Monthly Archives: December 2008
Recent Environmental Law and Public Participation News
Evidence in Open Government Information administrative litigation cases (Google translation) This article in People’s Court News examines how administrative procedures determine how plaintiffs and defendants must treat the matter of evidence in litigation involving the release of open government information. The article presents several sample scenarios and examines issues such as burden of proof in each individual case. (Source: People’s Court News) Dalian moves ahead with government information network (Google translation) Dalian city is moving ahead with the implementation of its government information network, an electronic information platform that will take the form of web sites, information kiosks, as well … Continue reading 阅读全文 Add comment 发表评论(0)
Wuxi City Releases Regulation on Environmental Public Interest Litigation
The Wuxi Environmental Court, the first and only Environmental Protection court that has openly called for public interest cases brought by NGOs and individuals, was recently placed under the spotlight once again after Wuxi city released a regulation on environmental public interest litigation. This regulation is said to be the first local regulation of its kind in China and was warmly welcomed by environmentalists seeking to take environmental public litigation from theoretical discussion into reality. The Wuxi regulation introduces a quite innovative system, by which the Procuratorate urges relevant government agencies to fulfill environmental protection responsibilities by bringing lawsuits before … Continue reading 阅读全文 Add comment 发表评论(0)
Recent Environmental Law and Public Participation News
Taiyuan plans to fight corruption in the coal industry and arbitrary fee collection (Google translation) Taiyuan city, the capital of Shanxi province, has unveiled new measures intended to fight corruption within its coal industry and the use of arbitrary or excessive fees by government officials. Officials stressed that the plan would be part of a three-pronged approach, one of which focuses on effective implementation of the Open Information Disclosure regulations. Among the proposed policy measures are tougher inspections of local building projects, increased use of the legal system to prosecute corruption and business crimes, and continued development of public information … Continue reading 阅读全文 Add comment 发表评论(0)
Three More Citizen Guides Launched
Recently, two citizen guides of obtaining environmental information and public participation tailored for Xinjing autonomous region and Urumqi City were launched by Xinjiang Conservation Fund. This is another series of citizen guides that supported by NRDC and edited by local environmental groups. Similar guides from Jiangsu, Gansu and Xiamen were released earlier this year. Greenlaw and Xinjiang Conservation Fund will be hosting these new guides for download. In addition, Greenlaw is proud to host another guide edited by Xinjiang Conservation Fund, titled “Water Pollution and Its Impact on Human Health.” Download links are below (all guides are in Chinese): Xinjiang … Continue reading 阅读全文 Add comment 发表评论(0)
Recent Environmental Law and Public Participation News
News coverage for the past week in the Chinese news media has focused on a number of issues. The continuing cleanup of the massive arsenic leak in Yunnan province has reporters now focused on one of the mechanisms intended to address such problems: the environmental protection courts. Meanwhile, prosecutors in Jiangxi Province are pursuing public interest environmental litigation against a water polluter, and the director of the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV) offers his candid assessment of China’s environmental progress in the last thirty years. Six articles after the break.
Environmental pollution liability insurance in China advances, case by case
According to a December 3 article on People.com.cn, government officials at the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced the first case of compensation from environmental pollution liability insurance in the country. The case involves a pesticide manufacturer in Zhuzhou, Hunan Province, whose factory bought environmental pollution liability insurance on July 31, 2008 from Ping An Insurance Co. to cover damages for environmental accidents up to 40,800 RMB. On September 28, the pesticide factory experienced a leakage of hydrogen chloride gas, which destroyed the crops and polluted the land of nearby villagers. In the end, the factory agreed to compensate more than … Continue reading 阅读全文 Add comment 发表评论(0)
Chinese official credits NGOs with role in protecting human rights
A Xinhua article last week on a human rights seminar revealed an interesting angle taken by one government official. Wang Qiyan, director of the Policy Research Center under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, presented a research paper at a human rights seminar. In addition to the government and the market, Wang identified NGOs as the third force involved in rights protection in China. He proclaimed, “[NGOS] have played a positive role in China’s cause of human rights protection, which regards the rights to live and to develop as core issues…. As organizations, they can represent individuals to voice their concerns, … Continue reading 阅读全文 Add comment 发表评论(0)
Environmental Law and Public Participation News
This week’s news covers several interesting developments from previous news posts. Most interesting is the passage of a national price hearings measures by the NDRC that aims to increase transparency and facilitate public participation at these meetings. While the actual effects of the measures will take time to evaluate, it nevertheless represents an example of the central government taking action against an issue that generated widespread local concern in the public for the last few months. In other news, the central government is also developing a national open information website that can search across all provinces for government documents. No … Continue reading 阅读全文 Add comment 发表评论(0)
Environmental Law and Public Participation News
This week’s Chinese news coverage continues the news focus on utilities hearings that have generated wide discussion. This time, online message boards in China debate about the fairness of citizen representatives that vote at the hearings on behalf of the communities. After a hearing where 29 of 30 representatives voted in favor of price increases, local citizens have expressed opinions ranging from dismay to support for the system. In other news, an environmental public interest litigation case was finally decided in Guizhou, and Kunming has created an “green crimes” enforcement team to deal with environmental incidents. Five articles after the … Continue reading 阅读全文 Add comment 发表评论(0)
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