China’s Supreme People’s Court issued Opinions on Providing Judicial Services and Safeguards for the Coordinated Development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region at a press conference held by the SPC in Beijing on Feb 18.
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in 2015 highlighted five aspects of China’s development, namely innovation, coordination, opening-up, greening and sharing. The SPC will consider them as guidelines in supporting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, said Yan Maokun, director of SPC’s Research Office.
According to the Opinions, the SPC will emphasize scientific and technological innovations through enforcement of intellectual property rights including trademarks, patents, and copyright in accordance with the law.
Crimes of destroying resources and environmental pollution will be punished and environmental public interest litigation will be promoted to improve ecological construction in the region, the document stated.
In order to boost the region’s shipping, logistics and warehousing, the SPC will make more efforts to solve maritime disputes to facilitate regional opening-up and construction of the free trade zone, according to the statement.
Efforts will also be made to handle private lending and Internet financing-related cases to solve the financing difficulties for small- and medium-sized enterprises and guard against regional and systemic monetary risks, it said.
In 2015, the courts in Hebei province saw a threefold surge over the same period of the previous year in business reorganization and bankruptcy liquidation cases necessary to meet the demand for upgrading industrial structures and eliminating backward production capacity in the province, Yang Taian, vice-president of the Hebei Provincial Higher People’s Court, explained in answering a reporter’s concerns about green development.
Hebei has set up specialized tribunals or collegiate courts for bankruptcy-related cases at its grassroots people’s courts, intermediate people’s courts and higher people’s courts, and launched China’s first provincial-level association of bankruptcy administrators at the end of 2015, Yang added.
Zhang Yong, vice-president of the Tianjin Higher People’s Court said the city has taken the lead in establishing a judicial coordination mechanism to prevent financial risks in China, and solved new cases involving financial innovations carefully and cautiously.
The Opinions set rules for addressing Beijing’s "urban diseases" as the city continues to move out "non-capital functions", such as punishment for thwarting major construction projects that relieve its non-capital functions, immediate handling of lease contracts, compensation and resettlement, and labor disputes in relocation of enterprises, regional logistics bases and specialized markets, said Ma Qiang, vice-president of Beijing Higher People’s Court.
Meanwhile, the court in Beijing has played an active role in the city’s relocation campaign. The Xicheng District People’s Court provided judicial suggestions in a special report on the relocation of the Beijing Zoo wholesale market, Ma said.
Yan Maokun urged the courts in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei to strengthen cooperation through a coordinated judiciary to guarantee development of the region. The document has made it clear that the contact mechanism should be improved among the courts in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province. A group of measures will be implemented, such as setting up a joint conference mechanism, a coordinated system for law enforcement, and an online property inquiry and control procedure. The idea of building a centralized jurisdiction or specialized system for cases relating to intellectual property rights, maritime affairs, and ecological environment protection will also be explored.
Ma Qiang said the Beijing courts were working to launch a mechanism that features unified standards on case-filing and adjudication among the courts in the region. They were also working on the unification of legal service standards, which will ensure the parties concerned enjoy equal quality litigation services in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.
In addition, courts in Beijing are encouraging information technology approaches to share trial information and legal documents to promote the unified application of the law, according to Ma.
SPC spokesman Sun Jungong chaired the meeting.
