Realising Socio-Economic Rights under Emerging Global Regulatory Frameworks: The Potential Impact of Privatisation and the Role of Companies in China and India

This chapter describes the legal and institutional instruments available for environmental protection in India and China. To introduce the environmental conditions that characterise these two countries, it mentions a series of factors that were highlighted in the common environmental concerns faced by India and China (CAEP-TERI) Report. In China, the first steps in environmental legislation date back to the 1970s, in the post-Mao era, when the general shift of the state towards the construction of a legal order included 'a sustained effort to fashion a basic corpus of environmental protection law alongside supportive institutions, administrative norms and policies'. Environmental protection was mentioned firstly in the 1978 Constitution of the People's Republic of China (PRC), and was reaffirmed by Article 26 of the PRC's 1982 Constitution, according to which the State protects and improves the living environment and the ecological environment, and prevents and controls pollution and other public hazards.