Case Concerning Public Interest Litigation on Ecological Environment Damage in Nansi Lake Basin Directed by the Supreme People's Procuratorate
(SPP Guiding Case No. 218)
Key words
Procuratorial public interest litigation; Ecological environment governance of cross-jurisdiction basins; Integration into the legal supervision system; Coordination with ecological environment damage compensation; Technical support; Procuratorial hearings
Summary
In handling public interest litigation cases involving the ecological environment of rivers, lakes, and other river basins in cross-jurisdiction regions, higher-level people's procuratorates may coordinate and integrate the work of procuratorial organs across the relevant regions, performing their duties in a unified manner. Modern technological tools may be employed to efficiently conduct clue screening, investigation, and evidence collection, thereby initiating administrative and civil public interest litigation in accordance with the law. The people's procuratorates shall actively seek support from local Party committees, integrate the joint forces of the legal supervision system, and effectively urge local governments and administrative organs to perform their duties in accordance with the law, thus promoting the establishment of an integrated ecological environment governance system that links upstream and downstream areas of the river basin. The people's procuratorates shall place emphasis on strengthening judicial openness by conducting individual-case hearings, similar-case hearings, or full-case hearings at appropriate stages, and determining the scope and form of such hearings based on the needs of case handling. Upon achieving basin pollution control objectives, the people's procuratorates may, in accordance with the law, promote the establishment and improvement of long-term mechanisms by local governments, including regional integrated development and ecological product value realization systems.
Relevant provisions
Articles 1229, 1232, 1234 and 1235 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China (Effective since 2021)
Article 24 of the Organization Law of the People's Procuratorates of the People's Republic of China (Rev. 2018)
Article 25 (4) of the Administrative Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China (Rev. 2017)
Article 52 (2) of the Civil Procedural Law of the People's Republic of China (Rev. 2021)
Articles 6, 10, and 51 of the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China (Rev. 2014)
Articles 3, 11, and 16 of the Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China (Rev. 2009)
Articles 11 and 40 of the Fisheries Law of the People's Republic of China (Rev. 2013)
Articles 4, 9, 19, 33, 38, 42, 49 and 85 of the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law of the People's Republic of China (Rev. 2017)
Article 20 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Wastes (Rev. 2020)
Articles 5, 7 and 87 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Prevention and Control of Soil Contamination (Effective since 2019)
Article 26 of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Nature Reserves (Rev. 2011)
Articles 5 and 20 of the Regulation on Urban Drainage and Sewage Treatment (Effective since 2014)
Article 15 of the Regulations on the Administration of Construction Project Environmental Protection (Rev. 2017)
Articles 17 and 29 of the Rules for the Handling of Public Interest Litigation Cases by People's Procuratorates (Effective since 2021)
Article 10 of the Provisions on the Procuratorial Recommendations Work of People's Procuratorates (Effective since 2019)
Articles 4 and 5 of the Provisions of the People's Procuratorates on the Hearing Work for Case Examination (Effective since 2020)
