The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) held a press conference on June 5 to release a guideline and ten typical cases on judicial protection of the environment and development of the Yellow River basin.

Tao Kaiyuan, vice-president of the SPC, described the guideline at the conference. It was compiled to implement the central leadership’s requirements to cultivate ecological civilization and provide strong judicial services and guarantee for the Yellow River basin’s ecological protection and high-quality economic development.

The guideline of 18 articles includes three parts.

The guideline asks courts, as they try related cases, to make parties clear about their liabilities, ensure water-sediment balance, encourage water conservation, support innovations, protect cultural resources, improve ecological repair methods and take targeted measures according to different situations.

The courts should uphold the strictest concept of rule of law, comprehensively manage the ecology of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, grasslands and deserts, protect the environment from pollution and boost improvement of the environment along each bank of the Yellow River.

The guideline requires to insist on the concept of new development, strengthen their trial and enforcement work affecting people’s livelihoods, finance, bankruptcy, intellectual property rights and foreign affairs so as to build a business environment of rule of law, upgrade the industrial structure of the basin, contribute to the fight against poverty, build the Belt and Road and serve a higher level of opening-up.

At the same time, the courts should take targeted measures according to different situations, consider the differences between the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, distinguish the main functions among various regions and hear cases based on different judicial needs so as to coordinated the balanced development of the basin’s economic and social development and cultural protection and promotion.

To ensure judicial services and guarantees for the basin’s ecological protection and high-quality economic development, the guideline asked the courts form a mechanism which is required to consider trial institutions, centralized jurisdiction, judicial collaboration, coordinated linkage, diversified dispute resolutions,information sharing, public participation and team building.

The 10 typical cases released at the conference include criminal cases involving the protection of forests, animals and ancient cultural sites, private and public interest litigation cases of environmental infringement pertaining to polluted water and soil, compensation cases on ecological environmental damage, as well as administrative public interest litigation cases filed by procuratorial organs and administrative cases filed by counterpart offeree.