The Supreme People's Court (SPC), China's top court, released the main data of the country's judicial work in the first half of the year (H1).

Overall situation. In the first half of 2023, courts nationwide received 16.96 million new cases of various types, an increase of 11.01 percent year-on-year. Some 15.26 million cases were concluded and 4.54 million cases remained unconcluded, up 9.65 percent and down 4.45 percent year-on year, respectively. Efforts on clearing the backlog of cases have paid off. The number of concluded criminal cases increased by 7.36 percent year-on-year, while the number of outstanding cases decreased by 8.64 percent. The number of closed civil cases increased by 7.76 percent, while the number of unclosed cases decreased by 4.34 percent. The number of closed administrative cases decreased by 2.53 percent year-on-year, and the number of unclosed cases decreased by 2.06 percent.

Pre-litigation mediation and case filing. The efficacy of pre-litigation mediation has continued to rise. A total of 7.71 million disputes were mediated at the pre-litigation stage in courts nationwide, accounting for 36 percent of disputes brought to the court, which was an increase of 41.5 percent year-on-year. Each mediation last for an average of 13.9 days. Among them, nearly 5 million disputes were successfully resolved through mediation, an increase of 51.2 percent year-on-year, and parties’ voluntary fulfillment rate reached 94.6 percent. Mediation platforms were further incorporated at grassroots levels. Some 101,000 grassroots-level administrative units worked with the people’s courts online and solved 910,000 disputes locally, nearly three times the total number of last year. More than one million disputes were effectively resolved in villages, communities and neighborhoods. People have easier access to their right of action. More than 7 million cases were filed online, an increase of 18.95 percent year-on-year, with an average of 119.5 cases filed online every minute. A total of 98,000 online applications for second-instance filings were received in 16 pilot areas, with an average filing period of 21.6 days, 77.7 percent shorter than before.

Criminal trials. A total of 545,000 criminal cases of first instance were concluded, up 10.88 percent year-on-year, and the average handling time decreased by 5.11 percent. The rate of satisfaction with first instance criminal verdicts was 88.68 percent, up 2.61 percentage points year-on-year; 1.65 percent of criminal first-instance judgments were remanded for retrial, down 0.22 percentage points;  85.31 percent of criminals were sentenced to less than three years in prison, and 8.73 percent were sentenced to more than five years in prison. The criminal policy of combining leniency with severity has been effectively implemented.

Civil and commercial trials. A total of 8.05 million civil and commercial cases of first instance were concluded in H1, up 7.9 percent year-on-year. The satisfaction rate with first instance civil and commercial verdicts was 89.81 percent, up 1.16 percentage points year-on-year; 3.35 percent of first instance civil and commercial verdicts were remanded for retrial, down 0.37 percentage points. A total of 1.08 million cases of first instance involving disputes over marriageand inheritance were concluded, up 23.19 percent. Some 268,000 first instance cases involving labor and personnel disputes were concluded, up 12.96 percent year-on-year. Online financing and leasing disputes increased significantly, which saw 57,000 new first instance cases received in H1, up 29.83 percent. A total of 7,430 first instance marine and maritime  cases were concluded, up 10.43 percent year-on-year. Foreign-related maritime cases involved 105 countries and regions, indicating stable economic and trade relations between China and major economies around the world. Affected by a combination of such factors as changes in the business model of the modern shipping industry, the vigorous development of cross-border e-commerce and the strong recovery of commodity trade after the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of disputes over freight forwarding contracts and cargo transport contracts increased significantly, with the number of newly received cases rising by 49.78 percent and 18.58 percent, respectively.

Administrative trials. Litigation-source governance has achieved significant results. A total of 132,000 administrative cases of first instance were concluded, up 2.11 percent year-on-year; the satisfaction rate with those verdicts  was 43.03 percent, up 6.76 percentage points. Administrative first-instance judgments being remanded for retrial accounted for 7.29 percent of the total, down 1.15 percentage points year-on-year, and 12,000 administrative cases related to labor security were concluded.

Trials on intellectual property (IP) cases. A total of 12,000 new cases of first instance involving technology-related IP were accepted, up 33.4 percent year-on-year, 9,916 of which were concluded, up 18.4 percent. A large number of IP-related disputes have been resolved through mediation. The diversified dispute resolution mechanism has been improved with 23,000 IP-related civil cases of first instance being settled through mediation. Punitive compensation was applied in 139 cases in accordance with the law, with a maximum compensation of 20 million yuan ($2.77 million ) imposed, significantly increasing the cost of right infringement and violation of the law.

Trials on environment and resources cases. A total of 110,000 new cases of first instance involving environment and resources were accepted, down 7.9 percent year-on-year, with criminal, civil and administrative cases all fewer than those in the same period last year.

Enforcement work. The number of new cases for first time enforcement was 5 million, up 13.48 percent year-on-year, 4.23 million of which were concluded, up 12.91 percent. The concluded enforcement cases involved sums amounting to 1.2 trillion yuan, an increase of 23.03 percent year-on-year. The integration of case filing, adjudication and execution was reinforced, and 1.67 million preservation cases were handled, an increase of 39.08 percent year-on-year. The SPC further coordinated with other departments, including the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Public Security and the China Construction Bank, and achieved substantial results in coordinated enforcement, resuming enforcement in 1.1 million cases, an increase of 20.11 percent. Judicial auctions have also produced fruitful results, effectively supporting market circulation and economic recovery. H1 saw a comprehensive increase in all aspects of judicial auction data, where 654,000 lots were auctioned, an increase of 55.62 percent year-on-year, and 194,000 lots were sold, an increase of 34.31 percent. The proceeds thereof reached 198.15 billion yuan, an increase of 22.69 percent year-on-year, and the sales rate was 68.36 percent, an increase of 6.87 percentage points, saving 5.67 billion yuan in commission.