China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) recently sent a letter to the Adjudication Tribunal for Environment and Resources of the Supreme People's Court, proposing to exempt social organizations from legal fees for environmental public interest litigation.

Since the implementation of the Environmental Protection Law on January 1, 2015, CBCGDF has participated in filing more than 100 environmental public interest lawsuits, some of which have been selected as guiding cases or typical cases by the Supreme People's Court and contributing to safeguarding public interests.

However, in the practice of environmental public interest litigation, CBCGDF and other social organizations often encounter the problem of legal costs which seriously hinders their enthusiasm.

Paragraph 1 of Article 33 of “the Interpretation on Several Issues concerning the Application of Law to The Trial of Environmental Civil Public Interest Litigation” stipulates: "The plaintiff that has real difficulties in paying the legal fees can apply for deferred payment according to law and the people's court shall approve the application." The original intention of the clause has taken into account the difference between public interest litigation and traditional civil private interest litigation, and it also has taken into account the fact that most non-profit organizations rely on social donations for their income and are difficult to fund. However, the provisions of this clause are too vague, resulting to a great difference in the understanding and implementation in the practice by local courts.

Some local courts directly ignore the existence of this clause and require for full legal costs. Others, although acknowledging this clause, require public welfare organizations to submit a series of documents to prove their financial difficulties.

Paragraph 2 of Article 33 “the Interpretation on Several Issues concerning the Application of Law to The Trial of Environmental Civil Public Interest Litigation” stipulates: "Where the plaintiff who loses a lawsuit or who loses part of a lawsuit applies for reduction or exemption of litigation expenses, the people's court shall, in accordance with the provisions, decide whether to approve the reduction or exemption depending on the economic status of the plaintiff and the hearing of the case." As for this clause, the implementation in practice by local courts varies even more.

China's environmental public interest litigation system started relatively late, and many local courts, especially the judges of the case filing court, still use the mentality of traditional civil cases to deal with environmental public interest litigation. It is a deeply rooted thinking that one should pay costs if you sue, and one should pay costs if you lose. But they ignore the difference between public interest litigation and traditional civil litigation.

As an environmental public interest organization, the purpose of filing a lawsuit is not to seek interests for their own good, which is the fundamental difference from the traditional civil lawsuits. The main purpose of requiring the losing party to bear the court fee in traditional civil litigation is to prevent the abuse of the right to sue. Charitable organizations in social organizations are different from general civil subjects. Under the new economic development concept that protecting the environment is protecting productive forces, environmental public welfare organizations should be encouraged to play their role, to participate in environmental protection extensively, and to contribute to the construction of ecological civilization.

So CBCGDF submitted the following proposals to the Supreme People's Court:

1. The Supreme People's Court shall revise the judicial interpretation of environmental public interest litigation, and clearly stipulate that social organizations shall be exempted from legal fees for environmental civil public interest litigation.

2. If it is currently difficult to exempt social organizations from legal fees for public interest litigation nationwide, the exemption can start with charitable organizations on a pilot basis and then be fully promoted.

Original Chinese Article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/B3SRGOlHMOyzhwPzoBX9pg

Translator: Sara

Editor: Lucy     

Contact: v10@cbcgdf.org; +8617319454776

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