environmental public interest lawsuit 环境公益诉讼

A domestic environmental group has filed an environmental public interest lawsuit1 against Volkswagen over the company's cheating on emissions2 readings. It is the first public-interest lawsuit in China related to pollution from automobile3 exhaust.

国内环保团体就德国大众汽车排放作弊事件提起环境公益诉讼。这是中国首例与机动车辆尾气污染有关的公益诉讼案。

环境公益诉讼（environmental public interest lawsuit）即有关环境保护方面的公益性诉讼（public interest lawsuit/public interest litigation），是指因为自然人、法人、或其他组织的违法行为或不作为，使环境公共利益遭受侵害或马上遭受侵害时，法律允许其他的法人、自然人或社会团体为维护公共利益而向人民法院提起的诉讼。