Public interest litigation needs more support

A river in Yichang, Central China's Hubei province, is severely polluted with garbage. [Photo/asianewsphoto]

China Biodiversity Conversation and Green Development Foundation has filed eight public interest lawsuits against enterprises that have polluted the desert in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, but all the lawsuits have been rejected by the local courts. The Supreme People's Court recently ruled that the latter must accept the cases. However, there is still a long way to go before cases will be heard in court, says thepaper.cn:

Many media lauded the Supreme People's Court ruling as "victory for public interest litigation", but actually it is too early to say that. The environmental protection group has only won the ruling that the local court must accept its cases; considering the latter's reluctance to even hear them, there would appear to be little chance of the verdicts being in favor of the foundation.

The law included public interest litigation in 2013, and later amendments gave environmental organizations the chance to file public interest lawsuits. However, public interest lawsuits still tend to make little progress through the judicial system. One of the main problems is the law is too ambiguous on the issue. For example, in 2013, the Civil Procedure Law said that "only certain social organizations" could file public interest lawsuits, and this has subsequently been used by many local courts to reject such cases.

The experiences of other countries show that public interest litigation is of key importance to defending public interests. It is time for the Supreme People's Court and the legislature to do more to ensure such cases are fairly heard in court. Those filing such lawsuits are not making trouble; they are contributing to social progress.