Discussion on China's policy classification and main objects of policy strategic environmental assessment

In a broad sense, China's policies can be classified from the two aspects of level and form. Based on the policy classification, the objects of China's policy strategic environmental assessment (SEA) are mainly: 1) the economic policies which belong to the category of specific policy; 2) the policies formulated by the relevant departments of the State Council and the governments at or above the county level; 3) and the major policies that may result in significant environmental impacts. Considering the environmental impact assessment requirements of the existing laws and regulations in the formulation process of various policies, the normative documents in economic policies should be taken as the key objects of policy SEA, and the technical standards should be taken as the main type of technical policies and also be objects of policy SEA. In order to precisely identify the policy SEA objects, a normalized screening mechanism should be established.