BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- China's procuratorates initiated 6,335 public interest litigations in environment and resource protection cases from July 2017 to January this year, according to a report in Wednesday's People's Daily.
Many ecological and environmental cases involved various interested parties, and were complicated and time-consuming, according to the report. The procuratorates have required 1,451 companies to rectify and improve within required period, the report said.
Xiao Wei, spokesperson for the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said the procuratorates have the legal rights to investigate, which enable them to be better on taking evidence through investigation and presenting evidence. With more law professionals, they can initiate lawsuits more efficiently and precisely, and significantly lower judicial costs.
The report also pointed out the difficulties that the procuratorates face during litigations, including a shortage of personnel, lack of all-around prosecutors, and administrative barriers in trans-regional investigations.
China's top legislature passed amendments to the Civil Procedure Law and the Administrative Procedure Law in late June last year, allowing prosecutors nationwide to act as plaintiffs and launch litigations against any act that directly or indirectly compromises public rights and interest.
The amendments, which took effect on July 1, 2017, mainly target offenses related to the environment and resource protection, the use of public lands, public assets protection, and food and drug safety.
