China may soon have a special court to hear disputes relating to environment and ecology in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei province to ensure the quality of the verdicts and improve coordinated developments in the area, an official of the country’s top court told China Daily on Friday.
As these regions experience China's worst air pollution, the number of environment disputes in the area has been rising in recent years to become "a major reason that we are planning to explore a new way to deal with such litigation," said Yan Maokun, director of the research department under the Supreme People's Court.
Yan said Hebei is being considered as the first location for the court. Hebei is said to suffer from frequent heavy smog, and the court will specialize in handling environmental and ecological cases in the province.
If successful, the special court would provide much-needed experience and serve as a reference for relevant disputes across the area, Yan added.
The top court issued a guideline on Thursday requesting every court in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei to provide effective legal services as the country provides regional coordination.
The Beijing Intellectual Property Court, which was created in late 2014, and the Tianjin Maritime Court are also required to hear related cases in the region to unify trial standards and increase efficiency, according to the guideline.
Yang Tai'an, executive vice president of the Hebei High People's Court, said that the courts in the region will share case information and build a mechanism to boost communication with each other.
"Information sharing will provide more convenience for litigants in the region, as similar cases sometimes received different verdicts in the past," Yang said. "But the sharing and the communication will solve this problem to a large extent."
Ma Qiang, vice president of the Beijing High People's Court, said that the information provided by the courts can also be used by litigants, "which means people can enjoy equal quality litigation services."
Ma said the guideline serves as a legal basis to handle disputes caused by coordinated regional developments.