Chinese City Plans Public Interest Litigation Fund

BEIJING—The Intermediate People’s Court and Environmental Protection Bureau in Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan province, are drafting a framework to establish a public interest litigation fund for environmental court cases, according to a report posted on the provincial website April 5. Since Kunming established a pilot environmental protection court in December 2008, 17 cases have been accepted by the court—seven criminal cases, seven civil cases, and three administrative action cases—but none has been a public interest litigation case, the report said (32 INER 613, 7/8/09). High court costs, attorney fees, and other expenses incurred in pursuing public ...