The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) reviewed on July 28 the progress of adjudication and enforcement work in the first half of this year and outlined key priorities for the second half, calling on courts nationwide to complete annual tasks with high standards and lay a solid foundation for judicial work at the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30).
Zhang Jun, president of the SPC, attended the meeting and delivered remarks.
The Supreme People's Court reviews the progress of adjudication and enforcement work in the first half of this year and outlined key priorities for the second half on July 28, calling on courts nationwide to complete annual tasks with high standards and lay a solid foundation for judicial work at the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30). Zhang Jun, president of the SPC, attends the meeting and delivers remarks. [Photo/court.gov.cn]
According to the meeting, courts nationwide made steady progress in improving the quality and efficiency of adjudication and enforcement in the first half of 2026.
New advances were achieved in integrating into the standardized development of comprehensive social governance centers, enhancing the effectiveness of pre-litigation mediation, strengthening judicial supervision and guidance, and providing judicial services for high-quality development.
At the same time, the meeting noted that some issues remain in the implementation stage and called on courts to analyze judicial data carefully and identify root causes in light of local conditions, so as to find targeted solutions.
The meeting pointed out that more pronounced structural imbalances between judicial resources and caseloads, the growing number of straightforward cases resolved at an early stage, and increasingly diverse public demand for judicial services have placed higher requirements on judicial work.
It stressed the need to further improve adjudication management in line with judicial principles, complete this year's adjudication and enforcement tasks, and build a solid foundation for judicial work during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
The meeting called for greater efforts to strengthen mediation guidance, and make better use of exemplary cases and other case resources to guide mediation work at social governance centers, while promoting diverse dispute resolution by enabling parties to choose the most appropriate, efficient and practical means to resolve disputes.
It also emphasized improving the case review mechanism for court presidents and division chiefs by refining the scope and procedures of case review and strengthening their responsibilities for adjudication management, supervision and guidance.
Courts were urged to ensure full implementation of the system under which court presidents and division chiefs take responsibility for complex and difficult petition cases. They should review case files, meet with petitioners, assess their claims, resolve disputes through hearings, coordinate relevant resources and monitor progress, while using the process to identify and address outstanding issues throughout litigation, adjudication, enforcement and petition-handling.
The meeting also highlighted the role of judges conferences in integrating political and professional development, encouraging senior officials of courts to participate in and preside over such meetings to improve judges' professional capacity and adjudication quality.
It called for continued efforts to clear long-pending cases through strengthened coordination and reporting mechanisms, as well as deeper application of digital technologies, making full use of the unified online case handling and office management platform to enhance judicial efficiency.
The meeting noted that since the adjudication quality management indicator system was introduced in January 2024, courts nationwide have used the indicators to conduct regular performance reviews, analyze judicial data and implement targeted measures, making steady improvements in the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of adjudication and enforcement.
Indicators reflecting the public satisfaction of judicial services, including the case-to-proceeding ratio and appeal rate, continued to improve.
To further align adjudication management with judicial principles and improve differentiated performance evaluation, the SPC has revised the indicator system following extensive research and consultation.
The number of core indicators has been streamlined to 11 from the current 16, supplemented by routine monitoring through the unified online case handling and office management platform.
The revised system also provides reference averages for courts at the same level or of a similar type and adjusts recommended benchmark ranges in line with improvements in judicial performance, making the indicators more objective, scientifically grounded and practical.
The meeting stressed that the revised indicator system is intended to sharpen the focus of adjudication management. Courts were instructed to make full use of the indicators as a tool for identifying strengths and weaknesses, strengthen the commitment of judges to prioritizing quality while balancing efficiency and effectiveness, and maximize the differentiated evaluation system.
Higher-level courts were urged to shoulder their responsibilities for supervision and guidance by conducting differentiated evaluations in light of the characteristics of their jurisdictions, caseloads, case composition, the allocation of judicial resources and centralized jurisdiction arrangements. This would promote continuous improvements in the quality and efficiency of adjudication and enforcement at courts nationwide, according to the meeting.
It also called for better alignment between case evaluation and personnel assessment, with well-calibrated assessment criteria and weighting, so that the performance evaluation system could play a stronger guiding role.
Deng Xiuming, executive vice-president of the SPC, chaired the meeting.
