After two-year pilot program, on June 27, 2017, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress issued a new decision authorizing the people’s Procuratorate (similar to a Prosecutor’s Office) to engage in public interest litigation on behalf of the State. The new decision came into force on July 1, 2017. These public interest litigations are a welcome development in recognizing and enforcing public rights, in situations where individuals may otherwise be at a disadvantage. The public interest litigation represents a new form of “policing” by one government agency against others, and against private and state owned enterprises. This is expected, along with the high profile anti-corruption campaign, to make the government overall more effective, increase public trust in institutions, and ensure high profile Party members complete their jobs effectively.
The pilot program has been a two year project authorizing the people’s procuratorate to take part in the public interest litigation in Beijing, Nei Menggu, Jilin, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Shandong, Hubei, Guangdong, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shanxi and Gansu. As of June, 2017, the people’s procuratorate has dealt with 9053 cases involving public interest issues, wherein 1150 cases went as far as litigation. The People’s courts have concluded 458 cases and 437 of those were resolved in favor of the position taken by the people’s procuratorate.
Compared with the previous pilot program, the new program has enlarged the scope of qualifying public interest matters to confer the power on the people’s procuratorate to initiate a civil lawsuit against any act harmful to the protection of the ecological environment and public resources, and any practice in the food and drug safety field that infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. The Procuratorate also gains the right to initiate a procuratorial proposal to the administrative authority to urge such authority to lawfully perform its duties as to supervision and management of the ecological environment and public resources, and enforcement of food and drug safety, protection of state-owned assets and lawful granting of land use rights for state-owned land. If such administrative authority subsequently fails to perform its duty in accordance with the law, the people’s procuratorate may then directly file an action against it at the People’s Court.