3. Political-administrative Program (pap)

The PAP of a policy defines the legal bases for the objectives, intervention instruments and operational arrangements of the public action. It represents sets of regulations that political-administrative actors charged with executive power consider necessary for the implementation of a public policy (Knoepfel, 2007). PAP consists of three substantive elements---concrete objectives, evaluative elements, operational elements, as well as two institutional elements---political-administrative arrangement (PAA) and resources, procedural elements (see Figure 3.1).

Figure 3.1: The constituent elements of a PAP

Source: Knoepfel, Larrue, Varone (2006):169

1. Mainland China

3.1.1 Concrete objectives

Concrete objectives in air pollution policies explain the imission standards to be achieved by government. The objectives always deal with a moderate standard, which can be accepted by both target groups and beneficiaries, neither too high nor too low. The current Ambient Air Quality Standards（GB3095-1996） in Mainland China are carried out by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People’s Republic of China in 1996, which were modified a bit later in 2000 (in terms of the concentration of NO2 and O3). These imission standards are valid until 2016, at which time the new Ambient Air Quality Standards（GB3095-2016）will come into force (see Figure 3.2 and Figure 3.3). From the figures we can see, the air pollution policy in Mainland China today, is in a period of transition---the old standards may seem out of date, while the new standards still need time to be finally applied. Notably, the new standards add one new pollutant---PM2.5, the major source of haze weather causing respiratory diseases, which is mainly produced by motor vehicles in urban cities.

Figure 3.2: Current Ambient air quality standards (China, until 2016)

Pollutant	Concentration in Microgrammes per Cubic Metre (μg/m3)
	Averaging time
	1hr			24hrs			1yr
	Zone 1	Zone 2	Zone 3	Zone 1	Zone 2	Zone 3	Zone 1	Zone 2	Zone 3
Sulphur Dioxide (SO2)	150	500	700	50	150	250	20	60	10
Total Suspended Particulates (TSP)	—	—	—	120	300	500	80	200	300
Respirable Suspended Particulates (PM10)	—	—	—	50	150	250	40	100	150
Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)	120	240	240	80	120	120	40	80	80
Carbon Monoxide (CO)	10000	10000	20000	4000	4000	6000	—	—	—
Ozone (O3)	160	200	200	—	—	—	—	—	—
Lead (Pd)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.0	—

Source: Ambient Air Quality standards（GB3095-1996）<Modification version>

Zone 1: City areas

Zone 2: Pasturing areas, semi-agricultural and semi-pasturing areas, silkworm areas

Zone 3: Agricultural and forest areas

Pollutant	Concentration in Microgrammes per Cubic Metre (μg/m3)
	Averaging time
	1hr		24hrs		1yr
	Zone 1	Zone 2	Zone 1	Zone 2	Zone 1	Zone 2
Sulphur Dioxide (SO2)	150	500	50	150	20	60
Particulate Matter (PM2.5)	—	—	35	75	15	35
Respirable Suspended Particulates (PM10)	—	—	50	150	40	70
Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)	200	200	80	80	40	40
Carbon Monoxide (CO)	10000	10000	4000	4000	—	—
Ozone (O3)	160	200	—	—	—	—
Lead (Pd)	—	—	—	—	0.5	0.5

Source: Ambient Air Quality standards（GB3095-2012）

Zone 1: Nature reserves, scenic areas and other areas that need special protection

Zone 2: Residential zone, commercial and traffic mixed zone, cultural district, industrial zone and rural areas