The Supreme People's Court (SPC), China's top court, issued the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Statute of Limitations for Requesting Compensation in Judicial Compensation Cases on May 24, which will take effect on June 1, 2023.

The provisions regarding the statute of limitations for compensation claims in the State Compensation Law, which was enacted on January 1, 1995, are fundamental. In practice, there are different understandings regarding the nature, starting date, and citation of the statute of limitations. With the progression of the country's trial work on state compensation, consensus has gradually been reached regarding the statute of limitations for compensation claims. Meanwhile, the improvement and refinement of the statute of limitations for litigation in the Civil Code and related judicial interpretations have provided a common set of rules and legislative experience that can be used as a reference for improving the statute of limitations for compensation claims. In order to fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of compensation claimants and unify the understanding and application of the statute of limitations, the SPC formulated the interpretation in accordance with the State Compensation Law and based on the practical work of judicial compensation trials.

Comprised of 13 articles, the interpretation includes rules for calculating the statute of limitations for criminal and non-criminal compensation claims, rules for deducting special periods from the statute of limitations, the suspension of the statute of limitations, and the legal effects when the statute of limitations expires.

The articles are based on the reality of judicial compensation, take into consideration whether there are factual and legal obstacles when the compensation claimant applies for compensation, reasonably determine the starting date of the statute of limitations, and clarify that compensation committees of the people's courts shall not actively apply the statute of limitations when hearing state compensation cases. They addressed some disputed issues in legal application and effectively implemented the principle of "fairness and efficiency".