A seminar on judicial support for Hainan Free Trade Port’s island-wide special customs operations was held on Feb 6 in Haikou, the capital of South China’s Hainan province. 

Zhang Jun, secretary of the leading Party members group and president of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), and Feng Fei, secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Hainan Provincial Committee and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Hainan Provincial People’s Congress, attended and addressed the event.

A seminar on judicial support for the island-wide special customs operations in Hainan Free Trade Port is held in Haikou, Hainan province, on Feb 6. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

The development of the Hainan FTP has been given high priority under national strategies and policy arrangements. 

In line with decisions of the CPC Central Committee, the SPC has strengthened its judicial guidance for the Hainan High People’s Court and other courts in safeguarding security, advancing high-level opening-up and fostering a sound, stable, fair, transparent and predictable legal environment. These efforts have provided strong judicial support for the development of the Hainan FTP.

Noting that the rule of law provides an essential foundation for the development of the Hainan FTP, Zhang said that the highly open operating environment is placing higher demands on judicial services and safeguards. 

Focusing on advancing high-quality judicial services to support the high-standard development of the Hainan FTP, he outlined key priorities for further strengthening judicial support.

He stressed the need for courts to better align judicial services with the institutional framework of the Hainan FTP, focus on adjudication and enforcement as their core responsibilities and transform policy advantages into tangible judicial services — ensuring effective coordination between judicial work and the FTP’s reform and opening-up agenda.

He also underlined the importance of safeguarding security while advancing the opening-up, calling for intensified efforts to combat cross-border money laundering, offshore financial fraud, tax evasion, smuggling, illegal border crossings and commercial bribery, in order to maintain market order and social stability. 

Courts should also support administrative authorities in implementing more precise, efficient and low-intervention regulatory measures to promote law-based governance, he added. 

Noting that the high-quality development of the Hainan FTP required stable, fair, transparent and predictable legal environment, Zhang urged courts to further strengthen legal safeguards for its institutional opening-up. Courts, he said, should ensure the effective implementation of the negative list for foreign investment access, enhance property rights protection and safeguard fair competition. 

He urged courts to properly handle cases involving goods trade, services trade and digital trade, so as to ensure the effective implementation of zero-tariff policies for goods trade and the negative list management system for services trade.

Moreover, efforts should be intensified to improve mechanisms for ascertaining foreign law, the cross-border service of process and judicial assistance in investigations and evidence collection, as well as to upgrade one-stop litigation services for foreign-related cases, Zhang said. 

He also urged courts to prudently handle emerging disputes in areas such as artificial intelligence, data governance, cross-border finance and cross-border insolvency and to develop forward-looking adjudication rules.

Zhang further highlighted the need to strengthen specialized adjudication in line with the Hainan FTP’s strategic positioning, to support the development of a modern industrial system with local characteristics and competitive advantages. 

He called for the proper handling of complex intellectual property disputes in key sectors including seed breeding, deep-sea exploration and aerospace technology, to promote development, regulation and technological innovation and industrial upgrading in the Hainan FTP.

Courts should enhance their professional capacity in maritime adjudication, with focus on the development of industries such as international transshipments, the re-export trade, international shipping and port-based industries, Zhang noted. 

Zhang called for judicial efforts to safeguard forest, marine and wetland ecosystems by applying a prevention-oriented approach and the principle of liability for environmental damage, in order to strengthen the judicial safeguards for ecological security. 

Courts should also effectively resolve disputes in tourism, healthcare, education and training sectors, deepen research into adjudication rules for emerging forms of consumption, and provide strong judicial support for the orderly development of the modern service industry in the Hainan FTP, he said.

Highlighting the importance of people in development, Zhang underscored the importance of building a high-caliber, professional judicial workforce. 

He called for integrated efforts to be made in enhancing governance capacity, professional competence and ethical standards, while building open and flexible mechanisms for talent training and recruitment, judicial supervision, guidance and theoretical research. 

Feng expressed his appreciation for the long-term support of the SPC for the Hainan FTP’s reform and opening-up. He said that the island-wide special customs operations of the Hainan FTP raised higher requirements for the rule of law and judicial services. 

Under the guidance and support of the SPC, the Hainan provincial authorities would continue to advance law-based governance, implement the Hainan Free Trade Port Law, deepen judicial reform and improve the judicial system in line with the development needs of the Hainan FTP, according to Feng. 

Efforts would also be intensified to foster a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment — ensuring that the development of the Hainan FTP proceeds steadily and sustainably on the basis of the rule of law, he said.

He also expressed hope that the SPC would pilot new judicial initiatives in the Hainan FTP and provide greater guidance in areas such as foreign-related adjudications, intellectual property rights protection, risk prevention and control, international exchanges and cooperation, and talent development, so as to enhance the global reach and overall quality of its judicial work.

Feng also called on experts from the SPC to continue to offer their insights and support and to work jointly toward building the Hainan FTP into a major gateway for China’s high-level opening-up and a vivid example of advancing law-based governance.

The seminar was chaired by Wang Shumei, a standing member of the SPC’s Adjudication Committee. Also present at the event were Yang Jinbai, deputy secretary of the CPC Hainan Provincial Committee and secretary of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Hainan Provincial Committee, and Zhang Yi, secretary of the leading Party members group and chief prosecutor of the Hainan Provincial People’s Procuratorate. 

Dai Jun, secretary of the leading Party members group and president of the Hainan High People’s Court, along with representatives from relevant provincial departments, briefed participants on recent developments. 

Deputies to the National People’s Congress Lin Huan and Lei Yafei, as well as legal scholars Xiao Yongping, Wang Han, Xu Xizheng and Tong Weihua, engaged in exchanges and shared their views. 

Representatives from the SPC, the Shanghai High People’s Court, the Guangdong High People’s Court and relevant provincial departments of Hainan, as well as representatives from courts across Hainan, also participated in the seminar.

Dai Jun, secretary of the leading Party members group and president of the Hainan High People’s Court, along with representatives from provincial departments, briefs participants on recent developments. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Deputies to the National People’s Congress Lin Huan and Lei Yafei, as well as legal scholars Xiao Yongping, Wang Han, Xu Xizheng and Tong Weihua, share their views. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Prior to the seminar, Zhang and a number of participants visited Xinhai Port and the centralized inspection facilities at the “second-line” customs control checkpoints at Nangang Port, to learn about measures taken to strengthen supervision and improve efficiency.