The Supreme People's Court (SPC) released a guideline setting forth measures for the trial of epidemic-related civil cases on April 20.

The guideline calls on courts across the country to prioritize mediation in resolving social disputes in order to nip them in the bud.

It stresses accurate application of the rule of force majeure in hearing contract disputes arising from the epidemic, asking courts to weigh the real impact of the epidemic or epidemic prevention measures on the performance of contracts before fully or partially exempting parties’ obligations.

The guideline encourages parties to fulfill their contracts as long as they remain executable despite the epidemic. But it also instructs courts to uphold parties’ request for dissolving their contracts if their purposes can’t be achieved because of the epidemic or the prevention measures.

As for labor relations, the guideline orders courts to prohibit employers from terminating their labor contracts with people who are confirmed, suspected or asymptomatic cases or the employees who are in quarantine or come from regions in a relatively severe epidemic situation.

It emphasizes supervision over trials of epidemic-related civil cases, and requires higher courts to give guidance to lower courts by issuing typical cases in order to ensure a unified trial criteria.

The guideline also addresses such issues as punitive compensation, suspension of limitation periods, time extensions of litigation, judicial aid and preservation measures.