Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Amending the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China

(Adopted at the 30th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People’s Congress on October 28, 2007)

At its 30th Meeting, the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People’s Congress decided to make the following amendments to the Civil Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China:

1. The second paragraph of Article 103 is revised to read, “With respect to a unit that commits any one of the acts specified above, the people’s court may impose a fine on its principal heads or the persons who are held actually responsible for the act; it may detain them if they still refuse to perform the obligation to provide assistance; and it may, in addition, put forward a judicial proposal to the supervisory organ or the relevant organ that disciplinary sanctions are imposed on them.”

2. The first paragraph of Article 104 is revised to read, “A fine on an individual shall be not more than RMB 10,000 yuan. A fine on a unit shall be not less than 10,000 yuan and not more than 300,000 yuan.”

3. Article 178 is revised to read, “If a party to an action considers that there is error in a legally effective judgment or written order, he may apply to the people’s court at the next higher level for a retrial; however, execution of the judgment or written order shall not be suspended.”

4. The first paragraph of Article 179 is changed to be Article 179 and is revised to read, “If an application made by a party meets any one of the following conditions, the people’s court shall retry the case:

“(1) There is new evidence which is sufficient to set aside the original judgment or written order;

“(2) There is a lack of evidence for establishing the basic facts ascertained in the original judgment or written order;

“(3) The main evidence for the facts ascertained in the original judgment or written order is falsified;

“(4) The main evidence for the facts ascertained in the original judgment or written order is not cross-examined;

“(5) The party to a lawsuit, due to objective cause, cannot collect the evidence necessary for adjudicating the case and has applied, in writing, to the people’s court for investigation and collection of such evidence, but the people’s court fails to investigate and collect the evidence;

“(6) There is definite error in the application of law to the making of the original judgment or written order;

“(7) In violation of the provisions of law, jurisdiction is erroneously exercised;

“(8) Formation of the trial organization is unlawful or the adjudicator that should withdraw has not done so;

“(9) The person incapable of judicial act is not represented by a statutory agent, or the party that should participate in the litigation fails to do so for reasons not attributable to himself or his legal representative;

“(10) The party’s right to debate is deprived of in violation of the provisions of law;

“(11) The default judgment in the absence of the party is made where a summons is not served on the party;

“(12) Some claims are omitted or excessive claims are confirmed in the original judgment or written order; or

“(13) The legal document on the basis of which the original judgment or written order is abrogated or revised.”

“The people’s court shall retry a case, where violation of the statutory procedure may prevent correct judgment or written order from being made or the adjudicator, in the course of trial, commits embezzlement, accepts bribes, engages in malpractices for personal gain, or perverts the law in making the judgment or written order.”

5. One article is added to be Article 180, which reads, “Where a party applies for a retrial, he shall submit a written application for retrial and other materials. The people’s court shall, within five days after receiving the application, serve the duplicate of the written application for retrial on the other party. The other party shall submit written opinions within 15 days after receiving the said duplicate; and failure on the part of the other party to submit the written opinions shall not prevent the review by the people’s court. The people’s court may require the applicant and the other party to supplement the relevant materials and inquire about relevant matters.”