China’s judicial authorities have significantly expanded the application of administrative public interest litigation as a mechanism for enhancing governance standards nationwide. According to data released by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP), procuratorates across China filed over 120,000 administrative public interest litigation cases and initiated more than 1,100 direct lawsuits against government departments since January 2025.
Qiu Jinghui, Deputy Director of the SPP’s Public Interest Litigation Procuratorial Department, disclosed at a Beijing press conference that legal officials simultaneously issued approximately 79,000 procuratorial suggestions to administrative organs. These interventions have produced substantial impacts on governmental operations, prompting administrative bodies to standardize enforcement procedures, strengthen accountability mechanisms, and prevent administrative violations at their source.
The strategic implementation focuses on addressing public interest infringements resulting from either improper exercise of power or administrative inaction. Procuratorial organs have developed a sophisticated supervision toolkit combining recommendations with litigation to promote standardized operation of administrative authority. This approach has proven particularly effective in breaking down cross-regional and cross-departmental governance barriers.
Public interest litigation has been deployed across multiple critical domains including ecological conservation, food and drug safety, workplace safety protocols, and cultural relics preservation. These efforts have established collaborative mechanisms to resolve persistent governance challenges that previously lacked effective solutions.
The system continues to evolve in response to emerging public protection needs. Fourteen priority areas with direct public interest implications have been incorporated into case handling procedures, spanning from cultural relics protection to personal information security and barrier-free environment construction.
Notably, successful supervision practices are being institutionalized through specialized campaigns and the publication of guiding cases. This systematization enriches China’s distinctive socialist rule of law framework while establishing more robust legal foundations for safeguarding public interests.