China to strengthen maritime public interest litigations

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China's Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate have jointly issued a set of regulations to clarify the rules for handling public interest litigations concerning marine resources and environment.

Such public interest litigations, which include both civil and administrative actions, shall be filed in specialized maritime courts, according to the document made public Wednesday.

After finding acts detrimental to the marine ecology and resources, a procuratorate may inform the competent authority to bring a lawsuit, the document stated, adding that if the latter fails to do so, the procuratorate may file a civil public interest lawsuit at the maritime court.

When a procuratorate finds that the department responsible has failed to perform its duty to supervise and handle marine-related illegal activities, resulting in an infringement of national interests or public interests, it shall put forward procuratorial suggestions to the department and file an administrative public interest lawsuit in case of the latter's further inaction.

The judicial interpretation also stipulates that procuratorates may initiate incidental civil actions in public interest during criminal proceedings or separate civil public interest lawsuits. ■