【Top 10 CSR Events in China】No.06 The first PIL case on air pollution in China

 

On July 20^th, Dezhou Intermediate People’s Court announced its first-instance verdict on an environmental public interest lawsuit (PIL) between Dezhou Jinghua Group Corporation and All-China Environment Federation (ACEF). Dezhou Jinghua Group Corporation was sentenced to pay 21.9836 million RMB as compensation for the losses caused by its excessive discharges of pollutants, and made a public apology on media above provincial level. The compensation will be used to improve air quality in Dezhou. Other litigation claims from the ACEF were dismissed.  
Reason for listing:
This case is unprecedented as it is the first PIL case on air pollution in China since the new Environmental Protection Law was enacted. To severely punish enterprises’ polluting behaviors as a warning to others can not only raise enterprises’ awareness of the rule of law in environment governance, but also set bottom lines for their environmental responsibility, thereby rebuilding trust with people, protecting interests of people and bringing back good environment to people. It is thought-provoking for some tough questions, such as how to strengthen local government responsibility on environmental protection and set up an environmental assessment agency as an objective third party. It is necessary to place environmental issues as priority and prevent pollutions from the very beginning. As a result, there will be less pollutions but more preventions.
Related events:
1. On April 11, Xuzhou Intermediate People’s Court held a court trail on an environmental public interest lawsuit of Hongshun Paper Corporation brought by Xuzhou People’s Procuratorate.
2. On December 6, Ministry of Environment Protection published the Technical Guidelines for Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Projects（HJ2.1-2016）. The Guidelines stipulates that public participation should be separated from the compiling work on environmental impact assessment report in environmental impact assessment work. In other words, “public participation” will not be an evaluating item in reports issued by any environmental assessment agencies, but should be conducted and reported by enterprises independently. 
3. On December 21, Luoyang Intermediate People’s Court held an open trial on an environmental pollution liability disputes between Henan CSR Promotion Center and Mao Yanqiang, Fan Linye, Tongxin Mercury Corporation, Inner Mongolia Dong Xing Chemical Corporation and Baoyun Chemical Dangerous Goods Transport Corporation.