By Yuling Chen, EDITOR

At about 10 a.m. on March 26, there are only two parties concerned with placing cases on file at the Register Hall of the Liangjiang New Area People’s Court, also called People’s Court of China (Chongqing) Pilot Free Trade Zone, in Chongqing.

Judges take oath as the Liangjiang New Area People's Court is established. (Photo from the Liangjiang New Area People's Court )

“It is common here,” Cao Ke, Vice President taking charge of case registration, said, “the reason is that people usually file cases online, and these cases account for 85% of the total amount.” Since its establishment on December 24, it has newly accepted 7,147 cases, and the number ranks among the top of the primary-level courts in Chongqing.

Self-service case-filing (Photo from the Liangjiang New Area People's Court)

Qiu Xiaoyin, President of the Liangjiang New Area (Chongqing FTZ) Court, introduced that it is the first professional court realizing the full coverage of the free trade zone in China. It mainly handles the first-instance cases about commercial affairs of investment, finance and trade in Chongqing FTZ. Besides, it is also responsible for the intellectual-property-related cases in the jurisdiction of Chongqing First Intermediate People’s Court, and the first instance of foreign-related commercial affairs cases in Chongqing.

Then, in the last three months, what achievements has the Court made in serving the construction of Chongqing into a leading opening-up area, “Belt and Road” and “New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor under CCI-ILSTC”? On March 26, the reporter visited the Liangjiang New Area (Chongqing FTZ) Court for information.

85% of Cases Filed Online

Cao Ke said that in the registering process, apart from the physical service windows, it is also available for parties concerned to file cases through the online channel, the “e-court” (or “online court”) app, and the self-service case-filing machine. These three intelligent methods greatly facilitate the parties to participate in the litigation process.

“Our lawyers usually file cases online.” On the spot, Li Kaike, a lawyer of Chongqing Huasheng Law Office, while operating the self-service case-filing machine, said that it is convenient and simple to file cases online. All they need to do is file in the content according to the operation prompts and scan the relevant evidence and pleadings into the system. The whole process only takes about 20 minutes, saving the parties concerned and lawyers from rushing about and queuing-up.

“To improve the efficiency of online case-filing, we have set up a special team to handle these cases.” Cao Ke said while pointing to a newly-registered contract dispute case on the computer screen. From case submission to manual examination, it only took 5 minutes. “Statistics show that the number of cases filed through physical service windows is about 30 per day, while the number of cases filed online reaches an average of more than 140 per day.”

Exploring the “Belt and Road” Land-borne Trade Rules

“In accordance with the relevant requirements of the Reform Office of CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, Chongqing has established the Inland Opening-up Legal Research Center in the Court.” Qiu Xiaoyin introduced. After its establishment, under the guidance of the Higher People’s Court of Chongqing, the Legal Center, driven by national top-ranking legal experts, has explored the “Belt and Road” Land-borne Trade Rules, highlighted typical cases, and conducted subject researches. Furthermore, it has carefully selected over ten legal issues related to the “Belt and Road” free trade system and the construction of inland leading areas for opening-up, as well as released research topics with an estimated period of completion of half a year.

“The legal achievements of these research projects will serve the relevant needs of the construction of the ‘Belt and Road’.” Qiu Xiaoyin said that there are plenty of countries along the “Belt and Road” routes and the relevant legal systems are considerably complicated. It requires careful researches to boost the implementation of the “going global” strategy advocated by the “Belt and Road” Initiative. The Court will facilitate the Inland Opening-up Legal Research Center to serve the opening-up development of Chongqing as a “think tank”.

Qiu Xiaoyin said that in the next step, the Liangjiang New Area (Chongqing FTZ) Court would speed up the construction of the Intelligent Court, and integrate the e-litigation platform (cqfygzfw.gov.cn), the full-coverage register system, the intelligent review platform, and the docking system of law offices. Through realizing the intelligent integration of various case handling systems, it will finally build the “integrated online litigation platform”, enabling litigants to complete the entire litigation process at home.

Source: Chongqing Daily

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