Abstract
Environmental protection is mainly the focus of environmental law in China, but as China has started to pursue ecological civilization, its civil law has begun to respond to environmental problems as well, which is called the “greening of civil law”. As a result, the newly passed General Provisions of Civil Law adopted a “Green Principle” requiring private actors to contribute to resources conservation and environmental protection in civil activities. Through normative and comparative analysis, this article explores the establishment of the “Green Principle”, the rationales for civil law’s response to environmental problems in China, the progress already made, and the further efforts that are needed. It argues that the major challenge for the greening of China’s civil law at present is the modification of the subsequent sections of the forthcoming civil code. Despite the progress that has already been made, further efforts are needed regarding the following aspects: environmental and resources protection should be taken into account in contract rules concerning the validity, performance, and interpretation of contracts, and rules on emission trading contracts should be added; the property section should stipulate the unified exercise of state ownership over natural resources; and the “personality rights” section should stipulate environmental rights so as to clarify the right that is violated in environmental public interest litigation.
Highlights
In the past four decades, while experiencing rapid economic development, China has paid a huge price regarding its environment and resources
In 2013, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee passed the Decision on Important Issues of Deepening the Reform, Part 14 of which stressed the establishment of a complete ecological civilization system [2]
In 2014, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee passed the Decision on Important Issues of Comprehensively Promoting Rule by Law, Part 2 (4) of which emphasized the protection of the ecological environment by a strict legal system [3]
Summary
In the past four decades, while experiencing rapid economic development, China has paid a huge price regarding its environment and resources. On 15 March 2017, the Fifth Session of the 12th National People’s Congress (NPC) passed the General Provisions of Civil Law, and Article 9 thereof introduced a “Green Principle” as one of the basic principles in China’s civil law, which required that the parties in civil legal relations should contribute to the conservation of resources and the protection of the ecological environment in civil activities [12]. Normative analysis is the most frequently used legal methodology in civil law countries, and it runs through this research centering on China’s legislative efforts to protect the ecological environment and facilitate sustainable development during its civil law codification With this methodology, this article first reviews the establishment of the “Green Principle” in the General Provisions of Civil Law with China’s civil law codification as the broad legal background. The personality rights section should include environmental rights so that it can provide a cause of action for environmental public interest litigation newly adopted in the draft section of torts
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