The Recent Development of China's System of Procuratorate Public Interest Litigation

• Date: 01 June 2018

6-2018 NEWS & ANALYSIS 48 ELR 10467

e establishment of the procur atorate public interest liti-

gation system is not only a land mark achievement of [Chi-

na’s] major judicial refor m measures, but also a pr imary

innovative development of the litigation sys tem, further

enriching Chine se wisdom and the Chine se approach to

protection of the public interest.

—Prosecutor Hu Weilie, director of the Civil and

Administr ative Procuratorial Department, Supreme

People’s Procuratorate, February 8, 20181

China is in a period of great readjustment, and its legal s ys-

tem is under various pressures and cha llenges.2 Meanwhile,

the spectacular economic growth in China has come at a

high price, and the public interest has been inf ringed, espe-

cially in the environmental eld.3 To address this alarming

situation, China’s laws4 emphasi ze the expanded role of the

procuratorate (broadly speaking , akin to prosecutors in the

United States)5 in protecting the public interest. “Procu-

ratorate public interest litigation” refers to public interest

litigation led by the Chinese procuratorate, and the appli-

1. See Hu Weilie Introduced the Implementation of 2017 Procuratorate Public In-

terest Litigation in China—Interview With the Director of the Supreme People’s

Procuratorate, Feb. 8, 2018 [hereinafter Hu Weilie Interview], http://gjwft.

jcrb.com/2018/1yue_47779/mxt/index.shtml.

2. See Qin Qianhong, Several Issues on the eory and Practice of Administrative

Public Interest Litigation Field by Procuratorate, 11 P. S.  L. 83, 83

(2016).

3. Take air pollution, for instance: only 84 of the 338 prefecture-level and

above cities in China met the air quality standard in 2016. See e Bulle-

tin of 2016 Chinese Environmental Statements, http://www.zhb.gov.cn/hjzl/

zghjzkgb/lnzghjzkgb/201706/P020170605833655914077.pdf.

4. For example, Article 25 of the Administrative Procedure Law (promulgated

by the National People’s Congress (NPC) Apr. 4, 1989, eective Oct. 1,

1990, revised Nov. 1, 2014, and June 27, 2017) states that the procuratorate

has standing to bring administrative public interest litigation.

5. See H J  J R. W, C P   P’

R  C   U S  A: A C

S (1995).

cation of procuratorate public interest litigation has gone

through several sta ges in China.

After a two-year pilot program, the Standing Com-

mittee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) formally

established the Procuratorate Public Interest Litigation

(PPIL) System on June 27, 2017. Since the court house door

in China has been opened for the procuratorate to protect

the public interest, the number of such cases has sky rock-

eted. e vastly expanded number and geographic scope

of such cases demonstrates that the procuratorate plays a

signicant role in protecting the public interest. However,

the PPIL System faces many pressing challenges that need

to be addressed so that its eectiveness can be increased.

is Comment is composed of the following parts.

Part I investigates the expa nded role of the procuratorate

in public interest litigation in China from a historical per-

spective; it then details the key fe atures of the PPIL System

“on the books.” Part II analyzes the implementation of the

PPIL System “on the ground,” and describes the features

and achievements of the juridical practice a s it has thus far

been implemented. Part III claries the urgent cha llenges

that face the PPIL System, and provides some suggestions

for further implementation of the system. Part IV con-

cludes that as long as China adopts detailed and feasible

measures, the PPIL System will be a viable solution to pro-

tect the public interest.

The Recent Development of

China’s System of Procuratorate

Public Interest Litigation

by Cui Yu

Cui Yu is a Ph.D. candidate at the China University of Political Science and Law, and a

visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

Copyright © 2018 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.