The Chinese legal framework on public interest litigation in environmental matters shall be strengthened in order to address threatening large-scale environmental damage due to China's industrial development process. Existing concepts of other countries have exemplary character. In the framework of the project, Ecologic drew up a report on public interest litigation in Germany, which was subsequently  presented at a workshop organised by the GTZ in Beijing in the fall of 2006. The report and the presentation are available for download.

Background

Currently, there is no legal basis in Chinese law on the admissibility of public interest litigation in environmental law. Next to legal remedies for the violation of individual health and property rights, public interest litigation becomes increasingly important as a means to prevent environmental damage resulting from China’s ongoing industrialisation. Existing experiences with such litigation in other countries can serve as a model for the further development of Chinese law.

Goals of the project

Before this background, a study shall present the legal prerequisites for environmental public interest litigation in Germany. The admissibility and substantive requirements of civil and public law proceedings will be demonstrated. In this regard, the question of admissible proceedings, capacity to act, substantive requirements of a claim, judicial scrutiny and burden of proof will be discussed.

In the framework of this project, Ecologic has the task:

• to elaborate a research report on the legal prerequisites for public interest litigation in Germany and
• to present the research report at an expert workshop organised by GTZ in Beijing

The project is carried through in the framework of the GTZ-SEPA Programme “Environmental Policy Advice and Management” under the component “Environmental Policy Advice: Strengthening the State Environmental Protection Administration" (SEPA) in its political decision making structures and processes).

The research report is available for download [pdf, 566 KB, English]. The presentation held at the expert workshop is available for download [pdf, 291 KB, English].