In order to achieve substantial resolution of disputes at the pre-litigation stage and relieve the parties of litigation troubles, the Supreme People's Court recently issued a regulation on entrusted appraisals in pre-litigation mediation for a trial run, which will be enacted on August 1, 2023.

The 20-article regulation aims to further implement the Rules on Online Mediation of People's Courts and standardize the related work.

According to the regulation, in the course of pre-litigation mediation, people's courts may, upon the application of the litigants, provide an entrusted appraisal service for disputes involving motor vehicle traffic accident liability, medical damage liability, property damage compensation, construction project contracts, labor contracts, product liability and sales contracts, as well as disputes over the right to life, physical rights, health rights and other eligible disputes.

The pre-litigation appraisal should follow the principle of voluntary participation by the litigants, as stressed in the regulation.

The court-appointed mediation organizations are responsible for providing clarification and guidance on the applications, reviewing and confirming the appraisal materials, forwarding the applications to the courts' entrusted appraisal system, and delivering the appraisal reports to the litigants. However, initiation of the pre-litigation appraisal procedure needs the court's approval. The court has the obligation to assign judges or judicial assistants to guide the mediation organization in carrying out pre-litigation appraisal work.

The regulation clarifies specific procedures of the entrusted appraisal, which include the applicable conditions, application review, entrusted handling, selection of appraisal agencies, prepayment of appraisal fees, uploading and delivery of appraisal reports, raising and handling objections to appraisal results, the connection between pre-litigation mediation and litigation procedures after the appraisal, and relevant steps for repeated appraisals.