中国环境软法治理的法治思考与优化路径

Legal Thinking and Optimization Path of China’s Environmental Soft Law Governance

环境治理现代化对完善环境规范体系提出了新的拓展要求,于是中国环境法在实施中涌现出大量的软法规范。环境软法的存在有其特定的时代诉求,包括传统向环境公共治理模式的转变,单一向多元环境治理主体的拓展,环境硬法向外部治理工具的延伸,以及国际环境软法对中国智慧的日渐依赖。基于颁布主体之不同,环境软法可分为国家规制型、行业规制型和社会规制型3种类型。实践表明,中国环境软法的不同面向在引领立法、灵活实施及包容式参与方面确立了其在环境规范体系中的独特功能价值。然而,环境硬法的“不硬”导致软法侵蚀硬法,适用随意性较大,实施效力不足,以及软硬法不协调等问题的出现,致使环境软法陷入实施困境。基于此,中国环境软法治理应遵循现代法治的诉求,从约束效能、形成机制、实施机制和软硬法协调共治4个方面予以针对性优化,真正实现环境软法的良法善治。

The modernization of environmental governance has put forward new expansion requirements for improving the environmental regulatory system.In this context,a large number of soft law norms have emerged in the implementation of China’s environmental law.The existence of environmental soft law has its specific demands of the times,including the transformation from traditional to public environmental governance models,the expansion of single to multiple environmental governance entities,the extension of environmental hard law to external governance tools,and the increasing reliance of international environmental soft law on Chinese wisdom.Based on the different enacting entities,environmental soft laws can be divided into the national regulatory type,the industry regulatory type,and the social regulatory type.Practice has shown that the different aspects of China’s environmental soft law have established its unique functional value in guiding legislation,flexible implementation,and inclusive participation in the environmental regulatory system.However,the“non hard”nature of environmental hard laws has led to the erosion of hard laws by soft laws,resulting in greater arbitrariness in application,insufficient implementation effectiveness,and inconsistent implementation of soft and hard laws,leading to difficulties in implementing environmental soft laws.Therefore,we should follow the demands of modern rule of law and optimize it from four aspects:constraint efficiency,formation mechanism,implementation mechanism,and coordinated governance of soft and hard laws,in order to truly achieve good law and good governance of environmental soft law.