The first environmental public interest litigation in China, in which Jinyi Law Firm was engaged, is has been successfully completed. The case was reported by various Chinese media and drew a great deal of attention from both the cognoscenti of environment protection and others. Mr. Wu Xiaoyu, a partner of the firm, was interviewed three times by CCTV regarding the progress of this case. We hereby present you the case as follows:
1. Background of the case
The defendant of the case is a cargo transport company in Jiangjin, Jiangsu. The company has extended its business from mere cargo transport to the transport, loading and unloading of iron ore since 2004. The whole worksite and workflow were "naked" – uncovered and exposed to the elements - and as long as it was sunny and windy, the iron ore, which is called as "red powder" by local residents, would be blown to the local community up to 50m away from the worksite. Most seriously, the waste water which was left after cleaning the worksite would be drained to the Yangtze River directly without any cleaning treatment. The waste water would contain large amounts of iron ore due to such a reckless process and after the water was drained to the Yangtze River, it would endanger the health and life of 5 million Wuxi people because the water intake of Wuxi''s daily water use was only 2km downstream from where the waste water was discharged.
There had been many submissions made by local residents in order to prevent the company from loading and unloading the iron ore. Although the relevant authority took some measures to solve the problem, the outcome was not rewarding. As a consequence, the local residents resorted to irregular measures such as forming traffic jams to block those transport vehicles.
2. Launch of the litigation
May 2009, All-China Environmental Federation (hereinafter referred to as ACEF) received an appeal letter signed by more than 80 local residents with regard to the aforesaid problem which caused the air pollution, noise pollution and water pollution and deteriorated the quality of Yangtze River water and the local community''s living conditions. After investigation with Mr. Wang Jianming and Mr. Wu in Jiangyin, they confirmed the problem and the ACEF planned, as a plaintiff, to bring litigation against the company.
3.Breakthrough of the plaintiff''s subject capacity
As a social organization, whether the ACEF has the subject capacity to be a plaintiff is critical to the case. There were never any precedents for such a case in China. After the Wuxi Environmental Court was established, there were a series of regulations brought into force in Wuxi, which entitles the social organization with subject capacity to be a plaintiff. Such regulations granted the ACEF legitimate subject capacity to be a plaintiff. Finally, the plaintiff''s subject capacity of the ACEF in the case was confirmed by the reconciliation agreement produced by the court and both parties. This is a stunning breakthrough and improvement in Chinese legal practice history. The confirmation of the subject capacity of the ACEF is a cornerstone and will be an example for future similar cases in a state level.
4. The settlement and the execution of the case
After the case was admitted to the court, Mr. Wang and Mr. Wu addressed precisely the defendant''s illegal action based on their professional advantages and affluent practice experience. Both parties reached a reconciliation agreement under the guidance of the court. After the reconciliation agreement came into force, the defendant fulfilled its obligations according to the reconciliation agreement. The petitions that the plaintiff, All-China Environmental Federation and the local victims, claimed have been all redeemed, the case is successfully closed.
Jinyi Law Firm is and will be faithful to environmental protection. The firm will carry on the legal practice in environmental public interest litigation area and dedicate all its resources to such honorable business.
