The amendment of the two regulations on judicial interpretation promote the restoration of damaged ecological environment.

The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate issued a decision on March 27 to amend the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Environmental Pollution," which will take effect from March 30, 2026. The amendment includes four articles, adjusting the criminal subjects and scope of pollutants involved in the crime of tampering with or falsifying automatic monitoring data or interfering with automatic monitoring devices for environmental pollution. It clarifies that the criminal subjects constituting the crime include both entities and natural persons, and adds total phosphorus, total nitrogen, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, etc., as new categories of pollutants emitted under this criminal offense. At the same time, the mention of "key pollutant emitters" has been deleted to align with the Ecological Environment Code. Additionally, the amendment further optimizes the relevant provisions on lenient treatment for crimes of environmental pollution, making the active fulfillment of ecological environment restoration responsibilities a separate factor in determining lenient punishment to better guide offenders to voluntarily restore damaged ecological environments and minimize the harm caused by environmental pollution, achieving the dual goals of "punishing crimes and restoring the environment." The amendment also adds the provision regarding providing programs and tools specifically designed for cheating on emissions testing for motor vehicles, as prescribed in the third paragraph of Article 285 of the Criminal Law, to Explanation Article 10, paragraph four, to further strengthen the crackdown on the full chain of criminal activities providing false certification documents in environmental areas.