Issues of Chinese legislation on public environmental lawsuits and the way out ━Latest development of American case law and its practice for reference

Abstract

In developing Chinese legislation on public environmental lawsuits, it is not only to amend the Constitution, Law on Environmental Protection, Civil Procedure Law and Criminal Procedure Law from the aspect of legislative system, but also revise environmental regulations and judicial interpretation. In specific regulations, it is to explicitly define the scope of environmental citizen lawsuits to be accepted and heard by court, conditions of subjects, preconditions of litigation, procedures and rules for hearings, petitions of plaintiffs, modes and conditions for presenting evidence, which should not only affirm citizens’ environmental rights, extend the scope of environmental damages and the scope of cases that indirect individuals can exercise the right to sue, but also establish litigation intervention system, environmental public prosecution system, and charging standard for the participation of attorneys.