Note: The following is an excerpt from a story posted at the EarthTrends website.

On May 1, 2008, the Regulations on Government Disclosure of Information officially took effect, making China one of 70 countries worldwide that has enacted comprehensive freedom of information (FOI) legislation. The objective of the Chinese regulation specifically is “to ensure that citizens, legal persons and other organizations can obtain government information by lawful means and increase government transparency.”

While this new FOI legislation covers all branches of government, the environmental aspects will be enforced by the Ministry of Environmental Protection through its Measures on Open Environmental Information, which took effect the same day. Disclosed environmental information ranges from government laws, regulations, and standards to plans, statistics, and other government service information, including “environmental quality status” information and lists of China’s most polluting businesses.

read more: http://earthtrends.wri.org/updates/node/324