Failing eco-protection bureaus in the firing line

China's revised law on pollution control allows a wider range of litigants to bring cases against government departments that neglect their duties. Cao Yin reports.

Legal experts are predicting a rise in the number of public-interest lawsuits brought by local procuratorates against environmental departments that fail to address pollution control or enforce laws designed to prevent environmental damage.

Under China's revised Environmental Protection Law, which came into effect on Jan 1 last year, local authorities, NGOs and related organizations were for the first time given the right to bring public-interest cases against provincial and lower-level environmental departments accused of incompetence. Before the new law, only individuals or residents' groups were allowed to bring cases of this type.