XV Edition GIZ Law Journal

KOSOVO

CHINA

Committees as grassroot justice actors in China People’sMediation

work processes, the personnel competences in the Inspectorate and the exchange between the administration and the competent courts in order to identify and coordinate measures to prevent the fines from prescribing. The project’s activities include organisational development measures to prioritise cases threatened by prescription and to resubmit them before other cases in the workflow, and the creation of dialogue forums between the administrative authorities and the courts. Another important step is to improve the training offered to the Inspectorate’s staff regarding the application of environmental law. Although the project phase is still at its beginning, initial successes have already been achieved. A checklist has been drawn up for the Minor Offence Court and the Inspectorate to facilitate the recordingof environmental offences and the issuing of fines to the recipients, thus strengthening the cooperation of the actors. Progress has also been made with regard to the establishment of the new administrative procedure within the Inspectorate. In particular, the inspectors have begun to issue fine notices themselves. In addition, an

administrative review authority has been set up to deal with the appeal if the fine issued by the Inspectorate is challenged by the recipient. In the subsequent court proceedings, the interests of the Inspectorate have so far been represented by the so-called State Advocacy Office, which is generally entrusted with the judicial representation of the authorities of the Republic of Kosovo. In order to ensure that, in the future, the inspectors accompany “their” fines from beginning to end and remain involved in further proceedings, it could be ensured that the Inspectorate can now represent itself in certain cases. Finally, contact was also established with the Private Enforcement Agents to henceforth promote exchange with the Inspectorate and to involve all actors. The first steps were thus taken, and others will follow in the next two years of the project phase. It is to be hoped that these activities will not only lead to a more effective implementation of environmental law and a strengthening of the population’s trust in the rule of law but will also raise public awareness for the importance of environmental protection.

By: Sebastian Muller

1.1. Introduction When thinking of China, the images most likely to pop up are the Shanghai skyline or its Transrapid maglev train, Special Economic Zones and Megacities that appear to stretch beyond the horizon or the recently implemented ‘Social Credit System’. That list could go on forever. As far as economy and technology are concerned, China arguably is not only a (if not the) country of rapid transition, but also of impressive numbers. While European countries have been (and some still are) discussing the pros and cons of a digitalized public administration and court system, with electronic mailboxes at courts implemented after 10 years of public debate being celebrated as a major step towards a modern and efficient future, China has taken the digitization of the legal sector to an entirely different level. Since 2014, the central government has developed and implemented four online platforms for legal cases alone. The parties to already more than 500.000 pending cases can now access, monitor and The following article, written by Sebastian Mueller, brings the subject to the table, and proposes a comprehensive look at a system that we saw as foreign: People’s Mediation Committees as justice actors. The analysis he makes, from Eastern philosophical currents, empires, and 20th Century China, in contrast with the mediation committees of today, allows to create a very interesting context to this reality that was seen as distant and extraneous. This article is also an opportunity to question whether the formal processes of justice exclude other cultural manifestations that should be considered within the judicial function. The multicultural experience within the work of GIZ has allowed us to learn that in addition to formal legal systems, there are cultural manifestations that are part of the idiosyncrasy of many States, and that set important guidelines in the way citizens regulate their behavior.

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