The Dream Factory of China

Source :Qianhai Communication Center

The Qianhai Cooperation People’s Court, which has established a one-stop diversified litigation service system that offers much desired convenience to litigants, especially those caught in cross-border commercial disputes, has been designated by the Supreme People’s Court as a legal reform model for promotion nationwide for two years in a row.

Easy access to services such as route navigation and litigation guidance is available at the service hall of the Qianhai court where litigants can also learn about litigation risk assessment and court rulings on the self-service machines. A staff member is also there to answer inquiries.

Long lineups for inquiries are not seen at the Qianhai court, said a lawyer surnamed Zhang, adding that filing a case with the Qianhai court has become much easier than with the other conventional courts, as online case filing is also an option.

Official figures show that 82.7 percent of the cases accepted by the Qianhai court, or 14,193, have been filed online. Among them, legal documents of 7,911 of the cases were delivered to the litigants in digital forms, saving them the trouble of traveling to the court.

Resolutions to cross-border commercial disputes also became much easier with the setup of the international commercial dispute resolution center. The Qianhai court has appointed 74 mediators from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and other foreign countries at the center to help resolve disputes through mediation.

Xu Jing from Hong Kong is among the 74 international mediators. She recently resolved a dispute between a Hong Konger in Shenzhen and a Taiwan businessman in Jiangsu Province through an online mediation session.

According to the court, the international commercial dispute resolution center has resolved 31.5 percent of the total disputes, or 4,618, through mediation since its inauguration in January 2018.

In December last year, the Qianhai court signed agreements with the Nansha Pilot Free Trade Area Court in Guangzhou and Hengqin New Area Court in Zhuhai regarding collaborations on cross-region case filing, cross-region mediation, cross-region hearing and file sharing.

A lawyer surnamed Lin is one of many Shenzhen-based legal professionals to have viewed legal documents kept at the Nansha court without traveling to Guangzhou in person.