Research On Preventive Environmental Public Interest Litigation

At present,most of the environmental public interest litigation in China focuses on the remedial repair and compensation after the ecological environment is damaged,and the institutional consideration of preventing the damage of environmental public interests is relatively insufficient.As a type of public interest litigation with the purpose and function of prevention,preventive environmental public interest litigation aims to eliminate the harm of environmental public interest before it occurs through judicial channels.However,it is different from the general environmental public interest litigation of damage relief in the purpose of litigation,constitutive requirements and liability,so we cannot simply apply its system rules.Through to the United States,Japan,Germany,India and other countries of preventive environmental public interest litigation legislation and case,it is not hard to see its action to stop the illegal administrative act for the purpose,to initiate the conditions stipulated explicitly,the scope of prosecution is narrow,the burden of proof is not properly distributed,and matching the corresponding responsibility.Through comparative analysis of relevant domestic legislation and judicial cases,it can be seen that China's current legislation on preventive environmental public interest litigation has a single scope of accepting cases,unclear conditions for filing cases,narrow scope of prosecution subjects,unreasonable distribution of the burden of proof,and an insufficiently standardized way of bearing the burden.In order to effectively protect the public interests of the environment and give full play to the function of the system of environmental public interest litigation,more attention should be paid to the system design and practical support of preventive environmental public interest litigation.First,by expanding the scope of receiving cases,including the prevention of damage to environmental public interests by administrative actions,and improving the preventive environmental administrative public interest litigation system.Second,the conditions for filing cases should be clarified.The prevention of "environmental danger" should be regarded as the basic conditions for filing cases for the prevention of environmental public interest litigation,and the conditions for filing cases for the prevention of "environmental risk" should be properlygrasped.Third,we should expand the qualification of litigation subjects,include social organizations in the scope of eligible subjects of preventive environmental administrative public interest litigation,and endue citizens with the qualification of litigation subjects.Fourth,through the reasonable distribution of the burden of proof,the plaintiff's initial burden of proof,the accused increased burden of proof,and the court's duty to investigate and obtain evidence should be established.Finally,we should standardize the way to bear responsibility,improve the liability methods such as revocation of administrative actions,put forward judicial suggestions,etc.in the current legislation,and create an environmental protection prohibition system to gradually improve China's responsibility system for preventive environmental public interest litigation.