Pre-litigation Announcement Procedures Considered a Must Before Procuratorial Organs Bring Criminal Prosecution Involving an Incidental Civil Public Interest Litigation
Recently, the Supreme People's Court ("SPC") and the Supreme People's Procuratorate ("SPP") have jointly issued the Official Reply on Whether Pre-litigation Announcement Procedures Should Be Performed for Criminal Prosecution Involving an Incidental Civil Public Interest Litigation Brought by Procuratorial Organs (the "Reply"), with effect from December 6, 2019.
The Reply reads that, given that some higher people's courts and provincial people's procuratorates have asked for instructions on whether pre-litigation announcement procedures should be performed for criminal prosecution involving an incidental civil public interest litigation brought by people's procuratorates, careful research has been conducted and an official reply is hereby given as below. A people's procuratorate shall perform the pre-litigation announcement procedures for the criminal prosecution involving an incidental civil public interest litigation it brings. In case the pre-litigation announcement procedures have not been performed, the people's court shall state the necessity of such performance, and notify the people's procuratorate of making an announcement first and then bringing the prosecution. Where performing the pre-litigation announcement procedures by the people's procuratorate will have an impact on the duration of trial of the related criminal case, the people's procuratorate may bring a civil public interest litigation separately.