China News Service, May 8 (Xinhua) The Supreme People's Court held a press conference on the 8th to inform about the environmental resources trial and released the 2019 White Paper on Environmental Resources Trial. The white paper shows that in 2019, courts across the country accepted 39,957 first-instance criminal cases of various environmental resources, concluded 36,733 cases, sentenced 114,633 criminals, and the number of closed cases increased by 50.9% and 43.4% year-on-year.
Tao Kaiyuan, vice president of the Supreme People's Court, introduced at the meeting that this year is the fourth time that the Supreme People's Court has issued the White Paper on Environmental Resources Trial since the establishment of the Environmental Resources Tribunal in June 2014. As in previous years, the Green Paper was also released along with the White Paper on China ’s Environmental Justice Development Report. The release of the white paper is a concrete display of the annual development status of China's environmental justice. The joint publication of the white paper and the green paper reflects the mutual integration and mutual promotion of environmental judicial practice and theoretical research. It should be noted that the English version of the white paper published in 2016 and 2017 has been published on the official website of the United Nations Environment Programme, becoming an important window for countries around the world to understand China's environmental justice achievements.
Tao Kaiyuan said that the white paper introduced the work of the year from the following five aspects:
1. Trial environmental resource cases according to law, promote ecological environment improvement and efficient use of resources
In 2019, courts nationwide accepted 39,957 first-instance criminal cases of various environmental resources, concluded 36,733 cases, sentenced 114,633 criminals, and the number of closed cases increased by 50.9% and 43.4% year-on-year respectively. It received 202,671 civil first-instance cases of various environmental resources and concluded 189,120 cases, up 5.6% and 3.5% year-on-year respectively. 47588 first-instance cases of various types of environmental resources were accepted and 42078 were concluded, up 12.7% and 0.8% year-on-year respectively.
What needs to be reminded is that the biggest change or one of the highlights of this year ’s white paper is that it has changed the practice of dividing environmental resource cases into criminal, civil and administrative cases according to the three major trial areas, and divided environmental resource cases into environmental pollution prevention cases. , Ecological protection cases, resource development and utilization cases, climate change response cases, and ecological environment governance and service cases. The main consideration is that, in accordance with the existing substantive laws of environmental resources and litigation law, the principle of "closely related to the protection of environmental resources" is followed, which reflects the judicial concept of environmental resources trials in the overall use of criminal, civil and administrative liability methods, which fits The ongoing reform of the “two-in-one” or “three-in-one” environmental resources centralized review mechanism also meets the needs of environmental resource trial practice development and international exchange needs. According to this classification, each type of case may contain criminal, civil and administrative cases of environmental resources.
2. Strengthen environmental public interest litigation, give full play to the special role of ecological environmental damage compensation litigation, and safeguard national interests and public interests
One is to issue judicial interpretations and typical cases. In June 2019, the Supreme People's Court issued "Several Regulations on the Trial of Ecological Environmental Damage Compensation Cases (Trial)"; in March and June 2019, 15 typical cases were issued to improve the trial procedures and unify the judgment standards. The second is to properly handle cases in accordance with law. In 2019, courts across the country accepted 179 environmental civil public interest litigations filed by social organizations and concluded 58 cases, up 175.4% and 262.5% year-on-year respectively. Accepted 2,309 environmental public interest litigations filed by procuratorial organs, concluded 1,895, up 32.9% and 51.4% year-on-year respectively, including 312 environmental civil public interest litigations and concluded 248; 1,642 criminal civil public interest litigations, concluded 1,370; administrative public welfare There were 355 lawsuits and 277 cases concluded. 49 eco-environmental damage compensation cases were accepted, 36 were concluded, up 145% and 350% year-on-year respectively. Among them, 28 cases of ecological environmental damage compensation were judicially confirmed and 23 cases were concluded; 21 eco-environmental damage compensation lawsuits and 13 cases were concluded. The third is to innovate ecological restoration methods. Adhere to the concept of restorative justice, based on the restoration needs of different environmental factors, and explore various forms of ecological restoration. Fourth, improve the supporting mechanism. Promote the establishment of special fund accounts, the introduction of expert assistants and expert jurors to ensure the timely and effective restoration of the ecological environment.
3. Implement the concept of green development and serve the overall situation of the party and state work in the new era
One is to assist in the battle against pollution. Adhere to the strictest system and the strictest rule of law to protect the ecological environment and help to win the battle of the three major pollution prevention battles of blue sky, clear water and pure land. The second is to promote regional governance of key river basins. Adhere to the overall and systematic view of the ecological environment, continue to deepen the judicial cooperation mechanism in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, start building a judicial cooperation mechanism in the Yellow River Basin, and strengthen the nature of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Grand Canal, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and national parks as the main body Environmental judicial protection of key areas such as protected areas. The third is the high-quality development of the service economy. Practicing green water and green mountains is the concept of Jinshan and Yinshan, coordinating high-quality economic development and high-level protection of the ecological environment, creating a stable, fair, transparent and green legal business environment, supporting the upgrading and transformation of traditional industries and the development of new industries of environmental protection and energy conservation, Promote the formation of green production methods and lifestyles.
4. Adhere to the innovation of institutional mechanisms and promote the modernization of environmental resource trial system and trial capacity
One is to promote the construction of specialized agencies and centralized review mechanisms. As of the end of 2019, there were 1,353 specialized environmental resource trial agencies, including 513 environmental resource trial courts, 749 collegiate courts, and 91 people's courts. A total of 23 high people's courts implement the "two-in-one" or "three-in-one" centralized trial mode for environmental resource criminal, civil, and administrative cases. The second is to promote the construction of centralized jurisdiction mechanism. Build a cross-administrative centralized jurisdiction mechanism with ecosystems or ecological function zones as the unit. The third is to promote the construction of coordinated linkage mechanism and multiple dispute resolution mechanism. On the premise of adhering to the neutrality of refereeing, actively promote the external coordination and linkage mechanism with procuratorial organs, public security organs, and administrative law enforcement agencies. Give full play to the role of administrative mediation, administrative ruling, people's mediation and other non-litigation dispute resolution methods, strengthen the coordination of judicial confirmation and other litigation and non-litigation dispute resolution mechanisms, build a multiple dispute resolution mechanism, and form a joint force for environmental resource protection.
V. Continuously improve the level of judicial protection and respond to the diverse judicial needs of the people
One is to strengthen team building. Always adhere to the party's absolute leadership, firmly establish the concept of modern environmental justice, and strive to build a high-quality environmental resource trial team. The second is to carry out theoretical research. Give play to the role of the Supreme People's Court Environmental Resources Judicial Research Center, strengthen the construction of theoretical and practical bases, and promote the transformation of theoretical research and judicial practice results. The third is to improve convenience measures. Relying on the wisdom of courts to build smooth litigation channels, vigorously strengthen roving trials, and carry out judicial assistance in accordance with law. The fourth is to deepen public participation. Actively accept the supervision of representatives, promote judicial openness, strictly implement the system of people's jurors, and guarantee the public's right to know, participation and supervision to the greatest extent possible. Fifth, promote international cooperation. Strengthen cooperation with the United Nations Environment Program and other international organizations and the United States, Britain, France and other relevant countries. By hosting international seminars, thematic training and case comparison studies, we will enhance mutual understanding, deepen cooperation, and enhance the international influence of China's environmental justice.