Promoting Ecological Progress with Procuratorial Services
637
litigation. They issue announcements or procuratorial recommendations before the
litigation, and urge relevant parties to initiate litigation and administrative organs to
perform their duties in accordance with the law, in order to protect public welfare and
maximize the social effect with the minimal judicial input. Baijiazhou of Changsha
City is located in the first-class protection zone for the drinking water source of
Xiangjiang River, but suffers from discharge of untreated sewage. In response, local
procuratorial organ issued procuratorial recommendations which were effectively
implemented: the islanders were relocated, illegal buildings demolished, and catering
ships shut down, restoring the clean water environment. Meanwhile, we should use
litigation to educate the public on rule of law. When the procuratorial recommendations are neglected, we can advance with litigation and court trial until the problem
is resolved, by which we can set an example for the society at the same time. In
Rongchang District of Chongqing, 286 farmers were found to illegally raise livestock and poultry in the prohibited zone along the Laixi River, and directly discharge
the manure and sewage into the river. The local procuratorial organ then issued
procuratorial recommendations to 16 towns and neighborhoods, filed and won a
public interest lawsuit against the Guchang township government for neglecting its
environmental regulation duties, thus promoting pollution control in the river section
in the prohibited area.
The EPIL system is an important institutional design that uses rule-of-law thinking
and methods to tackle environmental pollution, an important measure to modernize
the national governance system and capabilities, and also a powerful driving force
for the transformation and upgrading of procuratorial work in the new era. In 2019,
the NPC Standing Committee will hear and deliberate on the report about the procuratorial work on PIL. We must seize the opportunity to deepen the reform of the
system for procuratorial organs to file public interest lawsuits. We shall advocate
that administrative PIL is to urge and work with the administrative organ involved
to make corrections. With the protection of public interest as our central aim, we
should make full use of pre-litigation procedures in accordance with the law. For
administrative organs which illegally exercised their power or fail to perform their
powers, we can hold talks, round-tables and hearings to stimulate them to rectify
their errors, and promote them to actively perform duties, make corrections, and
timely repair the damaged ecological environment. We shall continue to promote the
establishment of a cross-provincial working mechanism for administrative PIL for
ecological, environmental and resources protection, to ensure whole-watershed and
cross-regional public interest protection. We shall improve the working mechanism
for forensic authentication of ecological and environmental damage, and work to
solve the problems of little, expensive and time-consuming authentication.
Fourth, we shall introduce the concept of restorative justice and establish the
restorative justice mechanism. The restorative justice theory was originated in North
America in the 1960s and 1970s, and was soon put into judicial practice in AngloAmerican legal system. Unlike the traditional justice, its core idea is “restoration.”
In some countries, restorative justice has entered the mainstream of criminal judicatory of environment and resource offenses, and is even regarded by some scholars
as a “full-function alternative to the current criminal judicatory of environment and
637
litigation. They issue announcements or procuratorial recommendations before the
litigation, and urge relevant parties to initiate litigation and administrative organs to
perform their duties in accordance with the law, in order to protect public welfare and
maximize the social effect with the minimal judicial input. Baijiazhou of Changsha
City is located in the first-class protection zone for the drinking water source of
Xiangjiang River, but suffers from discharge of untreated sewage. In response, local
procuratorial organ issued procuratorial recommendations which were effectively
implemented: the islanders were relocated, illegal buildings demolished, and catering
ships shut down, restoring the clean water environment. Meanwhile, we should use
litigation to educate the public on rule of law. When the procuratorial recommendations are neglected, we can advance with litigation and court trial until the problem
is resolved, by which we can set an example for the society at the same time. In
Rongchang District of Chongqing, 286 farmers were found to illegally raise livestock and poultry in the prohibited zone along the Laixi River, and directly discharge
the manure and sewage into the river. The local procuratorial organ then issued
procuratorial recommendations to 16 towns and neighborhoods, filed and won a
public interest lawsuit against the Guchang township government for neglecting its
environmental regulation duties, thus promoting pollution control in the river section
in the prohibited area.
The EPIL system is an important institutional design that uses rule-of-law thinking
and methods to tackle environmental pollution, an important measure to modernize
the national governance system and capabilities, and also a powerful driving force
for the transformation and upgrading of procuratorial work in the new era. In 2019,
the NPC Standing Committee will hear and deliberate on the report about the procuratorial work on PIL. We must seize the opportunity to deepen the reform of the
system for procuratorial organs to file public interest lawsuits. We shall advocate
that administrative PIL is to urge and work with the administrative organ involved
to make corrections. With the protection of public interest as our central aim, we
should make full use of pre-litigation procedures in accordance with the law. For
administrative organs which illegally exercised their power or fail to perform their
powers, we can hold talks, round-tables and hearings to stimulate them to rectify
their errors, and promote them to actively perform duties, make corrections, and
timely repair the damaged ecological environment. We shall continue to promote the
establishment of a cross-provincial working mechanism for administrative PIL for
ecological, environmental and resources protection, to ensure whole-watershed and
cross-regional public interest protection. We shall improve the working mechanism
for forensic authentication of ecological and environmental damage, and work to
solve the problems of little, expensive and time-consuming authentication.
Fourth, we shall introduce the concept of restorative justice and establish the
restorative justice mechanism. The restorative justice theory was originated in North
America in the 1960s and 1970s, and was soon put into judicial practice in AngloAmerican legal system. Unlike the traditional justice, its core idea is “restoration.”
In some countries, restorative justice has entered the mainstream of criminal judicatory of environment and resource offenses, and is even regarded by some scholars
as a “full-function alternative to the current criminal judicatory of environment and