4.3 Comparative studies
According to the above analysis, the PAAs of all the outputs of China’s policy are multi-actors and centralized PAAs, and PAAs of the output of written consent of Germany’s policy are multiple-actor and decentralized PAAs. That can be explained by the federal system of Germany and China’s system of centrality.
APs
5.1 China’s aPs
As some types of imported solid waste comprise a big proportion of the total amount of the solid waste, there are APs based on the types of imported solid waste, such as the AP of the imported waste plastics.27
Also, to promote the enclosed management of the imported solid waste, the government also issued APs based on the geographical criteria.28 Here the APs of Enclosed Management Zone will be focused.
In the APs of Enclosed Management Zones, there will be a fast track measures concerning licensing the enterprises in Enclosed Management Zones. Besides, they will enjoy the priority of more quota of import of solid waste on the license of import of solid waste.29
5.2 Germany’s aPs
In order to simplify and accelerate the notification procedure, the concept of pre-consented recovery facilities has been established within OECD countries. Usually these pre-consented recovery facilities work on smaller scale and focus on business with specific kinds of solid waste which means the action plan is based on functional priority. The competent authority of the state grants the “pre-consented recovery facilities”. The graphic below shows the difference in procedure doing business with either kind of facilities.
As the process map indicates, the duration of waiting has been reduced to 7 days for the special group facilities and the validity of their consent would be 3 years instead of 1 year.30
5.3 Comparative studies
China’s AP of Enclosed Management Zone is an AP based on Spatial Criteria, while Germany’s AP of pre-consented facilities is an AP based on Functional criteria. The differences can be explained as follows, China is trying to urge the enterprise to concentrate in a specific zone far away from the residential areas so that the environmental problems can be tackled more easily and cause less harm to the public health. However, Germany is trying to encourage the facilities to be more specialized, thus reducing cost and promoting technologies.
The outputs
6.1 China’s output of licensing enterprises using solid waste
The perimeter of the licensing of enterprises using solid waste
From the figure above, we can tell that in 2013, the total number of licensed enterprise of imported solid waste in Ningbo is 76, and 70 of them is in “Enclosed Management Zone of Zhenghai”, while only 3 licensed enterprise are outside the zone.
This is corresponded to the action plan based on spatial criteria.
The institutional content
It is clearly stated in the measures on the administration of importing solid waste that the license is only valid in one year, and if the conditions change, they should apply for the new license.31
The degree of formalization
The website of the office of the administration of solid waste will demonstrate the information concerning the application of licenses of the enterprises. If the enterprises have some questions, they can raise to the department of environmental pollution.32
Therefore, the output is highly formal.
Coherence within the policy
There is a great horizontal cooperation between the different political-administrative actors of the policy. They have built a information shared platform, the environmental department will only grant license to enterprises when the latter has already get the license of importers and
license of exporters which are the other outputs produced by other political-administrative actors.
Coherence with other policies
When licensing the industry, the policy of solid waste hopes to enable the industry to process the solid waste in an environmentally friendly way. However, there are no other policies to give technological or financial support.
The establishment of environmental policies may build barriers for economic policies and other acts which aim at decreasing unemployment, but it may have certain coordination with transportation policies due to their common interests.
Strategies the target group may adopt
Due to the high sovereignty at provincial level under the vague national framework, the industry can apply for the license at the place with loose implementation of policy; The industry can use institutional elements of the policy, such as complaints, lawsuit, to protect their own interests.