Study Of Eligible Plaintiffs In Ecological Environmental Damage Lawsuits

The ecological environmental damage compensation litigation system is a new litigation system established to protect the ecological environment as a public interest,which together with the environmental civil public interest litigation constitutes the relief system of ecological environmental damage in China.In the ecological damage compensation lawsuit,the plaintiff is an important part of the litigation system,but because the ecological damage compensation lawsuit system in China is still short,the corresponding plaintiff system in legislation and judicial practice there are some shortcomings and gaps.Plaintiffs in ecological environmental damage compensation lawsuits are currently only provided for in the Reform Program of the Ecological Environmental Damage Compensation System(hereinafter referred to as the Reform Program)and the Several Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on the Trial of Ecological Environmental Damage Compensation Cases(for Trial Implementation)(hereinafter referred to as the Several Provisions),which are at a lower level of effectiveness,but ecological environmental damage compensation lawsuits,as a new type of lawsuit,should be regulated by the Legislative Law under the The law enacted by the National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee shall provide for it.At the same time,the current provisions of the State Council directly authorized by the administrative organs of the hierarchy is too high.The governments that can be authorized by the State Council to bring ecological damage lawsuits to the courts as eligible plaintiffs include only the provincial and municipal levels,and there is no explicit mention of county-level governments in the Reform Plan and the Several Provisions.When there is damage to the ecological environment occurs in the administrative area at the township level,it needs to be reported by the government at the township level to the people’s government at the municipal and provincial levels,which will then designate the relevant agencies and departments for jurisdiction according to the corresponding provisions,which will easily lead to a reduction in the efficiency of claims.In addition,in addition to the clearly defined administrative organs,"reform program" also encourages social organizations and statutory organs to participate in litigation,but it does not make clear provisions on both,and there is no corresponding examples in judicial practice.Finally,the administrative organs in the exercise of the right to sue will also appear inaction,the lack of appropriate supervision mechanism.The United States,Russia and the European Union have studied the ecological environmental damage compensation system earlier and their litigation systems are more sound.Through the study of their legislation and judicial practice,it can be found that they have established a pluralistic mechanism of prosecution subjects,and they have also made corresponding legislation on ecological environmental damage compensation litigation.On the basis of understanding the relevant provisions in foreign countries,we can summarize and draw effective experiences to help the better development of the plaintiff system in ecological and environmental damage compensation litigation in China.Taking into account the national situation and the effective experience of foreign countries,the following improvement measures can be proposed.First,we should consider a separate legislation or a special chapter in the Environmental Protection Law to provide for the ecological damage lawsuit system,and we can also integrate the existing regulations and make up for the shortcomings of the existing regulations.Second,the State Council should directly grant the county government the right to file lawsuits,because on the one hand,according to the current regulations and judicial practice,the courts have already determined that the county government is eligible to be a qualified plaintiff.On the other hand,this move avoids the situation that the township-level government reports to the city or provincial government,which then makes the decision,improving the efficiency of the claim.Again,specific social organizations and statutory bodies should be clarified in the legislation,and in practice,they should be encouraged to file lawsuits in the courts to play a complementary role in case of inaction of administrative organs.Finally,the corresponding supervision mechanism should be improved to ensure that the administrative organs’ right to sue can be properly exercised.