December 16, 2015, the People’s Procuratorate of Shandong Province has decided that the EPA did not perform their duties in accordance with the law by not raising an administrative public interest action at Qingyun People’s Court. Because of this the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, “filed a public interest litigation” pilot after the first case by the NPC.
This is not the first case of its type. The legal basis for this case is not specific. The first time have a clear and specific national norms and guidelines, meaning unusual nature. Its legal basis, namely the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on July 2, 2015 promulgated the “prosecution filed public interest litigation pilot program.” Today, we will discuss the specific rules of the program.
So, What is the scope of the prosecution filed public interest litigation? Well, the case must be in the public interest in the field of civil and administrative law. Specifically, in civil cases in the field of environmental pollution, and food and drug cases. For the administrative areas the cases must be related to the environment, conservation, protection of state-owned assets, and state-owned land use rights. The program has made it clear that environmental protection is the focus of the pilot work. The rules are very specific and are designed to target very specific problems.
Before the Procurators file a civil public interest litigation, they should first urge and support the prosecution of relevant bodies and organizations by the relevant state organs and organizations. Such provisions are not intended to removed the onus from they to act, rather it reflects a value of minimal interference by their office, on the work of other state organs . The prosecution filed administrative proceedings shall be given first to the relevant administrative authorities. If they refuse to correct their actions, the Procurators may proceed with prosecution. This provision exists in order to maximize savings in judicial resources.
This program provides prosecutors with the ability to stop infringements of rights, eliminate danger, seek restitution, compensation claims of loss, apology, etc., in public administrative proceedings, the prosecution seek to annul or partially annul illegal administrative behavior, seek the performance of statutory duties, obtain judicial declarations that administrative acts are illegal or invalid. As can be seen from the provisions, requests may be made in terms of litigation, prosecution and there is no “privilege”, with the range of people’s claims are entirely consistent.
The resources that the Peoples’ Procuratorate can bring to litigation are significant and therefore these provisions are significant. The ability to pursue cases with the resources of the state will force other government departments to seriously rethink their decisions when the Peoples’ Procuratorate becomes involved in a dispute.
After the pilot, the program may be modified and recast, but it will eventually become a new area of law. The basic principles, framework and procedures have been laid out and we expect the program to eventually play a major role in the oversight of public services.