How to compensate for the closure of mines due to environmental protection policies?

In recent years, due to the increase in the central government's efforts to protect the environment and the consideration of the performance of local governments in environmental protection, many enterprises have been shut down because of environmental protection policies. So, for those enterprises that are still shut down in normal production and operation, can they be compensated? Today, Mr. Shi Xining, director of Beijing Jingkang Law Firm and co-director of the Institute of Property rights and Land Of Northwest University of Political Science and Law, will analyze the following for you, discussing the compensation of enterprises whose mines have been closed, or the compensation of enterprises whose mining licenses have been withdrawn.

First of all, the policy shutdown of mines is a withdrawal of administrative permits.

According to article 8 of the Administrative Licensing Law, administrative licenses obtained by citizens, legal persons or other organizations in accordance with law are protected by law, and administrative organs may not change administrative licenses that have already taken effect without authorization. Where the laws, regulations, or rules on which the administrative license is based are revised or repealed, or where there is a major change in the objective circumstances on which the administrative license is granted, the administrative organ may lawfully modify or withdraw the administrative license that has already taken effect for the purposes of the public interest.

According to the Measures for the Administration of Mineral Resources Mining Registration, if an enterprise wants to exploit mineral resources, it must examine and approve the registration in accordance with the statutory procedures and obtain a mining license. Therefore, the mining right of an enterprise is an administrative license of an authorized nature. According to the provisions of the Administrative Licensing Law, after an enterprise obtains a mining license in accordance with the law, the administrative organ cannot withdraw the mining license at will while the mining license is still in the validity period. In reality, the local government's request to close the mine because of environmental benefits or other public interests is actually a withdrawal of mining permits.

Second, the withdrawal of mining permits should give the enterprise reasonable compensation.

Article 8 of the Administrative Licensing Law also stipulates that where an administrative license that has already taken effect is withdrawn for the needs of the public interest, thereby causing property losses to citizens, legal persons or other organizations, the administrative organ shall compensate in accordance with law. Article 8 of the Administrative Licensing Law is actually an embodiment of the administrative counterpart's protection of the interests of the government organs, that is, when the administrative counterpart has lawfully obtained an administrative license of the nature of authorization, only when the legal decree is changed or the objective situation changes significantly, the administrative organ can withdraw the effective administrative license in accordance with the law. At this time, the administrative counterpart who believes in the government shall be compensated accordingly for the losses caused by the withdrawal of administrative licenses by the government organs. In reality, mining enterprises that are shut down due to environmental protection policies have the right to ask the government to give them reasonable compensation.

Finally, according to what standards to compensate the enterprise.

Because the provisions of the Administrative Licensing Law are too general and the provisions on how to compensate administrative counterparts for the losses caused by the withdrawal of administrative licenses are not clear, all localities are actually supported by specific local policies to compensate.

In the Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Administrative Licensing Cases issued by the Supreme People's Court in 2009, it is clearly stipulated that "where laws, regulations, rules or normative documents do not provide for the compensation standards for changing or withdrawing administrative licenses, the amount of compensation is generally determined within the scope of actual losses; where administrative licensing falls under the circumstances provided for in item (2) of Article 12 of the Administrative Licensing Law, the amount of compensation is generally determined according to the actual losses invested." Since mining enterprises fall under the circumstances stipulated in item (2) of Article 12 of the Administrative Licensing Law: "(2) matters that require specific rights to be granted in the development and utilization of limited natural resources, allocation of public resources, and market access in specific industries directly related to the public interest", for enterprises that have obtained mining licenses, the amount of compensation should be determined according to the losses of their actual inputs. The actual investment loss here generally includes the construction of plants, machinery and equipment investment, leveling land, etc., and the loss of enterprise suspension and suspension of business is not included.