valid until March 1, 2022.
Shandong Province Implementing the Management Measures of Enterprise Environmental Pollution Liability Insurance
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 In order to improve the compensation mechanism for environmental pollution damage and promote the transformation of new and old kinetic energy, these Measures are formulated in accordance with the laws and regulations of the People's Republic of China, such as the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, the Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China, and the Tort Liability Law of the People's Republic of China.
Article 2 The term "enterprise environmental pollution liability insurance" (hereinafter referred to as "environmental liability insurance") as mentioned in these Measures refers to the insurance with the object of compensation for environmental pollution damage.
Article 3 Institutions that underwrite environmental liability insurance (hereinafter referred to as insurance companies), insurance intermediaries and environmental risk assessment agencies shall abide by these Measures.
Article 4 The work of environmental liability insurance should follow the basic principles of government promotion, market operation, professional management, strict supervision, risk control and win-win situation.
Article 5 An insured enterprise may choose an underwriter insurance company for insurance by means of tendering.
Article 6 Insurance supervisory and administrative organs shall supervise and administer the environmental liability insurance business of insurance companies according to law.
The competent department of ecological environment of the province shall supervise and administer the insurance of environmental liability insurance of enterprises according to law.
The competent ecological and environmental departments of cities and counties (cities and districts) with districts shall formulate catalogues of enterprises that shall be insured against environmental liability insurance, and supervise and inspect the situation of enterprises in their respective administrative regions in applying for environmental liability insurance according to law.
Chapter II Insurance and Undertaking
Article 7 Enterprises with high environmental risk below shall insure environmental liability insurance.
(1) Enterprises engaged in oil and gas exploitation, basic chemical raw materials manufacturing, synthetic materials manufacturing, chemical raw materials manufacturing, mobile flaw detection and logging operations of high-risk radioactive sources of category III or above;
(2) Enterprises that collect, store, utilize and dispose of hazardous wastes;
(3) Enterprises that construct or use tailings reservoirs;
(4) Operating liquid chemical terminals and oil and gas terminals;
(5) Enterprises that emit heavy metals;
(6) Key enterprises for sewage discharge in chemical, metallurgical, thermal power, coking, papermaking, printing and dyeing industries;
Enterprises outside the scope of the preceding paragraph are encouraged to voluntarily insure environmental liability insurance.
Article 8 Scope of Insurance Liability:
(1) Personal injury of a third party. The insured enterprise shall bear the compensation fees for environmental pollution caused by unexpected environmental incidents or production and operation, resulting in the infringement of the life, health and body of the third party, causing human diseases, disabilities, deaths, etc.
(2) third party property damage. The insured enterprise shall bear the compensation expenses for environmental pollution caused by unexpected environmental incidents or in the course of production and operation, which directly causes damage to the property of the third party or the reduction of its value.
(3) Compensation for damage to the ecological environment. Compensation liability of insured enterprises for environmental damage caused by sudden environmental incidents or pollution during production and operation includes the cost of cleaning up or controlling pollution, the cost of ecological environment restoration, the loss of service function during the period from damage to restoration, the loss caused by permanent damage of ecological environment function and compensation adjustment of ecological environment damage. Expenses related to inspection, appraisal and assessment, and post-assessment of the restoration effect of ecological environment damage.
(4) Emergency disposal expenses. Where an insured enterprise, relevant government departments, public welfare organizations and other institutions spend money to avoid or reduce the personal injury, property loss or ecological environment damage of a third party, the necessary and reasonable emergency disposal expenses shall be borne by the insured enterprise according to law.
Article 9 Environmental liability insurance shall adopt unified insurance clauses, basic insurance premium rates and their adjustment coefficients throughout the province, and floating premium rates shall be applied according to the changes of environmental risks of the insured.
Article 10 Different liability limits shall be applied according to different types of enterprises, and a reasonable premium classification and price classification system for environmental liability insurance shall be established. The level of environmental risk can be divided into three categories: general environmental risk, larger environmental risk and major environmental risk. The specific level of liability limit is determined according to risk level, enterprise scale, industry characteristics and environmental sensitivity.
Article 11 A floating rate mechanism shall be implemented. An insurance cycle is three years, and an insurance contract is signed every year. If there is no environmental pollution accident in the previous cycle, the renewal premium in the next cycle will be preferential, with the cumulative preferential rate not exceeding 30%. If environmental pollution accidents occur in the previous cycle, the renewal premium in the next cycle will float on the base rate, and the cumulative rise will not exceed 30%.
Article 12 An insured enterprise shall conclude an insurance contract for environmental pollution liability with an insurance company according to law (hereinafter referred to as the Insurance Contract).
When concluding the Insurance Contract, both parties shall fulfill their obligations of notification and explanation in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China.
After the conclusion of the Insurance Contract, the insurance company shall notify the competent department of ecological environment in the place where the insured enterprise is located in writing.
Article 13 An insured enterprise shall truthfully inform the insurance company of its important environmental risks. When the environmental risks increase significantly, it shall promptly inform the insurance company that the insurance company may increase the premium as stipulated in the insurance contract.
Before performanceThe insurance company shall not be liable for indemnity in case of an insurance accident occurring due to a significant increase in environmental risk of the enterprise under the obligation to notify.
Article 14 An insurance company may not terminate an insurance contract after the establishment of the Insurance Contract, except when it meets the requirements of the Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China.
If an insurance company requests the termination of the contract because the insured enterprise fails to fulfill its obligation to inform the important matters truthfully, it shall notify the insured enterprise in writing 30 days in advance. An insurance company may not terminate the insurance contract if the insured enterprise fulfils its obligation to inform the truth within 5 days from the date of receipt of the notice.
Article 15 After the termination of the Insurance Contract, the insurance company shall withdraw the Insurance Contract and notify the competent department of ecological environment in the place where the insured enterprise is located in writing.
Article 16 The insurance period of environmental liability insurance is one year. The insured enterprise shall renew the insurance in time before the expiration of the insurance contract.
Article 17 Enterprises may insure environmental liability insurance independently according to law or in an organized and unified manner.
Chapter III Risk Assessment and Investigation
Article 18 When an insurance company undertakes environmental liability insurance, it shall carry out environmental risk assessment and issue an environmental risk assessment report before it undertakes the insurance. Environmental risk assessment report is an integral part of insurance contract. Enterprises should actively cooperate with insurance companies to carry out environmental risk assessment.
Article 19 The Insurance Contract shall stipulate relevant matters concerning the investigation of potential environmental safety hazards within the validity period of the contract. Insurance companies and insured enterprises may jointly entrust environmental risk assessment institutions or jointly form expert teams to conduct periodic or irregular investigation of potential environmental safety hazards of enterprises. After discovering potential environmental safety hazards, the insured enterprises shall take effective measures and actively rectify them.
Chapter IV Compensation
Article 20 Where an insured enterprise causes damage to the environment due to pollution during the validity period of the Insurance Contract and the victim lodges a claim for compensation for environmental damage to the enterprise, the enterprise shall be liable for compensation according to law, and the insurance company insured at the time of submitting compensation shall be liable for compensation within the limit of environmental liability insurance liability according to law.
If the victim lodges a claim for compensation for environmental damage to the insured enterprise within three years from the date of knowing or ought to know the damage, and the insured enterprise is liable for compensation according to law, the insurance company shall compensate the insured enterprise within the limit of liability for environmental liability insurance according to law.
Article 21 An insurance company shall not compensate under any of the following circumstances:
(1) Damage caused by irresistible natural disasters. It is totally an irresistible natural disaster. After taking reasonable measures in time, the insured enterprise can still not avoid the damage caused by the pollution of the environment to the third party. The insured enterprise can be exempted from the liability for compensation according to law.
(2) Damage caused directly by the crime of environmental pollution. If an insured enterprise constitutes a crime of polluting the environment and is investigated for criminal responsibility, its criminal act directly causes environmental pollution and causes damage to the third party.
(3) Damage directly caused by illegal discharge of pollutants by deliberately evading supervision through covert pipes, seepage wells, seepage pits and perfusion.
(4) Damages directly caused by the hidden dangers of environmental safety that have been detected that have not been rectified.
(5) Other circumstances determined by laws and regulations that may not be compensated.
Article 22 An insured enterprise causes damage to the environment due to pollution during the validity period of the Insurance Contract. After receiving a report from the insured enterprise or the victim, the insurance company shall promptly organize an environmental damage appraisal and assessment institution or an expert team to carry out accident investigation, damage determination and liability determination. The enterprise shall actively cooperate.
Article 23 The competent department of ecological environment in Shandong Province shall, in conjunction with the Shandong Insurance Regulatory Authority, establish the information base of third-party environmental risk assessment and environmental damage assessment and appraisal institutions, and the expert database of environmental risk assessment and environmental damage assessment in Shandong Province, so as to facilitate insurance companies and enterprises to select third-party assessment institutions and appraisal experts.
Article 24 When an enterprise requests an insurance company to compensate for the insurance money in accordance with the Insurance Contract, it shall provide the insurance company with the certificates and information it can provide concerning the confirmation of the causes of pollution damage and the degree of loss. If an insurance company considers that the relevant certificates and information are incomplete in accordance with the stipulations of the insurance contract, it shall promptly notify the insured enterprise to provide supplementary information at one time.
If the insured enterprise is not willing to claim compensation from the insurance company, the victim may also directly claim compensation from the insurance company for the part of compensation he should receive.
Article 25 An insurance company may directly compensate the victim for the insurance premium. After the insured enterprise pays the compensation according to law, the insurance company shall pay the insurance premium to the insured enterprise.
Article 26 An insurance company shall make timely verification upon receipt of the claim for indemnity and related certificates and information; if the situation is complex, it shall make verification within 30 days, except as otherwise stipulated in the insurance contract.
An insurance company shall notify the insured enterprise and the victim of the result of the examination and approval; for those who are liable for insurance, they shall perform the obligation of indemnity insurance within 10 days after reaching an agreement with the insured enterprise on indemnity insurance. Insurance companies should actively pay in advance compensation for third-party personal injury or property losses which are clearly identified as liability for damages, so as to speed up the progress of claims settlement.
Article 27 An insurance company, an insured enterprise or a victim may entrust an environmental damage appraisal and assessment institution or a team of experts to issue an appraisal opinion for damage appraisal and assessment as a reference basis for insurance claims settlement.
Has been environmental civil public interest litigation,The fact that the effective judgment of environmental tort civil litigation is confirmed can be directly used as the basis of compensation, and it does not need to be appraised separately.
Insurance companies shall not require insured enterprises or victims to provide environmental pollution accidents, damage and other documents or information issued by the competent department of ecological environment, and shall not use this as a prerequisite for the approval or settlement of insurance accidents.
Article 28 Where an insured enterprise and an insurance company have disputes over compensation, they may apply for arbitration according to law or bring a lawsuit in a people's court.
Chapter V Penalty Provisions
Article 29 For enterprises that should be insured but fail to insure or renew according to the regulations, the competent department of ecological environment in the place where the enterprise is located shall order them to apply for or renew the insurance within a specified period of time, and evaluate their environmental credit through the enterprise environmental credit evaluation system of Shandong Province.
Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions
Article 30 These Measures shall come into force on March 1, 2019 and shall be valid until March 1, 2022.