The "Energy Law" is a comprehensive and procedural law with a cornerstone status in the energy field of our country.From April 26th to May 25th this year, the National People's Congress promulgated the "Energy Law (Draft)" and solicited opinions from the whole society, which aroused enthusiastic responses from all walks of life, marking the major achievements of our country's energy law legislation in the past 20 years.After further deliberation and promulgation and implementation of the "Energy Law (Draft)", it will play an active role in promoting energy transformation in an orderly manner, achieving high-quality energy development, and helping to build a modern socialist country.

When the legislation of the "Energy Law (Draft)" is in progress

1.What stage is the "Energy Law (Draft)" in the legislative work, and how long is it expected to be promulgated and implemented?

A law usually has to go through three stages of drafting a proposal, legislative deliberation, and signing and promulgation before it can be implemented.The 2024 edition of the "Energy Law (Draft)" was drafted by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration. It was deliberated and approved by the Executive meeting of the State Council. It was formally submitted by the State Council to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for its first deliberation. It is currently in the deliberation stage of the legislature.Relatively speaking, both the 2007 edition and the 2020 edition of the "Energy Law (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)" are in the stage of drafting proposals by administrative organs, and they have failed to enter the substantive legislative process for various reasons.

It is expected that the "Energy Law" will be reviewed, approved and promulgated for implementation soon for three reasons：

First, it has been included in the planning of the first type of legislative project, and it is expected that the review process will not be too slow.The “Legislative Plan of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress” announced in September 2023 lists it as "a draft law with relatively mature conditions and to be submitted for consideration during the term of office."In addition, my country is actively compiling the "Ecological Environment Code". As one of the most important single-line laws in the field of energy rule of law, the "Energy Law" needs to be introduced as soon as possible from the perspective of supporting codes.

The second is that there are not many follow-up review sessions and the duration will not be too long.Generally, legal bills must be considered by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress three times before being submitted to the vote. The “Energy Law (Draft)” has completed the "first review" at the end of April.In the case of relatively consistent opinions in all aspects, continuous deliberations may be arranged.

Third, the legislative and technical maturity of this version of the draft is higher.Compared with the previous two editions of the draft for solicitation of comments, the 2024 edition of the “Energy Law (Draft)” has the characteristics of "long-term, concise, and more pragmatic".Its structure is more compact, the text is more concise, and the wording is more elegant. It adds policy and principled expressions, and avoids some controversial operational content.These changes demonstrate the maturation of legislative technology and have laid the foundation for promoting the deliberation and adoption of draft laws.

2.Compared with other laws, regulations and policies in the energy field that have been introduced, what is the status and role of the Energy Law?

The "Energy Law" is a comprehensive and procedural law with a cornerstone status in the energy field of our country.At present, my country has formulated a number of special energy laws and regulations and departmental regulations such as the "Electric Power Law", "Coal Law" and "Renewable Energy Law", and has approved and acceded to the "Framework Convention on Climate Change", "Kyoto Protocol" and other energy-related international treaties.The "Energy Law“ is an important law formulated by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. It is the ”pyramid foundation" of our country's energy law and regulation system and is known for its procedural and leading nature.It responds to common issues in the energy field and establishes general principles to lead the legislative work and practical activities in various special fields, so as to ensure that it achieves legislative purposes such as promoting high-quality energy development, guaranteeing national energy security, promoting green and low-carbon economic and social transformation and sustainable development, actively and steadily promoting carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and adapting to the needs of a modern socialist country in an all-round way.

The legislative history of our country's energy Law

In order to serve and support economic construction and social development, the scale of energy consumption in our country has been continuously expanded, the energy consumption structure has been continuously optimized, and the understanding of the rational development and utilization of energy has been more in-depth. The regulatory system and policies and regulations in the energy field have developed and evolved in sync with it.

The legislative process of our country's energy field can be roughly summarized into four stages.

The first stage is the reform and opening up to the end of the 20th century.As early as around 1980, under the combined influence of internal and external factors such as the oil crisis and reform and opening up, the National People's Congress and the National Energy Commission proposed to draft the "Energy Law".However, this work was put on hold after only two or three years. One is that the work was interrupted due to the adjustment of the energy management agency; the other is that at that time, our country's total energy consumption was small and its self-sufficiency rate was high. The allocation of energy resources mainly relied on administrative means, and the legislative necessity and urgency were insufficient.After the 1990s, our country's economy developed rapidly, and energy demand increased with it. The contradiction between economic development and environmental protection gradually became prominent. With the east wind of governing the country according to the law, the "Electric Power Law", "Coal Law", "Energy Conservation Law" and other single-line laws in the energy field have been promulgated and implemented successively.

The second stage is the first 10 years of the 21st century.Due to the rapid expansion of the scale of energy consumption, the rapid decline in the self-sufficiency rate, and the prominent contradiction between supply and demand, my country once again proposed the "Energy Law" legislative plan, and announced the "Energy Law (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)" to the whole society in 2007.The 2007 edition of the draft for solicitation of comments has a total of 15 chapters and 140 articles, covering energy supervision and management, strategic planning, development and supply, energy conservation and emission reduction, fiscal and tax prices, emergency reserves, science and technology policies, and international cooperation. It demonstrates advanced energy concepts such as safety, high efficiency, and environmental protection. It is a systematic, complete, and neat energy “small constitution”.However, at that time, our country's diversified energy structure was initially revealed, and the market-oriented energy management and operation mechanism was still being explored. The direction of the transformation and development of the energy field was not yet clear, and the energy legislation conditions were not yet mature. Therefore, the legislation of the "Energy Law" failed to go on.

The third stage is the second 10 years of the 21st century.In terms of energy supply and demand, the development and consumption of renewable energy sources such as solar energy and wind energy in our country have achieved great development; in terms of institutions and mechanisms, market-oriented reforms in the energy field have been continuously stepped up.The proposal of a new energy security strategy of “Four revolutions, one cooperation” has once again put energy legislation on the agenda.In 2020, the new "Energy Law (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)" was announced.In principle, it inherits the core content of the 2007 edition of the Draft for solicitation of comments, and clarifies the commodity attributes of energy, emphasizes market-oriented reform, and clarifies the direction of clean, low-carbon, and digital development.The 2020 version of the draft for solicitation of comments has been streamlined into 11 chapters and 110 articles, with increased principled and directional content, and more refined wording.However, one is that due to the rapid changes in the situation at home and abroad, the uncertainty of the energy transformation path is high, and there is a lot of controversy about the development positioning of various energy varieties; the other is that the legislative model of the energy law has not yet been clarified, and the powers and responsibilities of the competent energy work departments need to be further clarified, so no substantial progress has been made in energy legislation at this stage.

The fourth stage is since the “Fourteenth Five-Year Plan”.On the one hand, after the ”dual-carbon“ goal was proposed, especially since the establishment of the ”1+N" policy system, the consensus of all walks of life across the country on the comprehensive green and low-carbon transformation of the economy and society has been continuously strengthened, and the supporting policies for energy transformation in the fields of production, consumption, finance and taxation, science and technology have been continuously improved, and the legislative conditions of the "Energy Law" have never been more mature.On the other hand, under the influence of the new crown epidemic, the game of great powers and other factors, our country's energy balance triangle is under serious pressure, energy work is facing a new situation and new challenges, the transformation trend is clear but the specific path is vague and other major issues have been highlighted, and the urgency of legislative work has been significantly increased.Against this background, the work on energy legislation has been launched again. In April 2024, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress deliberated the "Energy Law (Draft)" for the first time and publicly solicited opinions from the whole society.

Content and characteristics of the "Energy Law (Draft)"

The 2024 edition of the "Energy Law (Draft)" has a total of 9 chapters and 69 articles, including general provisions, improving the energy planning system, improving the energy development and utilization system, strengthening the construction of the energy market system, improving the energy reserve system and emergency response system, strengthening energy science and technology innovation, strengthening supervision and management, and clarifying legal responsibilities.Compared with the previous two editions of the draft for solicitation of comments and the current energy policies and regulations, the core of the concept of this edition of the draft is in the same vein, and at the same time it reflects new highlights in the following four aspects.

First, it defines the connotation of energy and the development positioning of various varieties more completely and accurately.The "Energy Law (Draft)" defines energy as "various resources that obtain useful energy directly or through processing and conversion, including coal, petroleum, natural gas, nuclear power, hydroelectric energy, biomass energy, wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, marine energy, electric power, thermal energy, hydrogen energy, etc.”, which is more hierarchical than the 2020 version of the draft for solicitation of comments.In addition, due to the enrichment of the latest policy spirit such as “actively and steadily promoting carbon peaking and carbon neutrality”, “accelerating the construction of a new energy system”, and “promoting the transition from total energy consumption and intensity control to total carbon emissions and intensity control”, the draft expresses the development positioning and direction of various energy varieties more clearly.For example, the support attitude for renewable energy has become more positive and clear, and the expression “priority development of renewable energy” has been further strengthened, and the 2020 version of “Development of distributed energy according to local conditions” has been upgraded to “encourage the development of distributed energy and multi-energy complementarity, multi-energy combined supply integrated energy services”.As another example, it emphasizes the ”orderly“ promotion of non-fossil energy to replace fossil energy and low-carbon energy to replace high-carbon energy. Therefore, it is necessary to support the ”rational development and clean and efficient use“ of fossil energy, as well as the ”clean and efficient development of coal-fired power generation."As another example, starting from energy security and ecological protection, this version of the draft divides “hydropower” into a separate article, requiring “overall coordination” of hydropower development and ecological protection, and “strict control” of the development and construction of small hydropower. At the same time, the 2020 version of “safe and efficient development of nuclear power” has been changed to the same expression as the “14th Five-Year Plan” for the Modern Energy System. “Active, safe and orderly development of nuclear power”.

The second is that the concepts and requirements related to energy security dominate all aspects of the draft provisions.As domestic economic and social development has driven the rigid growth of energy consumption demand, the requirements for clean and efficient energy use have increased, the international situation has been turbulent, and the factors of instability and uncertainty have increased. Energy security has risen to an important part of the overall national security outlook, and it is the “great one of the country” that cannot be ignored for a while.First of all, the “Energy Law (Draft)” makes it clear that it organically integrates macro-goals such as “promoting high-quality energy development” and “guaranteeing national energy security” with “promoting green and low-carbon economic and social transformation and sustainable development” and “comprehensively building a modern socialist country”. Compared with the 2020 version of the draft for solicitation of comments, the legislative purpose is to "regulate energy development, utilization and supervision and management", which is a huge improvement.Secondly, the draft adds relevant provisions on “improving the energy production, supply, storage and marketing system”, and comprehensively expands the connotation of energy security. Energy security is no longer limited to adequate energy supply, but is reflected in the orderly development of energy, stable transportation, efficient utilization, reasonable prices, ladder reserves, flexible scheduling, and even energy-saving publicity. Many levels, in line with the requirements of the era of energy transformation and development.

The third is to emphasize the commodity attributes of energy and the construction of the energy market system.First of all, the “Energy Law (Draft)” clearly regulates the participating entities and forms of activities in China's energy market, that is, the state promotes the “separate operation” of natural monopoly businesses and competitive businesses in the energy field, encourages and guides “multiple ownership economic entities” to invest in energy development and utilization in accordance with the law, energy infrastructure construction, etc., supports various entities to participate fairly in "competitive business" in the energy field in accordance with market rules, and encourages energy upstream and downstream enterprises to strengthen cooperation and collaborative development in accordance with market-oriented methods, thereby promoting the development of the energy market and the upgrading of the energy industry.Secondly, the "Energy Law (Draft)" proposes to promote the construction of a unified national energy trading market for coal, electric power, petroleum, natural gas, etc.The price mechanism is an important part of the market mechanism. The draft's formulation of the energy price formation mechanism is more perfect, which is more conducive to maintaining a stable order of production and life.On the one hand, compared with the 2020 version of the draft for solicitation of comments, the “competitive link is mainly formed by the market price” and the “natural monopoly link price is managed by the price authority” are diametrically distinguished. The draft aims to promote the establishment of an “energy price formation mechanism that is compatible with the socialist market economy system and is mainly determined by factors such as energy resource status, product and service costs, market supply and demand conditions, and sustainable development conditions”; On the other hand, in order to avoid the single-point risk of energy price fluctuations causing economic and social systemic problems, the draft proposes to improve the national energy price regulation system, improve the efficiency of energy price regulation, and build a mechanism to prevent and respond to abnormal price fluctuations in the energy market. Risk mechanism.

Fourth, it comprehensively regulates the rights, obligations and responsibilities of various entities in the energy field.The active and orderly advancement of energy transformation is inseparable from the coordinated efforts of energy producers, regulators and consumers. One of the highlights of the "Energy Law (Draft)" is to comprehensively sort out and clearly regulate the responsibilities and requirements of various entities in the energy transformation.The draft not only clarifies the supply, reserves and other ancillary obligations of energy enterprises, the safe transportation obligations of pipe network enterprises, but also establishes legal principles such as fair market competition and investment protection to provide stable expectations for the production and operation of enterprises; it not only guarantees the right of ordinary users to obtain “safe, sustainable and reliable” energy supply, but also clarifies that relevant entities, including them, are required to bear energy emergency obligations; it not only gives governments at all levels corresponding management powers, but also clarifies their responsibilities in energy planning, energy conservation publicity, and energy security for key groups.In addition, the draft also provides for the news media to carry out energy-saving and green public welfare publicity, public institutions to give priority to the procurement and use of clean and low-carbon energy, and establishes and solidifies the concept of low-carbon in the form of legislation to promote the green and low-carbon transformation of the economy and society and sustainable development.

Thoughts and suggestions on improving the "Energy Law (Draft)"

First of all, the "Energy Law (Draft)" integrates multiple energy varieties and multiple transformation goals under the same framework, specifies the direction and path of transformation and development in the energy field from a legal height, and regulates the positioning and development sequence of various energy varieties, which is conducive to the overall promotion of safe, orderly, cost-effective, green and low-carbon transformation in the energy field, and contributes to high-quality economic and social development.However, the content of this draft is still not perfect, and it is expected that it will be further enriched and optimized in subsequent deliberations.For example, the draft has more provisions on the production, supply, storage and marketing system of fossil energy sources such as coal, oil, and gas, but does not expand on the development and utilization of renewable energy sources such as wind energy, solar energy, and hydrogen energy. It only “supports the priority development of renewable energy” and “improves the guarantee mechanism for electricity consumption and absorption of renewable energy” in principle, and does not discuss how to couple and develop between new energy sources and traditional energy sources and between different renewable energy varieties, which is the focus of confusion and controversy during the energy transition period.As another example, with the in-depth advancement of energy transformation, the source and performance of energy problems are no longer limited to the energy field itself. The safety of key mineral resources such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, and copper is closely related to energy security in the electrification transformation. The resource utilization of waste plastics and biomass also has great potential for energy saving and consumption reduction. These have not yet been included in the draft.

Secondly, the “Energy Law (Draft)” highlights the concept of "energy triangle balance". It is necessary not only to adhere to the strategic attributes of energy and strengthen the bottom line of national energy security, but also to enhance the commodity attributes of energy and give full play to the role of the market in allocating resources. It is also necessary to emphasize the people's livelihood attributes of energy and improve the availability and affordability of energy products.The difficulties in achieving the energy triangle balance exist in many aspects such as industry, technology, facilities, and system. The draft has more detailed regulations on industry, technology, and facilities, but it has simplified the more sensitive and controversial institutional and institutional reforms. Although it is conducive to reducing resistance in the legislative process, it will weaken the "Energy Law". The leading and guiding role of policies and regulations in the energy field is not conducive to the overall realization of multiple goals such as ensuring energy security, promoting market construction, and accelerating green transformation.For example, the draft proposes to build and improve energy reserves, early warning and emergency management systems, but it does not establish general principles for energy reserves and utilization, does not clarify the principles and standards for energy emergency classification and management, and does not clarify the relationship between energy reserves, early warning and emergency management systems. It is not clear on how to coordinate the relationship between government regulation and market mechanisms, and it is recommended to improve it during the legislative review stage.

Finally, the "Energy Law (Draft)" regulates the positioning of responsibilities and rights and responsibilities of various entities in the energy field, which is conducive to them to better play a role, play a role, and form a synergy in the operation and transformation and development of the energy system.However, the current draft's norms for some complex subjects or complex relationships are still imperfect, and it is expected that it will be further enriched and refined in future deliberations.For example, energy and chemical companies have the dual identities of energy suppliers and consumers. They must not only supply clean and efficient energy products to the society, but also promote the improvement of their own energy efficiency and low-carbon transformation, and also promote the high-quality development of enterprises and industries.In the near and medium term, there is an inherent tension between these goals and requirements, which brings certain challenges to the development of energy and chemical enterprises.As another example, government agencies not only have supervision and management responsibilities for the implementation of energy regulations, but also have the obligation to take the initiative and help in the development of energy transformation, especially the development and application of renewable energy and clean and low-carbon technologies. The current version of the draft is insufficient to discuss the latter.In addition, the administrative management work in the energy field involves many departments such as development planning, natural resources, ecological environment, and emergency management. The draft also fails to make more coordination and response to the long-standing problem of “insufficient synergy” in practice.It is recommended to promote the improvement of the content of the draft and the promulgation and implementation of the "Energy Law", to straighten out the interests of all parties in the energy field, accelerate the elimination of chronic diseases, and smoothly involve the energy transformation and development of deep-water areas.