Several Opinions of the Supreme People's Court on Providing Judicial Services and Safeguards for the Construction of the “Belt and Road” by People's Courts

[2015] Fafa No. 9

The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (hereinafter referred to as the “Belt and Road”) are major constructive decisions made by the CPC Central Committee with the General Secretary Xi Jinping for voluntarily responding to profound changes in global situations and making an overall planning for domestic and international situations. In order to bring the trial functions and roles of the people's courts into full play and effectively serve and safeguard the smooth implementation of the construction of the “Belt and Road,” the guiding opinions are raised as follows:

I. Unifying Thoughts, Deepening Understanding, and Effectively Enhancing the Sense of Responsibility and Mission for Providing Judicial Services and Safeguards for the Construction of the “Belt and Road”

1. The great significance of the construction of the “Belt and Road” and the important mission shouldered by the people's courts shall be profoundly comprehended. The “Belt and Road” shall inherit and carry forward the spirit of the ancient silk road of “peace and cooperation, openness and tolerance, mutual learning and reference, and mutual benefit and win-win,” hold high the banner of “peace, development, cooperation, and win-win,” uphold the diplomatic concept of good neighbor relationship, trust, mutual benefit, and tolerance, and observe the principle of co-decision, co-building, and sharing, with the aim to reach consensus and pool strength of various countries, realize the blueprint of “policy communication, road interconnection, smooth trade, currency circulation, and consensus of popular support,” and create a community of interests, a common future, and responsibilities with political mutual trust, economic integration, and cultural tolerance. The implementation of the construction of the “Belt and Road” is to produce practical and far-reaching impacts on initiating China's new pattern of all dimensional opening to the outside world, driving economic growth, and promoting peaceful development. In the construction of the “Belt and Road,” rule by law is an important safeguard and judicial functions are indispensable. The people's courts at various levels shall thoroughly study and implement major decisions on the construction of the “Belt and Road” of the Party and state as well as a series of important exposition made by the General Secretary Xi Jinping, fully comprehend the honorable duties they shoulder, voluntarily undertake the mission of the age, and take the initiative to serve and integrate in the construction process of the “Belt and Road.”

2. The people's courts shall accurately comprehend the connotation and basic requirements of judicial services and safeguards for the construction of the “Belt and Road.” They shall actively respond to the judicial concerns and demands of both Chinese and foreign market players, greatly strengthen the judicial review of foreign-related criminal, civil and commercial, maritime, and international commercial and maritime arbitrations and the trial of free trade zone-related cases, and create a sound legal environment for the construction of the “Belt and Road.” They shall implement the legal principle of legal equality in a comprehensive manner, uphold the equal protection of the lawful rights and interests of Chinese and foreign parties, and make efforts to effectively maintain the regional cooperation environment for fair competition, integrity, and harmony and win-win. They shall make an overall planning and coordination, identify the joint point and acting point of the work of the people's courts and the construction of the “Belt and Road,” and raise the level of foreign-related trials by the people's courts in an all-round manner by researching regularities, highlighting prospectiveness, and being innovative. Based on China's reality, the people's courts shall follow unswervingly the socialist road of rule by law with Chinese characteristics and actively carry out international judicial cooperation and exchange with countries along the “Belt and Road,” and lay a sound foundation of rule by law for the construction of the “Belt and Road.”

II. Bringing the Functions and Roles of Trials into Full Play and Improving the International Credibility of Judicial Services and Safeguards for the Construction of the “Belt and Road”

3. The people's courts shall bring the functions and roles of criminal trials into full play and create a harmonious and stable social environment for the construction of the “Belt and Road.” They shall strengthen the criminal trial work, deepen the criminal judicial cooperation with countries along the “Belt and Road,” severely crack down on violent and terrorist forces, separatist forces, and religious extremist forces, and severely punish such cross-boundary crimes as piracy, drug trafficking, smuggling, money laundering, telecommunication fraud, cyber crime, and human trafficking. They shall properly try criminal cases in fields of international investment, international trade, multi-national finance, port, shipping, warehousing, and logistics, adhere to legally prescribed punishments for specified crimes, strictly follow the case-handling procedures, grasp the dimension of criminal policies and the boundary between crimes and non-crimes, and ensure that each case withstands the tests of law and history.

4. The people's courts shall try cases concerning the construction of the “Belt and Road' in a fair and efficient manner and create fair and impartial business investment environment. They shall pay close attention to such international economic cooperation as the building of the New Asia-Europe Continental Bridge Economic Corridor, try foreign-related civil and commercial cases concerning infrastructure development, economic and trade exchanges, industrial investment, energy resource cooperation, financial services, ecological environment, intellectual property rights, freight transport, and labor cooperation in a timely manner, and positively guarantee the implementation of the “bringing in” and “going out” constructions according to the law. They shall pay close attention to the construction of such maritime constructive channels as major ports and shipping hubs, properly try maritime cases concerning port construction, shipping finance, carriage of goods by sea, and marine ecological protection in a timely manner, and promote the maritime power construction according to the law. They shall accurately comprehend and grasp the relevant provisions and policies on the “pre-access national treatment” and “negative list” related to the construction of free trade zones, properly handle the relationship between the party autonomy and the administrative approval, amend and adjust the relevant judicial policies in a timely manner, strictly restrict the scope of determining the invalidity of contracts, and promote opening to the outside world. They shall strictly implement the principle of equal protection of Chinese and foreign parties and adhere to the equal litigation status, equal application of law, and equal legal liability of various market players.

5. The people's courts shall exercise jurisdiction according to the law and provide Chinese and foreign market players with timely and effective judicial remedies. They shall fully respect the right of Chinese and foreign market players engaging in the construction of the “Belt and Road” to select jurisdiction by agreement and by amicable negotiation with countries along the “Belt and Road” and thoroughly carrying out judicial cooperation, reduce international conflicts in foreign-related jurisdiction, and properly resolve issues of international parallel proceedings. They shall observe international treaties and practices, determine connecting factors of cases involving countries along the “Belt and Road” in a scientific and reasonable manner, and exercise jurisdiction according to the law. They shall not only maintain China's jurisdiction, but respect jurisdiction of countries along the “Belt and Road,” so as to fully safeguard the litigation rights of Chinese and foreign market players engaging in the construction of the “Belt and Road.” They shall strictly implement the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues concerning the Registration and Docketing of Cases by People's Courts. For cases concerning the construction of the “Belt and Road” that should be accepted according to the law, they shall receive the complaints, register and docket such cases on the spot, render judgments as soon as possible, and resolve disputes in a timely manner. They shall further improve systems for ascertaining the identities of the parties, conducting overseas evidence review, and testifying in court by overseas witnesses, so as to facilitate the litigation of Chinese and foreign parties to the maximum extent.

6. The people's courts shall strengthen international judicial assistance with countries along the “Belt and Road” and effectively safeguard the lawful rights and interests of Chinese and foreign parties. They shall positively explore and strengthen regional judicial assistance, cooperate with the relevant departments in releasing the model texts of new-type judicial assistance agreements at appropriate time, promote the conclusion of bilateral and multilateral judicial assistance agreements, and promote the mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments rendered by countries along the “Belt and Road.” Under the circumstance where some countries have not concluded judicial assistance agreements with China, on the basis of the international judicial cooperation and communication intentions and the counterparty's commitment to offering mutual judicial benefits to China, the people's courts of China may consider the prior offering of judicial assistance to parties of the counterparty, positively promote the formation of reciprocal relationship, and actively initiate and gradually expand the scope of international judicial assistance. The people's courts shall, in strict accordance with the international treaties concluded between China and countries along the “Belt and Road” or jointly participated in by them, actively handle such judicial assistance requests as service of judicial documents, investigation and evidence collection, and recognition and enforcement of judgments rendered by foreign courts, and provide efficient and convenient judicial remedies for the lawful rights and interests of Chinese and foreign parties.

 7. The people's courts shall accurately apply international treaties and practices according to the law, accurately identify and apply foreign laws, and enhance the international credibility of judgments. They shall constantly improve the judicial capacities of applying international treaties and practices and accurately apply international treaties and practices in cases to which such international treaties and practices should apply according to the law. They shall thoroughly research international treaties of trade, investment, finance, and maritime transport concluded by countries along the “Belt and Road” and China or jointly participated in by them and in strict accordance with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaty and general definitions of terms of treaties, make bona fide interpretation on the basis of their contexts and by reference to the purposes and objectives of such treaties, and enhance the uniformity, stability, and predictability of the application of international treaties and practices in the trial of cases. They shall, in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Choice of Law for Foreign-Related Civil Relationships on conflict rules, take such foreign elements as the subject, object, and content of legal relationship, and legal facts into full consideration, fully respect the right of the parties to choose a governing law, actively identify and accurately apply foreign laws, and eliminate legal doubts of the parties of China and countries along the “Belt and Road” in international commercial affairs. They shall pay attention to differences in cultural and legal backgrounds of the parties in countries along the “Belt and Road,” apply such internationally recognized legal value concepts and legal principles as justice, freedom, equality, integrity, rationality, order as well as strict observance of contracts and estoppel, make argumentation in a common, concise, overall, and precise manner, and enhance the persuasive power of judgments.

8. The people's courts shall strengthen the judicial review of arbitral awards involving the parties of countries along the “Belt and Road” and promote the important roles of international commercial and maritime arbitrations in the construction of the “Belt and Road.” They shall accurately comprehend and apply the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (hereinafter referred to as the “New York Convention”), legally recognize and enforce foreign commercial and maritime arbitral awards relating to the construction of the “Belt and Road” in a timely manner, and promote the mutual recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards with countries along the “Belt and Road” that have not participated in the New York Convention. They shall explore the improvement of such judicial review procedure systems as revocation and non-enforcement of Chinese arbitral awards involving foreign countries, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan and refusal to recognize and enforce foreign arbitral awards, unify the judicial standard, and give support to the development of arbitration. They shall carry out the work mechanism of uniform administration of cases under the judicial review of commercial and maritime arbitration and ensure uniform standards for the judicial review of commercial and maritime arbitration. They shall explore methods and ways for giving a full play to the roles of trade, investment, and other international dispute settlement mechanisms by judicial support, guarantee the performance of obligations of such agreements of counties along the “Belt and Road” as agreement on the bilateral investment protection and agreement on free trade zones, and give support to the settlement of corresponding disputes in the construction of the “Belt and Road” by arbitration.

III. Establishing and Improving Work Mechanisms and Creating a Good Legal Environment for the Construction of the “Belt and Road”

9. The people's courts shall deepen the reform, intensify publicity, and constantly improve the international impacts and credibility of foreign-related cases. They shall actively explore the responsibility system for case-handling by presiding judges and collegial panel, explore the centralized trial of new-type cases by foreign-related trial departments, and further give play to the advantages of specialized trials. They shall, in accordance with the spirit of the Fourth National Foreign-related Commercial and Maritime Trial Work Conference, summarize experience of the pilot program of the jurisdiction system in maritime trials, popularize the incorporation of some maritime administrative cases closely related to maritime affairs into special jurisdiction of maritime courts, effectively protect marine economy and marine ecological civilization in aspects of systems and mechanisms, and constantly solidify China's central position in maritime justice of the Asian-Pacific region. They shall intensify judicial openness, give a full play to the international window roles of foreign-related justice and constantly satisfy the right to know of Chinese and foreign parties. They shall research and develop specific measures for accepting foreign citizens' applications for observing trials by the people's courts, provide convenient conditions for foreign citizens to observe trials, actively invite ambassadors of countries along the “Belt and Road” in China and international cooperation and exchange personnel to observe the trial of typical cases, and respond to international social concerns.

10. The people's courts shall establish normalized research guidance mechanisms and enhance the systematization and pertinence of the work. They shall firmly grasp and actually realize judicial safeguard for the construction of the “Belt and Road” as a routine work, adhere to the combination of recent problems and long-term response, the integration of special judicial safeguard and the overall national promotion, and the combination of judicial functions and the constructive planning of the CPC and local actualities, and research judicial demands and judicial policies in the construction of the “Belt and Road” in a timely manner. They shall thoroughly analyze and study the characteristics and rules of various cases concerning the construction of the “Belt and Road,” strengthen the guidance of judicial interpretations and cases, regulate discretion, unify the uniform application of law, and provide guidance for market activities in a timely manner. They shall establish and perfect special statistical analysis systems for cases concerning the construction of the “Belt and Road,” issue typical cases, release judicial recommendations and judicial information to the relevant departments and the society in a timely manner, and effectively prevent legal risks. They shall establish mechanisms for communication and contact with the state and the relevant local departments, thoroughly research rules of international laws and laws and regulations of countries along the “Belt and Road,” raise forward-looking response constructions, and enhance overall joint forces for promoting the construction of the “Belt and Road.”

11. The people's courts shall support developing diversified dispute resolution mechanisms and legally resolve the relevant disputes and conflicts involved in the construction of the “Belt and Road” in a timely manner. They shall fully respect the voluntary choices made by the parties according to such factors as politics, laws, cultures, and religions of countries along the “Belt and Road” and give support to the resolution of disputes by the Chinese and foreign parties through mediation, arbitration, and other non-litigation forms. They shall further promote the improvement of the joint working mechanism for commercial mediation, arbitration mediation, people's mediation, administrative mediation, industrial mediation, and judicial mediation, give play to the advantages of various dispute resolution methods in resolving disputes and conflicts involved in the construction of the “Belt and Road,” and constantly satisfy diversified demands of the Chinese and foreign parties for the resolution of disputes.

12. The people's courts shall expand mechanisms for international judicial exchange and publicity and enhance the identification of countries along the “Belt and Road” with rule by law. They shall give full play to such existing multilateral cooperation mechanisms as the Conference of Presidents of Supreme Courts of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the China-ASEAN Justice Forum, the Conference of Chief Justices of Asia and the Pacific Resources, and the Conference of Grand Judges of BRICS Justices Forum, effectively hold regional international justice forums, jointly deliberate and solve the relevant problems in the construction of the “Belt and Road,” and create a stable, transparent, fair, and impartial international legal environment for the construction of the “Belt and Road” jointly with countries along the “Belt and Road.” They shall promote the establishment of new mechanisms, further strengthen exchange and cooperation between judicial authorities of China and countries along the “Belt and Road,” establish work platforms for identifying foreign laws, give support to the relevant domestic departments in actively carrying out law exchange activities with institutions of higher education and scientific research institutions of countries along the “Belt and Road,” enhance the international community's comprehension of the Chinese justice, and promote the mutual trust of all countries in rule by law.

13. The people's courts shall actively participate in the formulation of the relevant international rules and constantly improve China's international discourse power in justice. They shall further expand international judicial exchange channels, pay close attention to the progress in the construction of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund, research the development trends of such international laws as international finance laws, international trade laws, international investment laws, and international maritime rules in a timely manner, and actively participate in and promote the formulation of international rules in the relevant fields.

IV. Strengthening Work Guidance, Organizational Guarantee, and Information-based construction and Constantly Improving the Capacity and Level of Judicial Services and Safeguards for the Construction of the “Belt and Road” 

14. The People's Courts shall strengthen experience summarization and work guidance and ensure that judicial services and safeguards for the construction of the “Belt and Road” are promoted in a steady and orderly manner. They shall give full play to the enthusiasm of local people's courts at various levels, encourage local people's courts to proceed from actual situations, display their respective advantages, actively make explorations, create valuable experience, and promote in-depth services and safeguards. They shall give priority to promoting the construction of the “Belt and Road,” strengthen key demonstrations, and give play to demonstration and leading roles. They shall pay attention to the experience and practice of judicial safeguards and popularize replicable and referential advanced experience and model cases (examples). They shall strengthen macro guidance, intensify work division and implementation, make efforts to urge inspection and case assessment, and constantly enhance judicial safeguard capacities for the construction of the “Belt and Road.”

15. The people's courts shall strengthen the training of professional talents and constantly improve judicial capacities adapting to the construction of the “Belt and Road.” They shall formulate training plans, strengthen various themes and special training programs, and accelerate the building of special trial teams. They shall strengthen training on business capacities, intensify studies of knowledge on the construction of the “Belt and Road,” and enhance the comprehensive judicial quality. They shall expand the international view of judges, encourage judges to participate in international exchanges, improve judges' capacities of responding to and dealing with international legal affairs, and exert efforts to bring up a group of judges who stand in the front of international legal theories and have international impacts in the field of international civil, commercial, and maritime trials.

16. The People's Courts shall strengthen information-based construction and comprehensively improve the effectiveness and level of judicial services and safeguards for the construction of the “Belt and Road.” They shall, by centering on the principles of openness, transparency, convenience, efficiency, sharing, and interworking, strengthen the top-level design of judicial safeguard information-based construction for the construction of the “Belt and Road,” adhere to innovation-driven development, promote the in-depth integration of information technologies and trial services, information technologies and judicial openness, and information technologies and easy access to justice, and build online courts, transparent courts, and intelligent courts conforming to characteristics of the information era. They shall attach great importance to the public opinion guidance and publicity of the relevant work, build English websites of the Supreme People's Court and for trials of foreign-related commercial and maritime cases, fully utilize new-media technologies, publicize judicial services and safeguards for the construction of the “Belt and Road,” create a platform for foreign exchange and publicity, provide the international community with timely, comprehensive, and detailed information on the rule by law involved in the construction of the “Belt and Road” in various ways, and fully display China's achievements in judicial construction and construction of rule by law.

Supreme People's Court

June 16, 2015

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