Qingdao Maritime Court Has Concluded a Public Interest Litigation Case on Illegal Sand Mining, 11 Defendants Involved in Jointly Tort

　　Recently, the Qingdao Maritime Court concluded a public interest litigation case of compensation for the  damage to the marine ecological environment caused by the illegal sea sand mining by 11 defendants. The court decided that all the defendants should be jointly and severally liable for the infringement. The judgment realized a full chain and all-round crackdown on the series of illegal acts of "poaching, transporting, purchasing and selling sea sand" that damaged the marine ecological environment.

　　In November 2020, Qingdao Coast Guard seized two operating vessels in the sea area near Dongjiakou Port. Upon investigation, the vessels were loaded with more than 2,600 tons of sea sand in total, but neither could provide any official documents certifying to their sand-mining operations and were suspected of illegal sea sand mining. Qingdao People"s Procuratorate filed a public interest litigation in accordance with the law after obtaining of the clues. The Qingdao Maritime Court held a trial to address the issues of focus, including the fact that Wang, Zhen and nine other suspects had illegally mined sea sand without a permit and participated in the transportation and acquisition of it, as well as the consequences of damage to the marine ecological environment and the determination of compensation. The court ultimately decided that the 11 defendants should be held jointly and severally liable for the joint tort of damaging the marine ecological system, detrimental to the public interest of society.

　　Sea sand is a valuable marine mineral resource. Unauthorized mining violates Mineral Resources Law of PRC, Marine Environmental Protection Law of PRC and Law of PRC on the Administration of Sea Areas, leading to the loss of sea sand resources, affecting the safety of ports and waterways and seriously damaging the marine ecological environment. Under the enormous lure of profit, the illegal miners, together with those involved in purchasing, transporting, and selling, have formed long-term connections, establishing a fixed relationship of sale and purchase and a complete chain of interests, in which all the links profit from illegal sand mining, with a high degree of synergism. There is a legal causality between the actions and the results, which together lead to the damage of the marine natural resources and the ecological environment. In order to prevent and combat illegal sand mining, it is necessary to thoroughly sever the chain of interests at its source, making the joint infringers who illegally transport and purchase the sand pay the price and are jointly and severally liable with the illegal miners for the consequences of damage to the marine ecological environment and the environment，so as to achieve the protection of the marine environment and the public interests. 

　　The Qingdao Maritime Court, in accordance with the law, fulfills the duties of adjudication to protect the marine environment and resources, resolutely implementing full chain combat and all-round punishment against the series of illegal acts of “mining, transporting, purchasing and  selling” that damage marine natural resources and environment, so as to cut off the chain of interests in illegal sand mining. With the strictest system, the most stringent rule of law to protect marine resources and environment, Qingdao Maritime Court will give full play to the role of judicial leadership, to serve and safeguard the strategic planning and management of ocean and to provide a strong judicial guarantee for the further promotion of the construction of a strong marine province, a strong city of the sea.