Research On The Burden Of Proof System Of Administrative Public Interest Litigation In China

Administrative public interest litigation refers to the administrative litigation instituted by the procuratorial organ in accordance with the law,where the procuratorial organ finds that the administrative organ have responsibilities in the supervision and administration of such fields as environmental resources,food and drugs,state-owned property and transfer of state-owned land,but commits illegal acts or is negligent in performing its duties,resulting in damage to national and social public interests,and the administrative organ still fails to perform its duties in accordance with the law after going through the pre-litigation procedures.Administrative public interest litigation,as the legalization of policies of the CPC Central Committee,is an important driving force for improving the national governance system.The newly revised Administrative Procedure Law officially includes administrative illegal acts for public interest into the scope of judicial review,aiming at regulating disordered administrative acts,safeguarding the uncertain public interests of the State and society and better avoiding or reducing the occurrence of "tragedy of commons",which is undoubtedly of great practical significance.However,administrative public interest litigation fails to make detailed provisions on the relevant supporting systems,and only makes general provisions on the scope of cases to be accepted,pre-litigation procedures,litigants,and other aspects.In the litigation process,the allocation of burden of proof is still ambiguous,but different burden of proof for the same case may be allocated for the same object,which leads to ambiguity and confusion and is not conducive to the standardization and unification of adjudication practice.To solve the problems,the article mainly includes the following aspects:First of all,it clarifies the basic concept and meaning of administrative public interest litigation system,and straightening out the basic theory of evidence law for the following systematic construction of evidence system.Secondly,it is necessary to start with the legislation and judicial interpretations since the implementation of the pilot program,analyze the normative basis and legislative causes in respect of burden of proof involved therein,analyze relevant key typical cases,focus on studying and judging the evidence in the judgment documents,sort out the key problems and disputes exposed in practice,and draw a basic conclusion that the judgment practice deviates from the function of administrative public interest litigation system,and the procuratorial organ’s one-sided pursuit of "public interest protection" and improper interference with the administration,resulting in ambiguity in the burden of proof and unclear application of standards of proof by the people’s court.Finally,in light of the relevant differences between administrative public interest litigation and traditional administrative litigation as well as the functional mode and system logic of administrative public interest litigation system and the basic theory of evidence law,by analyzing the aforesaid relevant factors affecting the burden of proof,it is necessary to establish the allocation principle of burden of proof in respect of administrative public interest litigation that "whoever asserts shall bear the burden of proof",and distinguish the objects to be proved according to the acts and omissions;it is appropriate to adopt the uniform standard of proof of "preponderance of proof" in the application of standards of proof,and adopt the method of dichotomy for determination of administrative acts and standards of results.