Regime of Public Interest Proceedings by the People's Procuratorates Officially Finalized and Written into the Civil Procedure Law and the Administrative Procedure Law
According to the Decision, one more paragraph is added to Article 55 of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China as Paragraph 2 thereof, reading as follows: "in the event that a people's procuratorate finds any act that does harm to the protection of the ecological environment and resources, any practice in the food and drug field that infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of massive consumers, or any other behavior that damages the social benefits of the masses, while performing its duties and functions, it may file an action to the people's court, provided that there does not exist any organ or institution specified in the preceding paragraph or the organ or institution specified in the preceding paragraph decides not to bring a lawsuit. Where the organ or institution specified in the preceding paragraph files a suit, the people's procuratorate may give endorsement to such suit." According to the Decision, amendments will also be made to the Administrative Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, in a bid to provide explicit legal basis for the people's procuratorates to file administrative public interest proceedings.