Aeview And Optimization Of The System Of Environmental Administrative Public Interest Litigation Brought By Procuratorial Organs

In order to urge administrative organs to rectify violations of the law and fulfill their duties of environmental protection supervision,in June 2017,the legislation was amended to adopt Article 25(4)of the Administrative Litigation Law,establishing a system for procuratorial organs to initiate environmental administrative public interest litigation(hereinafter referred to as the"Procuratorial Environmental Administrative Public Interest Litigation System").Since its implementation,the system has effectively promoted environmental administrative enforcement and safeguarded the national and social environmental public interest.However,due to the inadequate design and theoretical supply of the system,There are still many dilemmas in the operation of the practice.In response,This paper takes the procuratorial environmental administrative public interest litigation system as the object of study.Based on the theoretical basis of the system,using normative and empirical analysis methods to analyse the established legislative norms of the procuratorial environmental administrative public interest litigation system as well as the 1,016 judicial cases from 2016-2022,it is proposed that in practice,the system still suffers from irregular pre-litigation procedures,inconsistent determination of the rules on prosecution deadlines and unclear criteria on whether the administrative authorities have fulfilled their duties and responsibilities,then makes suggestions for optimising the system.Excluding the introduction and conclusion,it is divided into four parts.First,the jurisprudential basis of the system is elaborated.Environmental administrative public interest litigation brought by procuratorial authorities is environmental administrative public interest litigation in a narrow sense,which has an objective litigation nature and a special litigation structure.The theoretical basis for the construction of the system is the state’s obligation to protect the environment,the theory of legal supervision and the theory of the relationship between administrative and judicial power,clarify the functional positioning of the system for limited judicial supervision,prevention and relief of environmental public interest in environmental administration,so as to provide theoretical guidance for the optimal system design.Secondly,grasping the current development status of the system from two dimensions:legislative practice and judicial practice.From the perspective of legislative practice,the normative design of relevant systems is insufficient and the regulations are relatively principled;From the perspective of judicial practice,the cases filed by the procuratorial organs generally shows that the nature of the cases is mainly administrative inaction,the demand for cooperation with investigations before the case is filed is high,the phenomenon of "multiple cases and groups of cases"for prosecutorial advice is common,the demand for flexibility in the prelitigation period for performance of duties is high,the period for filing cases is diversified,and whether the administrative organs are "performing their duties in accordance with the law" is the main focus of disputes in the cases.In addition,through the analysis of the design of legal rules and specific judicial practice,it was found that the system in the pre-litigation procedures there is a lack of protection of the right of investigation and verification of the procuratorial organs,the issuance of pre-litigation procuratorial recommendations is not standardized and the pre-litigation period of performance of duties is unclear,a special prosecution period norms is absent,The criteria for judicial determination of whether an administrative body has "performed its duties in accordance with the law" is unclear.Finally,in view of the above problems,it is proposed to improve the rules of the pre-litigation procedure in terms of safeguarding the right of investigation and verification of the procuratorial authorities,regulating the content,frequency of issuance and supervision of procuratorial recommendations,and enriching the flexible scope of the prelitigation performance period,setting specific prosecution deadlines for the system and clarifying the judicial criteria for determining that an administrative body has "performed its duties in accordance with the law",in the hope of promoting the judicial effectiveness of the system and to achieve its optimisation.