BEIJING, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- China's Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate have made it clear that procuratorates should deliver an announcement before filing civil actions incidental to criminal proceedings against defendants infringing on public interest.

File photo: VCG

The new rule for the legal procedure, which took effect Friday, was made in response to a request for clarifying the necessity of a pre-litigation announcement in civil public interest suits' collateral to criminal proceedings. The legal procedure has been required in procuratorates' civil public interest litigation.
Procuratorates are also allowed to institute a separate civil lawsuit if the pre-litigation announcement procedure goes beyond the time limit for hearing the criminal case, they added.
China's top legislature passed amendments to the civil and administrative procedure laws in 2017 to allow prosecutors to institute public interest litigation.
Prosecutors are allowed to file civil lawsuits against any act that compromises public rights and interest in cases related to the protection of the environment and resources, as well as food and drug safety, according to the amendment to the Civil Procedure Law.