The State Council, China's cabinet, issued regulations for national survey of pollution sources on Monday.

The content of the 42-article statute, signed by Premier Wen Jiabao, was not specified but the State Council said it outlined "the scope, content and measures" of the first national survey to identify the whereabouts of the country's worst polluters, which will begin in 2008 and be completed the following year.

The regulations stipulate that any officials, survey compilers and survey respondents who falsify data should be "criticized, punished or fined".

The national survey will be conducted every ten years, according to the regulations.

The Chinese government set a target of reducing discharges of major pollutant discharges by ten percent over the 11th five-year plan period ending in 2010, but fell well short of its goal last year, prompting China's leaders to announce the introduction of a national survey.

The survey is aimed at determining the number, sector and geographical distribution of the country's polluters in the country.

"The regulations aim to ensure the survey is carried out scientifically and effectively and the data obtained is accurate," said a statement from the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council on Monday.

In recent years, China's rapid economic growth has given rise to greater pollution and the existing data has been insufficient for environmental surveillance.

Statistics show that there are more than 1.45 million industrial enterprises in China, but only 80,000 of them have been included in the government's key surveillance data.

(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2007)