Research on the Environmental Public Interest …
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for strengthening institutional and legal support for environmental protection and
earnestly implement the basic national policy of saving resources and protecting
the environment. They shall continuously reform the PIL system and mechanism,
improve the judicial procedures for EPIL, and develop the specialized team of judges.
They shall effectively implement the most rigorous systems for source protection,
damage compensation and accountability, and continuously improve judicial services
for environmental protection in the new era.
2 The Basic Concepts for the People’s Courts to Construct
and Improve the EPIL System Under the Guidance of Xi
Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization
First, we must safeguard the public interest as soon as possible, in a continuous
and complete way. The fundamental purpose of EPIL is to protect the environment,
including the restoration of the damaged environment, the cessation of the infringement, and the prevention of possible damage. The filing of EPIL means that the
damaged environment has real harm and is in urgent need of protection. Once the
judicial procedures are activated for the EPIL, what comes first should be public
interest protection, not the punishment and evaluation function of the judgment.
Therefore, first, the court should continue to safeguard public interest. From the
perspective of protecting the environmental public interest, we should consider not
only the insufficient capacity or impure motivation of the social organization in
question, but also how to properly exercise judicial power in litigation so that the
protection of environmental public interest is prioritized. To this end, in addition
to appropriately relaxing the qualification threshold for social organizations to file
litigation and boosting their initiative to file PIL, we should improve the efficiency of
litigation, and make mediation and withdrawal as easy and convenient as possible;
forbid the interruption of requirements and arbitrary withdrawal of the lawsuit and
emphasize the continuity of protection; oppose lowering the value of public interest
restoration, and emphasize the priority of ecological restoration and the conformity
of the trial results to the purpose.
Second, the democratic concept of co-governance for all shall be upheld. Public
engagement is the basic principle of environmental law generally followed by countries all over the world. It generally means that “the public has the right to participate in
all development decisions related to public environmental rights and interests through
certain procedures or channels, and is entitled to corresponding legal protections and
remedies to avoid blind decision-making and make decisions in favor of the vital
interests and needs of the general public.” Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought
on Ecological Civilization, Article 5 of the Environmental Protection Law amended
in 2014 stipulates that “Environmental protection adheres to the principles of giving
priority to protection, focusing on prevention, conducting comprehensive treatment,
engaging the general public, and enforcing accountability for damage.” Thus the
647
for strengthening institutional and legal support for environmental protection and
earnestly implement the basic national policy of saving resources and protecting
the environment. They shall continuously reform the PIL system and mechanism,
improve the judicial procedures for EPIL, and develop the specialized team of judges.
They shall effectively implement the most rigorous systems for source protection,
damage compensation and accountability, and continuously improve judicial services
for environmental protection in the new era.
2 The Basic Concepts for the People’s Courts to Construct
and Improve the EPIL System Under the Guidance of Xi
Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization
First, we must safeguard the public interest as soon as possible, in a continuous
and complete way. The fundamental purpose of EPIL is to protect the environment,
including the restoration of the damaged environment, the cessation of the infringement, and the prevention of possible damage. The filing of EPIL means that the
damaged environment has real harm and is in urgent need of protection. Once the
judicial procedures are activated for the EPIL, what comes first should be public
interest protection, not the punishment and evaluation function of the judgment.
Therefore, first, the court should continue to safeguard public interest. From the
perspective of protecting the environmental public interest, we should consider not
only the insufficient capacity or impure motivation of the social organization in
question, but also how to properly exercise judicial power in litigation so that the
protection of environmental public interest is prioritized. To this end, in addition
to appropriately relaxing the qualification threshold for social organizations to file
litigation and boosting their initiative to file PIL, we should improve the efficiency of
litigation, and make mediation and withdrawal as easy and convenient as possible;
forbid the interruption of requirements and arbitrary withdrawal of the lawsuit and
emphasize the continuity of protection; oppose lowering the value of public interest
restoration, and emphasize the priority of ecological restoration and the conformity
of the trial results to the purpose.
Second, the democratic concept of co-governance for all shall be upheld. Public
engagement is the basic principle of environmental law generally followed by countries all over the world. It generally means that “the public has the right to participate in
all development decisions related to public environmental rights and interests through
certain procedures or channels, and is entitled to corresponding legal protections and
remedies to avoid blind decision-making and make decisions in favor of the vital
interests and needs of the general public.” Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought
on Ecological Civilization, Article 5 of the Environmental Protection Law amended
in 2014 stipulates that “Environmental protection adheres to the principles of giving
priority to protection, focusing on prevention, conducting comprehensive treatment,
engaging the general public, and enforcing accountability for damage.” Thus the