Courts in China’s Guangdong Province are adopting new ways in order to track and monitor the large numbers of cases that crowd their dockets every day; they have taken to using modern information technology (IT) to assist them with making their work more efficient and the overall legal system much more manageable.
The “China Daily” newspaper published an article about the courts and IT on February 28, 2014. This article, entitled ”IT Enables Court to Better Implement Verdicts”, by reporter Qiu Quanlin delves into the efforts of the courts in Guangdong Province to streamline the legal system in their Province. A daunting task to be sure, but I think credit must be given to those involved for their efforts to cast aside the old ways of managing their court system and to find a better way.
“China Daily” reporter Qiu Quanlin’s article is an interesting look into just some of the changes that are filtering into China’s legal system. This article in part reports as follows:
“Information technology has been put to good use to enhance judicial procedures, boost transparency and make it easier to carry out judgments and verdicts, a senior judge in Guangdong province said.
Zheng E, president of Guangdong Provincial High People’s Court, said courts in the province have integrated information technology into their management network.
“Information related to each verdict and judgment is recorded in the network, allowing us to closely monitor how verdicts and judgments are being carried out,” Zheng said.
With the network, the Guangdong court has established an online coordinated command center with government authorities and financial institutions.
“Using the online command center, we can quickly discover the properties of individuals and companies who refuse to adhere to verdicts and judgments against them,” Zheng said.
Thanks to IT, the judgment implementation rate of Guangdong’s courts increased from 55.8 percent in 2009 to 82.5 percent in 2013, according to the provincial high people’s court.
“The online command center has greatly helped increase efficiency in implementing verdicts and judgments,” Zheng said.
Zheng called for greater use of technology to establish a tougher social credit system, involving parties such as financial institutions, civil aviation, insurance and tourism authorities.
“The authorities involved should impose tough restrictions on parties who refuse to carry out judgments and verdicts,” Zheng said.
Sources with the Guangdong court said the number of verdicts and judgments that require compulsory implementation has gradually fallen in recent years, while those that are to be implemented voluntarily increased from 40.8 percent in 2009 to 49 percent in 2013.
“Measures should be adopted to stop individuals or parties who refuse to adhere to judgments and verdicts from buying homes, getting access to finance, investing and other business activities,” Zheng said.
Zheng said the Guangdong court has cooperated with the Guangzhou branch of the People’s Bank of China to develop a credit database.
“Information on verdicts and judgments which have not been implemented will be recorded in the database. Those who refuse to heed the verdicts and judgments will not be offered loans,” Zheng said.
The court has also worked with local government authorities, including land resource and housing departments, to build a system that allows for credit rewards or penalties, Zheng said.
“New projects will not be approved for parties who refuse to carry out verdicts and judgments,” Zheng said.
The list of individuals and parties who defaulted will also be announced in due course, according to Zheng.
“Those who do not adhere to the verdicts will come under increasing public pressure, and will be restricted from conducting business activities,” Zheng said.
“Implementing verdicts and judgments is not simply a judicial issue. From the perspective of long-term solutions, we should build a social credit system to improve compliance,” Zheng said.
Courts in Guangdong province handled about 14,300 administrative lawsuits in 2013, reflecting greater legal awareness of government agencies and officials, sources with the Guangdong Provincial People’s High Court said.
The court also revealed that government agencies and officials above county and district levels lost 18.7 percent of these lawsuits last year.
“We have introduced a series of measures to prevent government agencies and officials from hindering cases against them and to ensure that individuals or organizations that believe their rights have been infringed by government agencies have their administrative lawsuits accepted by the court and are fairly treated,” said Zheng E, president of Guangdong Provincial High People’s Court.
The court implemented a pilot system for dealing with administrative lawsuits in 2012. Lawsuits against government agencies above county level are transferred to intermediate courts or courts in other counties to be handled.
“The system has helped build more transparent and fair procedures,” Zheng said.
Also, the provincial high people’s court has introduced a system for dealing with such lawsuits. It requires chief executives of government agencies to appear in court during the procedures.
“Government officials should not be afraid of appearing in court. To some degree, the proceedings against government agencies or officials will help enhance legal awareness among the parties involved,” Zheng said.
China introduced a draft amendment to the Administrative Procedure Law at the end of 2013. It enhances the current law to better protect a person’s right to sue government agencies and officials.
Ou Zhenzhi, a deputy to the Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress, said courts should boost efforts to ensure people’s rights and increase efficiency.
“It is of great significance to require chief executives of government bodies to appear in court in lawsuits. A county head or a mayor has to think twice in handling government affairs if they face a possible lawsuit,” Ou said.”
This article may be found in full at:
http://china.org.cn/china/2014-01/28/content_31326648.htm
Hawkeye in China
Lex Smith