Governments at provincial and city levels and their subordinate departments have been given the authority to sue polluters for damaging the environment.
The new measure was outlined in a judicial interpretation of 23 articles issued by China’s top court on June 5. It will strengthen the fight against pollution and help in the restoration of damaged environments, the Supreme People’s Court said in a statement.
“Government departments, compared with individuals and organizations, know more about law enforcement of environmental protection and are more powerful in evidence collection, so as plaintiffs they will better solve pollution cases,” said Jiang Bixin, the court’s vice-president.
“It’s a kind of litigation between governments and polluters, and the polluters can be an individual, an enterprise or an organization,” he said.
Jiang added it was a “new crucial measure” to protect ecology and environment through the rule of law.
In December 2015, the central leadership issued a reform plan requesting judicial and government officials come up with ways for polluters to pay damages for the restoration of damaged environments.
Since then, the courts have attempted to find solutions to effectively help restore the polluted ecological regions and penalize polluters.
At the same time, more individuals and environmental NGOs realized they had more power to take action against polluters under the Environmental Protection Law, enacted in 2015, which increased fines imposed on violators.
Since July 2017, prosecutors have also been allowed to institute public interest cases in relation to pollution and food safety, to further strengthen environmental protection.
“The series of moves shows our determination against pollution is getting stronger and punishments for violations becoming stricter,” Jiang said.
