Notice on Perfecting the Productivity Registration and Announcement System of Coal Mines and Developing the Productivity Announcement of Coal Mines

NEA Coal File No.17〔2017〕

Coal-producing provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government), coal industry management departments of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, development and reform committees, and relevant central enterprises:

In recent years, coal-producing regions have earnestly implemented the “Opinions on Overcapacity Resolution of Coal Industry and Development from Difficulty” (NDRC File No.7[2016] ) and the “Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting the Smooth Operation of the Coal Industry” (GOSC File No.104 [2013] ) and other documents, which has innovated industry management methods, established a coal mine capacity registration announcement system, and promoted the implementation of the normal announcement of legitimate production of coal mine productivity, significantly improved the management and service efficiency. In order to further standardize the production order of coal mines, guide the expectations of market entities, and promote the disclosure of government information, the relevant notices on improving the registration system for coal mine production capacity and the announcement of the construction of coal mine capacity are as follows:

I. Strict approval and management of coal mines new production capacity

Adhering to the principle of statutory capacity, coal development projects with new capacity shall be approved and managed strictly in accordance with the relevant provisions of the state on the management of fixed assets investment projects. The approval documents approved by the relevant state and local departments within their authority are the basic basis for determining coal mine capacity. New coal development projects with annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons or more in the state-planned mining areas shall be approved by the relevant departments of the State Council, and the remaining coal development projects and general coal development projects in the state-planned mining areas shall be approved by the provincial governments. The division of responsibilities for approval (examination and approval) of new-built, rebuilt and expanded, technological transformation, resource integration and other types of newly-added capacity coal mine projects by government departments at or below the provincial level shall be governed by the published list of department powers or the relevant provisions of the provincial government. The development and reform of governments at all levels and the administrative departments of the coal industry shall not carry out approval (examination and approval) outside the authorization of the governments at the corresponding levels and the list of powers of the departments.

II. Standardize the management of coal mine construction

Coal mine construction projects can start construction only after they have obtained approval (examination and approval) documents and other formalities for construction application and approval determined by laws and regulations. Project units shall report basic information before construction in accordance with the “Regulations on the Administration Approval and Recording of Enterprise Investment Projects” (Decree No. 673 of the State Council) and “Measures for the Administration Approval and Recording of Enterprise Investment Projects” (Decree No. 2 of the State Development and Reform Commission 2017). In principle, the preparation of construction information is handled through the online examination and approval supervision platform for investment projects. Areas that can not access to the platform for the time can report to the local authorities in accordance with the current procedures for construction filing of coal mine construction projects. The provincial Development and Reform Commission or the coal industry management department shall, according to the division of duties and responsibilities, issue a unified format for reporting information for construction work within its jurisdiction. Construction report shall strictly comply with the requirements of “Brief Administration, Management, Service”(“Brief Administration” means simplifying the administration and decentralizing the power, and lowering the access threshold; “Management” means innovative supervision to promote fair competition; “Service” means efficient service, creating a convenient environment.), enterprises shall not be required to provide examination and approval (licensing) information without the basis of laws and regulations, nor to carry out examination and approval in the name of construction report. Departments of provincial governments may organize relevant departments of municipal and county governments to report information on construction, and timely summarize the situation of coal mine construction within their jurisdiction.

III. Implementing the Productivity Announcement of Coal Mines Construction

The provincial coal industry administrative departments shall publish the announcement of the production capacity of the construction coal mines according to the summary of the coal mine construction projects. The announcement includes the name of the coal mine, the type of construction (new construction, reconstruction and expansion, technological transformation, resource integration, etc.), the scale of construction, the new capacity, the approval (approval) organ and the number, etc. For reconstruction and expansion or technological transformation coal mine, the existing production system is still in operation, the existing production capacity part is the announcement of the production coal mine, and the new production capacity part is the announcement of the construction coal mine. The announcement of construction coal mine capacity shall not be implemented in coal mine renovation and technical renovation projects without additional capacity (such as horizontal extension, system renewal, etc.). For newly added capacity coal mine projects in the areas of reconstruction and expansion, technological transformation and resource integration within the limits of local approval authority, before the power list of local departments is published and only preliminary designs are examined and approved according to the relevant provisions of provincial governments, the preliminary design examination and approval organs and numbers shall be announced. If a construction coal mine enters into joint commissioning, it shall be noted and explained in the announcement.

IV. Smooth Connection to Production coal mine production capacity announcement

Construction coal mines shall be transferred to the management of production coal mines after fulfilling the procedures of acceptance of completion and obtaining licenses for production safety. Provincial coal industry management departments add (adjust) relevant coal mine productivity information in the production coal mine productivity announcement, and the relevant coal mine entries in the original construction coal mine productivity announcement are no longer retained. The production coal mine shall announce the name, production capacity and license number of the coal mine, and the categories of coal mine productivity information change based on the previous announcement (first announcement, productivity increase, productivity reduction, cancellation announcement, re-announcement, name change, etc.) shall be noted and explained. Coal mines whose production safety licenses and other certificates have been cancelled shall cancel the announcement of production capacity in time, and the coal mines concerned shall not engage in production activities. If the legally qualified coal mines that have stopped production and ceased construction due to market prospects and economic benefits may continue to retain the coal mine production capacity announcement.

Productivity announcements of construction and production coal mines in various regions are regularly issued by provincial coal industry management departments through the Department website (announcement forms attached), and the interval between announcements is not more than 6 months in principle. Provinces (regions and municipalities) with a large number of coal mines and rapid changes in productivity information can increase the frequency of announcements accordingly. According to the principle of territoriality, the coal mines affiliated to the central enterprises are included in the announcement scope of the production capacity registration of the provincial coal industry administrative departments. Local governments should announce the construction and production capacity of coal mines  till the end of June before July 15, 2017.

V. Accelerating the Construction of Productivity Registration Announcement Information System

All localities should promote the construction of the capacity registration announcement information system in accordance with the requirements of “full coverage, smooth access, data online, real-time query”. The National Energy Administration will organize the development of relevant work information systems to support local departments to enhance the electronic management of production capacity information. Encourage all localities to build an industry management information system covering the capacity registration announcement subsystem according to the actual conditions of the region, and use information technology such as big data and cloud computing to improve the efficiency of industry management. Actively promote the interconnection and supervision of the industry management information system and investment project online approval and supervision platform, the relevant departmental supervision system, strengthen the sharing of data and information, and play a synergistic regulatory effect.

VI. Strengthening Process and post supervision of coal mine construction and production

All localities should base on the list of production capacity announcements, reasonably determine the division of labor of provincial, municipal and county coal management departments, coordinate daily and special inspection tasks, scientifically formulate annual supervision work plans, and strengthen the process and post supervision in accordance with the “double random, one open” approach. It is necessary to take the initiative to verify the relevant information of coal mine productivity management through on-site inspection, such as coal mine certification, construction progress, production conditions and so on, and dynamically improve the coal mine productivity management files. Encourage the public to supervise the coal mine construction and production activities according to the capacity announcement, and verify and deal with the problems reported by the masses in a timely manner. For coal mines with complete procedures for examination and approval but failing to submit information for construction and not included in the scope of public announcement, the project units shall be ordered to make up the relevant information, and their omissions shall be included in the abnormal credit record of the project, which shall be included in the national credit information sharing platform; for coal mines with illegal and irregular acts such as unauthorized pre-construction and super-capacity production, the following shall be done: Punishment shall be imposed on enterprises in accordance with the relevant provisions of Decrees No. 446 and No. 673 of the State Council; if the illegal and irregular acts need to be handled to other functions and powers departments, which shall be promptly handed over to the relevant departments for handling.

Improving the announcement system of coal mine productivity registration is an important part for coal management departments at all levels to deepen the reform of “Brief Administration, Management, Service” and improve efficiency by changing their functions. In accordance with the requirements of this notice, all localities should strengthen organizational leadership, ensure staffing, improve the working system, fill in the shortcomings, take the initiative and perform their duties and responsibilities, further promote the systematization, institutionalization and standardization of the announcement of coal production capacity registration, continuously improve the management and service level of the coal industry, and provide strong guarantee for the sustainable and healthy development of the coal industry.

National Energy Administration