On Punitive Damages For Ecological And Environmental Infringement

At present,in order to punish and curb the acts of maliciously polluting the environment and damaging the ecology,and effectively encourage the infringed to claim their legitimate rights and interests,the tort liability series of the Civil Code stipulates the punitive compensation system for ecological environment infringement,and the corresponding judicial interpretation has been formulated in judicial practice,and some judgment cases have appeared.However,the relevant research on the application of punitive damages in the field of ecological environment is still insufficient and needs to be further improved.Because the existing legal provisions are too principled,there are great disputes about the understanding and application of the system in practice.By searching and analyzing eleven sample judicial cases of punitive damages litigation for eco-environmental infringement,it is found that the system has the following main problems in practical application: first,the application focus of punitive damages for eco-environmental infringement is not accurate,and all of them are environmental civil public interest litigation in practice.Secondly,it is difficult to prove the constituent elements.The specific performance is that the specific applicable conditions of violating the legal provisions are unclear,it is difficult to identify and prove the subjective intention,the rules for identifying the serious consequences are unclear,and the rules for proving the causality are missing.Thirdly,the basis for the determination of punitive damages for ecological environment infringement is insufficient.The specific performance is that the determining factors of punitive damages for ecological environment infringement are insufficient and the calculation standard of punitive damages for ecological environment infringement is single.Finally,the performance mechanism of punitive damages for ecological environment infringement is not perfect.The specific manifestations are the single way of responsibility performance and the confusion in the management and use of punitive damages for ecological environment infringement.In order to solve the above problems: first of all,it is clear that the application focus of punitive compensation for ecological environment infringement is ecological environment private interest litigation,while ecological environment public interest litigation（including environmental civil public interest litigation and ecological environment damage compensation litigation）should be used with caution and should not be used as the application focus of punitive compensation.Secondly,clarify the constituent elements of punitive damages for ecological environment infringement.Refine the specific applicable conditions of "violation of laws and regulations".Clarify the identification standards of direct intention and indirect intention,and reasonably allocate the burden of proof.Clarify the specific identification criteria of "causing serious consequences" and the distribution of burden of proof.Optimize the proof rules of causality,and list the specific situations with high probability as the basic standard.Thirdly,improve the basis for the determination of punitive damages for ecological environment infringement.Increase the determining factors and specific circumstances of compensation,and reasonably select the calculation method of punitive compensation through multiple method and free evaluation method.Finally,improve the responsibility performance mechanism of punitive damages for ecological environment infringement,establish diversified responsibility performance methods,and improve the distribution rules of punitive damages in ecological environment private interest litigation and public interest litigation.