Good for a city govt to heed people’s views

ON SATURDAY, the Xi’an municipal government apologized for a “hasty and inconsiderate” draft regulation on which it began soliciting public opinions six days earlier — all gasoline cars older than 10 years, and diesel cars older than five years, will be banned from entering the downtown area of the capital of Northwest Shaanxi province from August next year in a bid to control air pollution. Beijing News comments:

It is good that the city government has heeded the public’s response, and admitted there are loopholes in its policymaking.

Many cities have meted out policies to try and reduce the environmental impact of the rapidly growing number of cars on their roads. But almost all of them focus on the vehicle’s true emission levels, not when it was produced, which is more convincing and rational.

In 2013, the central government abolished the rule that private cars must be scrapped after 15 years. And the draft of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law, which is under review by the legislature, has deleted an article stating that local governments are entitled to restrict and ban the use of automobiles for pollution control.

Cars are a durable and expensive item, which

are protected by the Property Law. Once a vehicle is prohibited from running on road, it becomes valueless. A government would be violating the law by unilaterally declare some cars are banned from roads, even if they can pass the compulsory annual emissions check by the transportation department.

As the Xi’an government said, its draft rule was drawn up without consulting with the public, which deprives the draft regulation of its due procedural justice. Any draft policies or rules a government solicits public opinions on should be something already akin to people’s practical needs, not a hotheaded decision.

The case should be a lesson to other local governments on the importance of policymaking being in line with the public’s interests.