New Civil Procedure Law Passed, “Relevant Organizations” Can Now File Lawsuits on Ground of Public Interests

The new Civil Procedure Law provides that agencies authorized by the Law and relevant organizations may file lawsuits against actions detrimental to public interests, such as pollution and infringement of the many legal rights and interests of consumers.

Wang Shengming, Deputy Director of the Legislative Affairs Commission in the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, explained that the amended Civil Procedure Law intends to expand the range of organizations qualified to sue on ground of public interests, by replacing “relevant social groups” with “relevant organizations”. As to the issue of which organizations in particular will be qualified to sue, the government will make that clear by passing relevant laws.

According to data...