On September 29, 2019, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) received the civil judgment of Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court. Due to the destruction of Sun Hanlin's family tombs by real estate developers, the court first confirmed the human remains as an inseparable part of the environment. The destruction of immovable cultural relics violates the public interest. This type of case belongs to the scope of environmental civil public interest litigation.

In practice, there is a different understanding of whether the immovable cultural relics are destroyed and whether environmental protection social organizations can bring out environmental public interest litigation. The Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court wrote in the judgment: “As a social organization with the purpose of biodiversity conservation and green development, the plaintiff has the right to file an environmental civil public interest litigation. The plaintiff, the CBCGDF’s lawsuit has no corresponding relationship with its purpose and business scope, but it has certain links with the environmental elements or ecosystems it protects, and can be recognized as a lawsuit filed by the social organization and its purpose and the scope of business is relevant. Therefore, the plaintiff has the qualification of the litigant.”

This is completely consistent with the description of the subject qualification of social organizations in the retrial ruling of the Supreme People's Court in the Tengger Desert series of cases in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region: “One is to examine whether social organizations meet the requirements of the judicial interpretation of environmental civil litigation ‘Engaged in environmental protection public welfare activities’, should identify from whether the purpose and business scope stipulated in its statute should include the maintenance of environmental public interest, whether it is actually engaged in environmental protection public welfare activities, and whether the environmental public interest maintained by environmental public interest litigation is related to its purpose and business scope these three aspects. The second is to clarify that although the regulations of social organizations do not clearly stipulate the maintenance of environmental public interests, the work includes the protection of the environmental elements such as air, water, ocean, land, mineral deposits, forests, grasslands, wetlands, wildlife, natural relics, cultural relics, nature reserves, scenic spots and the diversity of their ecosystems, it can be determined that the purpose and scope of this social organization is to safeguard the public interest. The third is to clarify the behavior of social organizations engaged in afforestation, endangered species protection, energy conservation and emission reduction, environmental restoration, etc. to directly improve the ecological environment, or engage in publicity and education related to environmental protection, research and training, academic exchanges, legal aid, public interest litigation, etc. activities can be identified as public welfare activities that actually engage in environmental protection. The matters that the social organization prosecutes do not have a one-to-one correspondence with its purpose and business scope but have certain links with the environmental elements or ecosystems it protects and can identify the relevance between the litigation initiated by the social organization and its purpose and scope of business. ”

On July 13, 2019, Jiang Bixin, vice president of the Supreme People's Court, mentioned in the article "Practical Development and System Improvement of Environmental Public Litigation in China": "According to the provisions of Article 2 of the Environmental Protection Law, the totality of various natural and artificially modified natural factors affecting human survival and development including air, water, oceans, land, mineral deposits, forests, grasslands, wetlands, wildlife, natural remains, cultural relics, nature reserves, scenic spots, cities and rural areas are all included in the scope of environmental factors, providing a legal basis for judicial practice to expand the scope of environmental public interest litigation. …In particular, the environmental civil public interest litigation case of CBCGDF’s suing the Magu Village Committee of Shangjie District of Zhengzhou City, the People's Government of Shangjie District, the People's Government of Xiawo Town and the Cultural Radio and Television Press and Publication Bureau of Shangjie District, and the CBCGDF sued Zhou Yaohe and the Urban and Rural Construction Bureau of Qinghe District of Huai'an City, the Huai'an Qinghe District Cultural Radio and Television Press and Publication Bureau, and the Huai'an Qinghe District People's Government, including the immovable cultural relics into the scope of environmental public interest litigation protection. ”

It can be seen that both the provisions of the "Environmental Protection Law" and the judgment cases of the Supreme People's Court and the judgments of the practical cases have affirmed the public interest litigation against the immovable cultural relics of social organizations engaged in environmental protection.

Original Chinese article:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Pxfd3OUin4wkFx5QdFetiw

By / Maggie