Procuratorates at the crossroad: performance, controversies and prospects of procuratorial EPIL in China

Procuratorial environmental public interest litigation (EPIL) has shown its vitality in addressing environmental concerns through the channel of PIL and gained momentum in the nation’s agenda-setting. Procuratorial activism is signalled and revealed by mobilizing procuratorates at all levels, activating PIL in all types of litigation, seeking breakthroughs in new fields, and replacing the role of gap-filling with a paramount one in practice. It is noteworthy that the efficacy of procuratorial EPIL may be discounted due to its cherry-picking feature in case screening. Caution should be placed against procuratorial activism, which may risk crowding out NGOs by a turn of policy focus to criminal prosecution with incidental civil EPIL, and intruding administrative discretion by a comparatively low threshold to initiate administrative EPIL and tightened judicial review. Procuratorial EPIL needs to be founded on a rational design of procuratorates’ role in the overall EPIL system by coordinating between the dual roles of EPIL litigants and the constitutionally entrenched role of legal supervisions. Connection mechanisms among different types of PIL should be established to bring each into full play and reach synergy. Legal empowerment and top-down design should be adopted to reduce discrepancies and increase cohesion.