The State Council issued the **2016 Version of the List of Approved Investment Projects

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On December 20, 2016, the State Council issued the new version of the **List of Approved Investment Projects (2016 Edition)**. This catalog shall come into effect as of the date of its issuance, and the **Approved List of Investment Projects (2014 Edition)** shall be repealed accordingly. Yahua Consulting compares the 2014 version with the new version; the contents related to coal mines, coal chemical industry, and petrochemical industry in the catalog are as follows: 1. Coal-based fuels: Projects for producing coal-derived natural gas at an annual rate of over 2 billion cubic meters, and projects for producing coal-derived oil at an annual rate of over 1 million tons must be approved by the authorities in charge of investment under the State Council. Old: Projects for producing coal-to-natural gas in quantities of over 2 billion cubic meters per year, and projects for producing coal-to-oil in quantities of over 1 million tons per year are approved by the department in charge of investment under the State Council. 2. Petrochemicals: New projects for ethylene, p-xylene (PX), and diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) are approved by provincial authorities in accordance with the approved planning framework for the petrochemical industry. The construction of new ethylene, p-xylene (PX), and diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) projects that are not included in the **approved relevant plans is prohibited. Old: New ethylene projects are approved by the provincial authorities in accordance with the petrochemical industry development plan approved by the State Council. 3. Coal chemical industry: New projects for producing olefins from coal and new projects for producing para-xylene (PX) from coal are approved by provincial authorities in accordance with the relevant plans that have been authorized. The construction of new coal-to-methanol projects with an annual production capacity of over 1 million tons is approved by the provincial authorities. Construction of the remaining projects is prohibited. Old: Chemical industry: Projects for producing olefins from coal via methanol, with an annual output of over 500,000 tons, and projects for producing methanol from coal, with an annual output of over 1 million tons, are approved by the authorities in charge of investment under the State Council ； The new p-xylene (PX) project and the new diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) project are approved by the provincial authorities in accordance with the petrochemical industry development plan approved by the State Council. 4. Coal mines: **New coal development projects within planned mining areas with an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons or more are approved by the industry regulatory department under the State Council; those with an annual production capacity of 5 million tons or more are approved by the investment regulatory department under the State Council and submitted to the State Council for record-keeping** ； **The remaining coal development projects within the planned mining area, as well as regular coal development projects, are approved at the provincial level. **Projects that are prohibited from being constructed or that fall under the scope of phase-out are not to be approved. The notice states that for coal mining projects, it is necessary to strictly comply with the requirements set out in the \"Opinions of the State Council on Reducing Excess Capacity in the Coal Industry and Achieving Sustainable Development\" (Guo Fa [2016] No. 7); in principle, approval for new coal mining projects, as well as for technical transformation projects aimed at increasing capacity or projects to raise existing capacity, should be suspended over a period of three years starting from 2016 ； Where it is truly necessary to establish new coal mines, reduction and replacement must be implemented in all such cases. Old: **Coal development projects within planned mining areas that aim to increase annual production capacity by 1.2 million tons or more must be approved by the industry regulatory authorities under the State Council; those with an increased annual production capacity of 5 million tons or more are required to be filed with the State Council. The remaining coal development projects in these planned mining areas are approved at the provincial level** ； The remaining general coal development projects are approved by local authorities. **It is stipulated that new coal and gas outburst, high gas content, and small to medium-scale coal development projects are prohibited from being approved.