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PUBLIC INTEREST LAWSUITS IN ENVIRONMENTAL CASES IN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA, STUDY IN AMENDMENT OF CIVIL AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE LAWS ISSUED IN 2017
Abstract
The task of law is not confined to the protection of private and individual rights, but it aims at protecting the public interest, which concerns the interest of the whole country. As a result, the question of who defends the public interest arises. Needless to say, that the state with all its bodies should do this task but, legally speaking, it cannot, as there should be a certain body whose task is to advocate such interest in case they are violated. It should, also, has the right to bring the case to the court to achieve the protection of the law. The following question arises: Does any member of the society have the right to bring a case to the court concerning the public interest? We can say that some legal systems have accepted the cases referred to the court by anyone regardless of being harmed such as the Public Lawsuits in the Roman Law and Al-Hisba Lawsuit in the Islamic Legislation. But for the majority of modern legislations, the Prosecutor General is the entity whose responsibility is to refer such cases to the court in a bid to protect the public interest. As a result, the majority of modern legislations have assigned one of its public bodies defend the public interest and have given it the right to refer the case to the court. This body is the Public Prosecution Body. The lawsuits of public prosecution are such cases, which the public prosecution refer to the court defending the public interest of the society to maintain the public discipline and public morals, being the representative of the society. The public prosecution in such lawsuits represents the interest of public system maintaining it and defending the public interest and keeping the public discipline and morals. [1] Consequently, the Chinese legislator in the law of civil procedures issued in 1991 amended for the third time in 2017 with the Decision of the NPC Standing Committee on Amending the PRC Civil Procedure Law and the PRC Administrative Procedure Law of the people's republic of China issued in the 28th session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress on 27th of June 2017, was keen on reassuring the use of public lawsuits in the cases of environment which was reassured on the amendment of the constitution of China in March 2018 when assured the protection of the environment and the ecological civilization in article 8 of the preamble of the constitution after re-amended in article 32 of 2018 to reach the final aim of building a suitable ecological civilization in the country; “Beautiful China” - the ultimate goal of building an ecological civilization.
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References14
Mohamed Abdelnaby Elsayed Ghanem, Civil and Commercial Procedure Law, Part 2; Action Theory, Litigation Theory, Dar Elnhda Alarabeah, Cairo, Egypt, 1st Edition. 2017, pp 100-108, 112 etc.
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According to article 58 of the Law, social organizations satisfying the following conditions may file lawsuits with the courts against acts that pollute the environment or cause ecological damage that harms the public interest: 1- The groups must be registered with a government civil affairs department at or above the level of a city with districts; and 2- The groups must have been engaged specifically in public service activities in environmental protection for five consecutive years without any record of violation of laws.
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The Role of Public Interest Litigation in Enforcing Environmental Law in China, D'Andrea & Partners, Sep. 27, 2016, Available at; http://www.dandreapartners.com/the-role-of-public-interest-litigation-in-enforcingenvironmental-law-in-china/
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