The Environmental Protection Legal Risks And Countermeasures Of China's Investment In South Africa

In recent years,when our country invests in South Africa,it happens from time to time that investment is damaged or even project "miscarriage" is caused by encountering environmental legal risks.Since 2016,with the development of the "one belt and one way" strategy,China's investment in South Africa has entered a new stage of high quality development.It also means that China will face more dimensions and deeper environmental legal risks.Therefore,it is urgent and necessary to study the environmental legal risks related to China's investment in South Africa.By reviewing domestic and foreign laws and normative documents,we can find that there are many sources of environmental protection laws and regulations for investment in South Africa.There are domestic environmental laws,regulations and normative documents in the field of foreign investment formulated by our country,such as "Opinions on Encouraging and Regulating Foreign Investment Cooperation of Chinese Enterprises".Overseas,there are South African environmental protection legal system composed of South African National Environmental Management Law and other laws.At the same time,it is also bound by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other international environmental laws.Through the traceability of the above-mentioned domestic and foreign laws and normative documents,we can analyze the type of environmental legal risks of China's investment in South Africa.Observing China's current investment practices in South Africa,China's environmental risks to South Africa's investment generally include human rights liability risks,administrative liability risks,criminal liability risks and civil liability risks.The reasons for the above-mentioned legal risks of environmental protection in China's investment in South Africa are complex.Firstly,there are some problems in the regulation of environmental protection laws in China,such as ambiguous environmental protection standards,low legal rank and general content;secondly,investors in China are at a loss to follow the environmental protection laws with high frequency changes in South Africa.Influenced by the inertia of domestic EIA standards,we are not satisfied with the situation after entering South Africa,while judicial corruption and administrative interference in South Africa make us more passive;thirdly,bilateral investment agreements between China and South Africa lack environmental protection provisions;fourthly,part of our country lacks environmental awareness and knowledge to South African investors;fifthly,financial institutions do not review EIA before project approval.The situation and other issues,the lack of legal risk avoidance mechanism for environmental protection.We must take many measures to reduce the environmental legal risk of our investment in South Africa to the greatest extent.In a word,first,we should improve the legal system of environmental protection of foreign investment,formulate administrative supervision system of foreign investment,and focus on improving the operability of relevant provisions;second,we should timely revise the Agreement on Mutual Encouragement and Protection of Investment between China and South Africa,and put the concept of sustainable development in the preamble,adding that the South African government will not reduce the environmental standards of our investors when attracting foreign investment.In the course of project operation,South Africa should undertake the obligation of environmental impact assessment.Thirdly,Chinese investors should enhance their awareness of environmental protection and enhance their understanding of South Africa's environmental protection laws.Finally,China should make full use of the role of overseas investment guarantee agencies,incorporate environmental assessment into overseas investment insurance system,and improve China's "green credit" system.