Chinese authorities yesterday gave non-governmental organizations (NGO) more power to sue those that flout environmental protection laws, the nation’s highest court said, as Beijing steps up efforts to curb pollution that regularly chokes major cities.
NGOs that work to fight polluters judicially will gain special status and have court fees reduced, the Chinese Supreme People’s Court said on its Web site.
They will also be allowed to sue firms or individuals across China, regardless of where the NGO is based.
The new rules came into force yesterday, the court said, adding that they were issued “in response to questions on the matter.”
A side effect of the nation’s meteoric economic rise of recent decades has been severe pollution in major cities, leading to increased public dissatisfaction that has unnerved the Chinese Communist Party.
Recent studies have shown that roughly two-thirds of China’s soil is estimated to be polluted and that 60 percent of underground water is too contaminated to drink.
China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases and many firms cut regulatory corners in the face of corruption and politically weak local environmental protection agencies.
However, despite the increased opportunities for NGOs, they face intense government scrutiny in China and those that run afoul of the authorities can be shuttered.
China’s legislature is considering a bill that would increase oversight of foreign NGOs looking to operate in the country, Xinhua news agency reported last month.
Charges of “illegal fund-raising” are frequently used to shut businesses that authorities deem politically inconvenient.
However, there are signs that the government is willing to accommodate lawsuits brought by environmental NGOs.
Last month, six Chinese firms were fined 160 million yuan (US$26 million) after being sued by a local environmental NGO for discharging waste chemicals into rivers.
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