Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Cases Involving Disputes over Ecological and Environmental Tort Liability

Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Cases Involving Disputes over Ecological and Environmental Tort Liability
Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Cases Involving Disputes over Ecological and Environmental Tort Liability

Fa Shi [2023] No. 5

August 14, 2023

Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Cases Involving Disputes over Ecological and Environmental Tort Liability, which has been adopted at the 1890th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on June 5, 2023, is hereby promulgated and shall become effective as of September 1, 2023.

Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Cases Involving Disputes over Ecological and Environmental Tort Liability

(Adopted at the 1890th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on June 5, 2023 and implemented as of September 1, 2023)

This Interpretation is hereby formulated in accordance with the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, and other laws and regulations, and based on the trial practice, with a view to correctly hearing the cases involving disputes over ecological and environmental tort liability and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interest of the parties concerned.

Article 1 Where the infringer has caused personal or property damage to others due to the following acts of environmental pollution and ecological damage, and the infringed party requests the infringer to assume the ecological and environmental tort liability, the people's court shall support such request:
(1) discharging waste gas, waste water, waste residue, medical waste, dust, foul gas, radioactive substances and others, thereby polluting the environment;
(2) emitting noise, vibration, optical radiation, electromagnetic radiation, and others, thereby polluting the environment;
(3) unreasonably developing and utilizing natural resources;
(4) introducing, releasing, or discarding alien species without approval, thereby violating national regulations; or
(5) other acts that pollute the environment and damage the ecology.

Article 2 Civil disputes arising from the following circumstances of environmental pollution and ecological damage shall not be handled as ecological and environmental tort cases:
(1) where the damage is directly caused without passing through atmosphere, water, soil and other ecological and environment media;
(2) where thedamage is caused in closed spaces such as indoors and vehicles;
(3) where the damage is caused by a real estate right holder to its neighboring real estate right holder in daily life; and
(4) where a laborer is harmed in an occupational activity.
In the circumstances specified in the preceding paragraph, civil liability shall be determined in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

Article 3 Where a real estate right holder causes damage to its neighboring real estate right holder due to environmental pollution and ecological damage caused by its business activities, and the infringed party requests that such right holder to assume the ecological and environmental tort liability, the people's court shall support such request.

Article 4 Where any environmental pollution or ecological damage causes damage to others, the actor shall assume tort liability regardless of whether it is at fault.
If the responsible party other than the actor is at fault for the damage, such responsible party shall assume tort liability.

Article 5 Where two or more infringers separately commit environmental pollution and ecological damage, which results in the same damage, and the acts of each infringer are sufficient to cause all such damage, then the infringed party requests the infringers to assume joint and several liability in accordance with Article 1171 of the Civil Code, the people's court shall support such request.

Article 6 Where two or more infringers separately commit environmental pollution and ecological damage, and the acts of each infringer are insufficient to cause all such damage, then the infringed party requests the infringers to assume the liability in accordance with Article 1172 of the Civil Code, the people's court shall support such request.
If an infringer claims that its acts of environmental pollution and ecological damageare insufficient to cause all such damage, it shall assume the corresponding burden of proof.

Article 7 In the event that two or more infringers separately commit environmental pollution and ecological damage, where the acts of some infringers are sufficient to cause all damage, and the acts of other infringers only cause partial damage, then the infringed party requests the infringers whose acts are sufficient to cause all damage to assume the liability for all damage, and to assume the joint and several liability for the part of the damage caused jointly with other infringers, the people's court shall support such request.
Where the infringed party requests the infringers whose acts are sufficient to cause all damage to assume the liability with the other infringers, the scope of compensation shall be limited to the total damage caused by the torts.

Article 8 In the event that two or more infringers separately commit environmental pollution and ecological damage, and some infringers can prove that the other infringers' torts have caused all or part of the damage first, and request not to assume liability or to mitigate liability within the corresponding scope, the people's court shall support such request.

Article 9 If the substances discharged by two or more infringers interact and produce pollutants, thereby causing damage to others, then the infringed party requests the infringers to assume joint and several liability, the people's court shall support such request.

Article 10 Where an actor provides sites or other assistances, such as storage and transportation, to the infringer who commits environmental pollution and ecological damage, then the infringed party requests the actor and the infringer to assume joint and several liability in accordance with Article 1169 of the Civil Code, the people's court shall support such request.

Article 11 Where an actor, by negligence, provides sites or other conveniences, such as storage and transportation, to the infringer who commits environmental pollution and ecological damage, then the infringed party requests the actor and the infringer to assume joint and several liability, the people's court shall support such request.
Where the actor specified in the preceding paragraph commits gross negligence, the provisions in Article 10 hereof shall apply.

Article 12 Where a pollutant-discharging entity entrusts the operation of its environmental protection facilities to a third-party governance organization, and the third-party governance organization causes environmental pollution during its contract performance and causes damage to others, then the infringed party requests the pollutant-discharging entity to assume the tort liability, the people's court shall support such request.
Where the pollutant-discharging entity claims compensation from the third-party governance organization after assuming liability in accordance with the preceding paragraph, the people's court shall support such claim.

Article 13 Where the pollutant-discharging entity transfers the pollutants to a third-party governance organization for centralized disposal, and the third-party governance organization causes environmental pollution during its contract performance and causes damage to others, the infringed party requests the third-party governance organization to assume the tort liability, the people's court shall support such request.
If the pollutant-discharging entity is at fault in selecting and instructing such third-party governance organization, and the infringed party requests the pollutant-discharging entity to assume corresponding liability, the people's court shall support such request.

Article 14 In the event of any of the following circumstances, the pollutant-discharging entity and the third-party governance organization shall assume joint and several liability in accordance with Article 1168 of the Civil Code:
(1) where the third-party governance organization discharges pollutants in violation of relevant regulations on pollution prevention and control as instructed by the pollutant-discharging entity;
(2) where the pollutant-discharging entity providesobviously defective environmental protection facilities to the third-party governance organization for operation, and the third-party governance organization uses such facilities to discharge pollutants in violation of the relevant regulations on pollution prevention and control;
(3) where the pollutant-discharging entity hands over pollutants to third-party governance organization for disposal at obviously unreasonable prices, and the third-party governance organization discharges the pollutants in violation of relevant regulations on pollution prevention and control; or
(4) other circumstances where joint and severe liability shall be assumed.

Article 15 In the event that a company commits environmental pollution and ecological damage, the infringed party requests the shareholders of the company to assume the liability, if the case falls into the circumstances specified in Article 20 of the Company Law, the people's court shall support such request.

Article 16 Where a infringer commits environmental pollution and ecological damage, thereby causing damage to others, and the infringed party requests the operators or managers of business premises or public places, or the organizers of mass activities that fail to fulfill their safety protection obligation to assume corresponding supplementary liability, the people's court shall support such request.

Article 17 Where a civil subject who shall fulfill the obligation of ecological environment risk control and repair as required by law fails to fulfill the statutory obligation, thereby causing damage to others, and the infringed party requests it to assume corresponding liability, the people's court shall support such request.

Article 18 Where the environmental pollution and ecological damage resulting from the fault of a third party causes damage to others, and the infringed party requests the infringer or the third party to assume liability, the people's court shall support such request.
If the infringer claims not to assume such liability or to mitigate the liability on the grounds that the damage was caused by the fault of a third party, the people's court shall not support such claim.

Article 19 In the event that the environmental pollution and ecological damage resulting from the fault of a third party causes damage to others, and the infringed party simultaneously sues the infringer and the third party for liability, if the infringer is not at fault for the occurrence of the damage, the people's court shall order the infringer and third party to assume the liability for all damage; and after assuming liability, the infringer has the right to seek compensation from the third party.
If the infringer is at fault for the occurrence of the damage, the people's court shall order the infringer to assume the liability for all damage, and the third party shall assume the liability commensurate with its fault.
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