The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) held a meeting on Aug 31 at the National Judges College to make arrangements for judicial inspections that are scheduled to start in early September. Zhang Jun, president of the SPC, attended the meeting and made remarks.

The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) holds a meeting on Aug 31 at the National Judges College to make arrangements for its 2026 judicial inspections. Zhang Jun, president of the SPC, attends the meeting and delivers a speech. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Judicial inspections are an important means for higher-level courts to fulfill their responsibilities of supervising and guiding lower-level courts, as well as a key measure for courts to advance full and strict Party self-governance and court administration on a sustained basis.

According to the judicial inspection plan, the SPC will dispatch inspection teams to eight high people's courts. The teams, headed by members of the SPC’s Advisory Committee and composed of selected personnel, will examine how the courts have implemented decisions and arrangements of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), fulfilled their primary duties in adjudication and enforcement, and advanced full and strict Party self-governance and court administration.

Zhang stressed the significance and responsibility of judicial inspections, calling for efforts to identify problems in a substantive manner, and to use high-quality judicial inspections to promote implementation, rectification and governance, thereby improving the quality and efficiency of adjudication and enforcement.

He called for efforts to raise political awareness and carry out judicial inspections with a strong sense of responsibility and mission. Judicial inspections serve as powerful political supervision to uphold absolute Party leadership over judicial work, effective operational supervision to promote high-quality adjudication, and sound discipline and conduct supervision to deepen full and strict Party self-governance and court administration, Zhang noted. 

The inspection teams should focus on political development and strengthen political supervision in connection with judicial responsibilities, Zhang said. They should examine whether major decisions and arrangements are being effectively implemented, while identifying problems and shortcomings that affect the high-quality development of adjudication and enforcement, the fulfillment of judicial responsibilities, the quality and efficiency of adjudication, and the public’s perception of fairness and justice. They should also urge the leading Party members groups of the courts under inspection to fully assume their political responsibilities for exercising full and strict Party self-governance and court administration, and safeguard judicial impartiality through clean and upright conduct.

Zhang stressed that judicial inspections should focus on duties and responsibilities and integrate the accurate identification and effective resolution of problems. The inspection teams should follow the principle of identifying problems, supervising rectification, promoting work and advancing development. They should conduct a thorough review of political performance, examining both the implementation of major decisions and arrangements and whether there are shortcomings in political development as reflected in judicial work.

They should also examine the performance of judicial duties, focusing on serving the overall agenda of the nation and administering justice for the people through judicial work, supporting high-quality development, resolving disputes, and addressing the urgent difficulties and concerns of the people, according to Zhang. Particular attention should be paid to problems involving judicial concepts, adjudication management and work task implementation.

Zhang called on the inspection teams to examine discipline and conduct, focusing on the implementation of political responsibilities for full and strict Party self-governance and court administration. They should pay more attention to problems in following the CPC Central Committee’s eight-point decision on improving work conduct and its implementation rules, as well as the three rules on preventing improper interference in judicial activities, and promote the implementation of the principle that strict management is a form of care and support.

Zhang stressed the need to strengthen organizational leadership and ensure that judicial inspections are conducted in an orderly, effective and robust manner. Good practices and experience gained from previous judicial inspections should be refined and applied extensively, Zhang said, adding that efforts are needed to ensure responsibilities are fully assumed. The inspection teams should coordinate resources and strengthen collaboration to effectively address real problems, he added.

The inspection teams should follow a problem-oriented approach and seek truth from facts, identify and analyze problems carefully, clarify responsibilities, get to the root causes and put forward practical solutions, Zhang noted. They should strengthen communication with the political and legal affairs commissions and discipline inspection bodies of the Party committees at the same level as the courts under inspection, and listen broadly to opinions, so as to lay a solid foundation for rectification and improvement.

The inspection teams should perform their duties strictly in accordance with relevant rules, Party discipline and the law, maintain a sound working style, minimize the burden on the courts, and ensure that judicial inspections are carried out in a steady and orderly manner, Zhang added.

Heads, deputy heads and members of the judicial inspection teams, as well as officials in charge of relevant departments of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and the discipline inspection and supervision group stationed at the SPC, attend the meeting. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Sun Zhenping, head of the SPC’s Political Department, announced the authorization, appointments and division of responsibilities of the inspection teams.

Heads, deputy heads and members of the judicial inspection teams, as well as officials in charge of relevant SPC departments and the discipline inspection and supervision group stationed at the SPC, attended the meeting.