BEIJING -- Chinese courts achieved notable progress in reducing case backlogs in 2024, with the number of cases pending for more than one year dropping by over one-third compared to the previous year, according to data released by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Jan 26.

In 2024, China's courts received over 46 million cases, representing a year-on-year increase of nearly one percent, SPC data shows.

Of these, over 1.2 million were first-instance criminal cases, more than 18 million were first-instance civil and commercial cases, and nearly 300,000 were first-instance administrative cases, said the SPC.

In addition, over 260,000 cases were processed under the "cross-enforcement" mechanism, the SPC noted.

This mechanism allows courts to address enforcement challenges by assigning another court or a higher-level court to oversee enforcement when the original court fails to implement rulings in a timely manner. In some cases, multiple courts may be involved in joint enforcement efforts if needed.