环境公益诉讼因果关系证明责任阐析

Analysis on the Proof of Causality in Environmental Public Interest Litigation

环境公益诉讼中,因果关系的证明举足轻重,证明之关键为证明责任的分配规则。单纯的“谁主张,谁举证”规则已经不适应环境侵权因果关系证明要求,取而代之的是“证明责任倒置”与“减轻证明责任”理论。目前,我国对于环境公益诉讼因果关系的证明责任并没有详尽统一的规定。在环境公益诉讼中,继续类推适用环境私益诉讼中的证明模式,其合理性不足;而简单运用证明责任倒置来归纳该证明模式,其公正性不足。针对不同主体提起的环境公益诉讼,应根据证明责任减轻模式,对原告承担证明责任的程度进行适当区分,以此促进环境公益诉讼的公平性,实现环境利益与诉讼利益的平衡。

In environmental public interest litigation,the proof of causality is very important.How to prove depends on the distribution rules of the burden of proof.The simple“who claims,who produces proof”rule has not fit to the requestof the proof of causality of environmental tort,replaced by the theory of“inversion of the burden of proof”and“reduction of the burden of proof”.At present,there are no detailed and unified regulations on the burden of proof of causality in environmental public interest litigation.In environmental public interest litigation,the proving model in environmental private interest litigation continues to be applied by analogy,and its rationality is insufficient.Moreover,simply using the inversion of the burden of proof to summarize the proof model,its fairness is questionable.Environmental public interest litigation filed against different entities should be based on the reduction of the burden of proof model,and the degree to which the plaintiff bears the burden of proof should be appropriately distinguished,so as to promote the fairness of environmental public interest litigation and achieve a balance between environmental interests and litigation interests.