China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) has blacklisted the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Center in Peking University due to malpractices.

Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau verified the EIA center in Peking University did not observe EIA standards, did not carry out complete investigations on environmental protection of areas around projects, made misrepresentations about the projects and their environmental impact, and had no reliable analysis on the use of clean energy in the projects.

The municipal bureau sent the case to SEPA, which ordered the center to suspend operations for three months, increase discipline and improve technology, a SEPA spokesman said.

Three small and medium-sized projects in the capital were involved in the case. Two were real estate projects and the other was part of a secondary school construction project.

SEPA is responsible for licensing EIA agencies, supervising their operations and punishing them for wrongdoings. EIA agencies are paid by constructors to carry out assessment and provide reports to environmental protection bureaus.

SEPA says it will take strict measures to discipline EIA agencies. Irresponsible EIA agencies will have their licenses withdrawn, a credit database will be set up, and heads of EIA agencies will be required to receive training to improve their technology and skills.