In 2015, the SPC, under the strong leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with Comrade Xi Jinpingas General Secretary, and under the effective supervision of the National People's Congress (NPC) and its standing committee, profoundly studiedand carried out the spirits of the 18th National Congress of the CPC, andthe third, fourth and fifth plenary meetings of the 18th CPC CentralCommittee, as well as the spirits of the central political and legal workconference, further studied and implemented the series of importantspeeches of General Secretary Xi Jinping and earnestlyput into practice the resolution of the 3rd session of 12th NPC. With the goal of “letting the people feel the fairness and justice in every judicial case，” the SPC fulfilled faithfully the duties conferred by the Constitution and laws withnew progress in all the work. During the year, the SPC accepted andheard 15,985 cases of various types, up by 42.6% over 2014, and concluded 14,135 cases, up by 43% over 2014. Local people's courts at various levels accepted and heard 19.511 million cases of various types, upby 24.7% over 2014, and concluded and enforced 16.714 million cases,up by 21.1% over 2014. The amount of money involved m concludedcases reached 4 trillion RMB, up by 54.5% over 2014. By fully performing its functions, the SPC strives to serve and protect the social and economic development of China.

 

 

Punishing criminals and protecting human rights in accordance with law. The people's courts at various levels concluded l.099 million criminalcases of first instance and convicted l.232 million criminals, up by 7.5%and 4% over 2014 respectively. Meanwhile, the people's courts havestuck to the criminal policy of combination of leniency and strictness.Criminals have received severe punishment or leniency as they deserveaccording to the evidence. The people's courts have proactively participated in the comprehensive control of social security to guarantee thelong-term peace and stability of the country and the peace and contentment in the lives and work of people.

 

Severely punishing the serious crimes that jeopardize national security, including violent terrorist crimes. The people's courts have been engaged proactively in the fight against terrorism,secessionism and heterodoxy and have imposed severe punishment on crimes of inciting separation, organizing, leading or participating in terrorist organizations, disseminating violent and terrorist audio and video etc. The people's courts atvarious levels concluded 1,084 cases of crimes that jeopardized nationalsecurity, including violent and terrorist attacks and convicted l,419criminals

 

Severely punishing embezzlement and bribery. The SPC has highlighted the strong resolution of the Party and the country in crackingdown on corruption by concluding Zhou Yongkang's case of acceptingbribes, abusing of power and deliberately divulging national secrets. Wehave maintained a tough stance of high pressure on crimes of corruptionby concluding 15 major cases of duty crimes including the case ofJiangJiemin. The people's courts at various levels concluded 34,000 cases ofcorruption and bribery that involved 49,000 persons including 134 officialsholding posts higher than bureau level. The punishment on the crime ofoffering bribes has also been stepped up, with 2,495 criminals convicted.The criminal cases like the embezzlement of land expropriation compensation, grants for renovation of dilapidated houses and subsidy for agricultural materials have been accepted and heard in accordance with law soas to severely punish the corruption that has taken place by people's side.In addition to improving the hearing procedures in accordance with thelaw for corrupted officials who have escaped to foreign countries, thepeople's courts have actively carried out the pursuit of convicts and therecovery of money. The commutation, parole and temporary executionoutside prison of convicted officials at or above county level for job-related crimes must be filed, reviewed and made public on line to resolutelywipe out the possibility for quick commutation of rich or powerful convicts after servingin jail.

 

Severely punishing the crimes that jeopardize social security such ashomicide. We issued opinions on giving full play to adjudicatory functionsand safeguarding public security concretely．The people's courts at various levels heard and concluded 262,000 cases of homicide, robbery andarson in 2015. We have intensified our crackdown on organized gangsterdom and underworld syndicate and increased the punishment on thepersons who served as protective “umbrella”. We severely punished inaccordance with the law the crimes of violence against medical personnelto safeguard the regular medical order. We severely punished in accordance with the law the drug-related crimes and heard and concluded139,000 drug-related cases.

 

Severely punishing the crimes that violate the rights and interests ofwomen and children. We have strengthened the protection of the rightsand interests of women and children and improved the linkage mechanism against domestic violence. We have severely punished the violence,maltreatment and sexual abuses against women and minors in accordance with law. The people's courts at various levels concluded 5,446criminal cases of trafficking in and sexual assaults against women andchildren. We have also punished in accordance with law the violence oncampus to safeguard the campus security.

 

Severely punishing cyber-crimes. We have punished in accordance with law the starting and mongering of rumors through networks,on-line gambling and the dissemination of pornographic goods on the internet so as to clean the cyber space. In order to safeguard the securityof personal information, we have severely punished the crimes of leakingindividualinformation on the internet, illegal buying and selling of information and the production of pseudo base stations. In 2015, the people'scourts at various levels heard and concluded 6,221 cases of internetfraud, fraud through telephone, picking quarrels and provoking troubles.

 

Soundly completing the amnesty-related work. We have earnestly executed the amnesty order of President Xi Jinping and the decision ofthe Standing Committee of the NPC by rigorously and precisely handlingthe judgment of amnesty cases. The people's courts at all levels passedin accordance with the judgments of amnesty in favor of 4 types of criminals of 31,527 persons, including those who fought in the war againstJapanese aggression, applying to“no one erroneously released and noone omitted”，which highlighted the concept of the rule of law and thespirit of humanitarian.

 

Strengthening judicial protection for human rights in judicial procedures. By implementing the principles of a legally prescribed punishmentfor a specified crime and presumption of innocence, the people's courtsat various levels acquitted 667 defendants in the cases of public prosecution and 372 defendants in the cases of private prosecution in accordancewith law, thereby ensuring that innocent people are indemnified againstcriminal punishments. We always protect all the litigation rights of the defendants in accordance with the law and demonstrate the judicial civilization in our work. We have strengthened the building of juvenile courtsand further implemented the archiving system for juvenile delinquency records so as to protect with concretely the lawful rights and interests ofthe minor offenders. We have also stepped up the supervision of adjudication. The courts at various levels amended after retrials the originalsentences of l,357 criminal cases and corrected a batch of wrongfulconvictions including the case of Chen Xia's kidnapping and the case ofChen Man's homicide and arson. By drawing profound lessons fromthese cases, we are improving the mechanism for effective preventionand timely correction of the cases of wrongful convictions.

 

 

Serving the implementation of major national strategies. The SPCpromulgated the opinions on providing judicial service and protection bypeople's courts for the B&R initiative, the coordinated development ofBeijing, Tianjin and Hebei and the development of Yangtze River Economic Zone to properly handle related cases for a more balanced development of different regions. The people's courts in Beijing, Tianjin andHebei established a judicial coordination mechanism for the region involved. The people's courts m Liaoning Province, Jilin Province and Heilongjiang Province also offered judicial service for the rejuvenation of oldindustrial bases in north-eastern China. The people's courts in ShanghaiCity, Guangdong Province, Tianjin City and Fujian Province strengthenedtheir judicial responses to the building of free trade zones (FTZ) and handled FTZ related cases. We always protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese parties and their foreign counterparts on an equal footing. The people's courts at various levels concluded 6,079 cases of foreign-related commercial affairs in 2015. We protect in accordance withlaw China's maritime rights and interests to safeguard the security of our“blue territory”. We concluded 16,000 cases of marine affairs and marine commerce in 2015. China has become the nation with the largestnumber ofjudicial organs for marine affairs and with the largest numberof maritime cases. The Xiamen Maritime Court accepted and heard inaccordance with law the ship collision case of Minxiayu 01971, highlighting China's right ofjurisdiction over waters around Diaoyu Islands.

 

Maintaining the order of market economy. We always protect property rights in accordance with law, respect the freedom of contract andpromote honesty and credibility. People's courts at various levels concluded 3.347 million commercial cases of first instance, up by 20.3% over2014. We properly heard the cases of disputes in private equity investment and in financial derivatives. We concluded l.053 million financial cases, which safeguarded the regular financial order. Among them, weconcluded 107,000 insurance cases, which promoted the development of insurance industry. We concluded 4,238 cases of false statements and insider trading, which defended the order of security transactions. The tribunals for tourism were established in the people's courts in Sanya Cityof Hainan Province and Jinggangshan City of Jiangxi Province, whichhas helped to resolve tourism disputes and endorsed the growth oftourism industry. The courts in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chongqing City reformed their ways of case hearing for business bankruptcies. In 2015, the courts at various levels concluded 14,000 cases ofbankruptcy, merger and equity transfer. We properly handled the disputesof major public involvement over real estates. The Jinan IntermediatePeople's Court of Shandong Province prudently handled in accordancewith law the case of“Caishi(Color Stone) Villa”，which protected thelegitimate rights and interests of more than 2000 house purchasers andeffectively vitalized assets. We have also carried out special researchesand surveys on internet finance, bankcard disputes and e-commerce topromulgate related judicial policies.

 

Protecting the legitimate rights and interests of non-public economic subjects. We have put into practice the opinions on protectingnon-public economy on an equal basis and properly resolved the disputes in the management and investment of economic subjects like private enterprises. We have punished in accordance with law the acts thatinfringed upon the lawful rights and interests of non-public enterprises.We have handled cases strictlyin accordance with law to prevent anynegative impacts by our improper measures on the regular production andmanagement of enterprises.

 

Regulating private lending. We issued the judicial interpretation onprivate lending, recognizing inter-business debit and credit conditionallyas a response to the rational and legitimate investment and financingneeds of micro, small and medium enterprises. In 2015, the people'scourts at various levels concluded l.42 million cases of private lendingwith the amount of money involved reaching 820.75 billion RMB. Wehave properly differentiated the boundary between private lending and illegal financing and concluded 58,000 cases of illegal financing and financial fraud with 72,000 criminals convicted.

 

Safeguarding innovation-driven development. We have fortifiedthe judicial protection of intellectual property rights (IPR). Courts at various levels concluded 120,000 IPR cases in 2015. We encourage and support the public in their start-up of business and innovation. We accepted and heard copyright cases to strengthen the protection of originalworks. We modified the judicial interpretation on the handling of patentcases to increase the protection of patents. We concluded l,802 cases ofunfair competition and monopoly in 2015, which vitalized the market.

 

Vigorously carrying forward the socialist core values. Together withthe Propaganda Department of Central Committee, we carried out an educational program with the theme of “promoting justice with openness,building core values”. We issued the opinions on the cultivation andpractice of socialist core values in the work of people's courts to give fullplay to the functions of justice in education, assessment, guidance anddemonstration. Courts concerned heard the first case of Zebra CrossingFine (in which a driver filed an action against the local police because hewas fined for not stopping to give way to pedestrians when crossing zebra markings). Courts concerned heard the first case of the right ofname (in which the parents of a girl sued the local government for notbeing allowed to choose a name, which did not follow traditional way ofnaming in China, for their daughter). Both cases set the code of conductand shaped the social norms. Beijing Third Intermediate People's Courtheard in accordance with law the case in which the World Luxury Association sued related media and ruled that the related reports did not constitute infringement upon the rights of the plaintiff. The hearing of thecase protected the right of supervision of news media in a practical way.We have also proactively explored ways to promote the rule of law anddisseminated the positive energy of rule of law.

 

Strengthening international judicial assistance and exchanges. Wehave expanded the coverage ofjudicial assistance and handled 2,210 related cases, which strengthened judicial cooperation and served Chinese enterprises in their “going global”. We held successfully the Sub-forum of Environmental Judicature at Boao Forum for Asia and the BRICS Justice Forum.

 

 

Protecting people's livelihood, rights and interests. The people'scourts at various levels concluded 6.228 million cases of first instance,which included 722,000 cases of consumption, education, health care,housing and employment. We have also explored ways to reform the trial of domestic affairs and concluded l.733 million cases of marriage andfamily. Courts in Hunan Province and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regionenhanced their linkage with the women's federation. The Courts inWenzhou City, Zhejiang Province issued personal safety protection orderto protect women and children from domestic violence. We haveincreased our efforts on the trials of cases of agriculture, farmers and ruralareas. We disseminated the experience of courts in Henan Province insafeguarding the rights and interests of rural migrant workers and concluded 300,000 cases of defaults regarding migrant workers' salaries. Thecourts in Henan, Anhui and Hubei provinces disseminated the“Hubei-Henan-Anhui”model for cases involving military units and personnel.The legitimate rights and interests of national defense, servicemen andtheir families have been protected in a solid way.

 

Protecting people's environmental rights and interests. We havestrictly punished the crimes of environmental pollution and concluded19,000 cases of environment pollution and destruction of resources, up by18.8% year-on-year. We released the judicialinterpretation on hearing cases of environment infringement and the implementation measuresfor reviewing the public interest litigation cases brought by theprocuratorates. Courts at all levels concluded 78,000 environmental CMl cases,which served and protected green development. Courts in Jiangsu pilotedother ways of taking responsibility such as “compensation through labor”，“replanting in different places”to strengthen the effectiveness ofenvironmental resources trials. We have also strengthened the environmental public interest litigation. Court in Fujian accepted the first case ofenvironmental civil public interest litigation after the enforcement of newenvironment protection law.

 

Ensuring that every bite of food is safe. We joined related departments in strengthening the cohesion between administrative enforcementof law and criminaljustice. Courts at all levels concluded 10, 349 casesof producing and selling poisonous and harmful food. We have properly handled civil cases in food trade and catering services. Illegal producerswere investigated and held accountable strictly to protect the legitimaterights and interests of consumers to the highest extent.

 

Strengthening the trials of administrative cases and the work ofstate compensation. We earnestly implemented the newly revised Administrative Procedure Law to solve the problem of “difficult for people tofile action against government”. Courts at all levels heard 241,000 administrative cases of first instance and concluded 199,000 cases, up by 59.2% and 51.8% respectively over 2014. In response to the public concerns, we heard in accordance with law the cases of land requisitionand demolition so to support and supervise the administrative organs in their law-based administration. Local courts in Shanxi, Chongqing,GLuzhou, Gansu and other places actively explored trans-regional administrative cases to guarantee the fairness in trials. We issued the opinions on strengthening the work of state compensation for the criminal miscarriage cases. Courts at all levels concluded 5,439 cases of statecompensation and decided to pay 240 million Yuan as compensation.

 

Protecting the legitimate rights and interests of Hong Kong, Macaoand Taiwan compatriots, returned overseas Chinese and their relatives.We concluded 17,000 cases involving Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan andoverseas Chinese, handled 11,000 cases ofjudicial mutual assistance suchas delivery of service judicial documents, taking evidence, transfer of stolen goods etc. We issued the decision on accepting and enforcing theciviljudgment and arbitration award in Taiwan, so as to concretely protect the legitimate rights and interests of compatriots in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and of returned overseas and their relatives.

 

Making the administration of justice closer to the people. We promoted the “experience of Hefei”of Anhui Province and sped up theconstruction of the “3 in 1” Litigation Service Center which is made upof Litigation Service Hall, Litigation Service Network and the 12368 Litigation Service Hotline so that parties concerned can be offered convenient and quick litigation service both online and offline. We practiced online filing and circuit filing to strengthen the work of the people's courts.Courts in Inner Mongolia, Yunnan, Tibet, Xinjiang and other places sentcircuits to remote and cold areas to bridge “the last kilometer” betweenjudicial service and the people. We further disseminated the work experience of“people describe their problems and judges explain laws”ofFuxian, Shanxi Province to get more involved in the governance at thecommunity level. We have also increased judicial assistance, reduced andexempted litigation fee of 260 million RMB for parties concerned. Wehave been promoting“Meishan Experience”of Sichuan. We put mediation in first place, improved litigation docking, supported related organizations to carry out professional mediations on health care, traffic accidents,and insurance claims etc. Courts at alllevels handled 4.981 million casesthrough mediation. We further separated the complicated cases fromsimple ones, applied in accordance with law the simple procedure, thesmall claims procedure and the criminal expeditious adjudication procedure to ease the litigation burden on people. We joined hands with relateddepartments and promulgated regulations to guarantee the practicingrights of lawyers and protected their right to retrieve and read files and todefend. We have set up a lawyer service platform to upgrade the functions like on-line filingand searching so as to facilitate lawyers in their litigation.

 

 

Carrying out the special education solidly on“Three Stricts and Three Honests”(i.e. the three guidelines for ethical behavior and thethree basic rules of conduct). In order to improve the work style ofpeople's courts on a constant basis, we have profoundly rectified the misconducts that violated the rule of "Three Stricts and Three Honests"inour work by investigating and punishing 378 court officials who violatedthe CPC Central Committee's Eight-point Code to Cut Bureaucracyand Maintain Close Ties with the People. We have further endorsed thebuilding of Party by adhering to the practice of improving judicial workthrough the building of Party and teams. We have conscientiously implemented the spirit of the important instructions by General Secretary XiJinping and made extensive efforts to carry out the education activity oflearning from Zou Bihua. A group of advanced exemplary figureslike Liuli, Huang Zhili, Cering Wanggyai, Chen Haifa,Ma Caiyun have emergedprominently.

 

Improving Party conduct and government integrity and Strengthening anti-corruption. We have resolutely put in place the entity accountability system for strengthening party discipline, promulgated the methodsto track responsibility and carried out the practice of“double investigation for one case”. We held 575 court leaders accountable for poor performance of duty in terms of party conduct and government integrity. Wediligently implemented the “Chinese Communist Party Standards on Integrity and Self Discipline”and the“Chinese Communist Party Disciplinary Regulations”. We have strictly abided by the Judges Law of thePeople's Republic of China and the Basic Standards of the People's Republic of China on Professional Ethics of Judges by continuing to put inplace the prohibitions, provisions and working systems like the“Five Prohibitions”，“Ten Bans”，judicial inspection, supervision of trials etc. Weupheld the attitude of zero tolerance in our resolute fight against judicialcorruption. The Supreme People's Court investigated and brought to justice 14 judicial officials of its own who violated laws and disciplines.Courts at all levels investigated and brought to justice 721 judicial officialswho violated laws and disciplines by taking advantage of their adjudication and enforcement power, 120 of whom were transferred to judicialorgans for trials. The black sheep in the team must be removed with nosympathy.

 

Endeavoring to develop the professional quality of court teams. Wehave broadened our talent selection channels to optimize the structure ofour team. The Supreme People's Court openly selected seven judgesfrom basic courts in 2015. We have also set up a law researching scholar and internship system so as to innovate on the talent cultivation mechanism. We have beefed up education and training. In 2015, the SupremePeople's Court trained 14,000 judicial officers directly and courts at alllevels trained judicial officers of 277,000 person times in total. We laidour focus on intelligence and talent support and increased our support andassistance to courts in Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai. Wegave full play to the role ofjudge training center in Lhasa of Tibet, Zhouqu of Gansu and Urumqi of Xinjiang to cultivate more bilingualjudges inethnic minority areas. We promoted and implemented the“1000 Judges”plan to improve the quality ofjudges in ethnic minority area.

 

 

Accepting the supervision from the National People's Congress inaccordance with law. The Supreme People's Court earnestly implemented the opinions and suggestions put forward by delegates at the 3rd session of the 12th National People's Congress and formulated a plan for thedivision of work and strengthened our supervision and examination. Wedelivered a special report to the Standing Committee of the NationalPeople's Congress about the pilot project for expeditious adjudication procedures in administrative adjudication and criminal cases. We have improved our work according to the feedback of the review. At NPC delegate class, we delivered a special report about the reform of courts. Weorganized ten groups of NPC delegates to inspectthe people's courts.We listened to the opinions of delegates of 790 person tunes by invitingdelegates for inspection, meeting and observation at court hearing, andhandled 280 pieces of delegates' suggestions. According to the suggestions put forward by the delegates, we reinforced the punishment forcrimes such as medical violence, domestic violence, sexual abuse of minors, etc.

 

Earnestly accepting the democratic supervision of CPPCC. We participated in a consultative meeting hosted by the CPPCC, which themed“advancing the judicial reform in people's courts”  and forged wide consensus. We visited and received visits from 90 members of the nationalcommittee of the CPPCC. We handled 120 proposals of the CPPCC andimproved the coordination mechanism for communicating with democraticparties, Association of Industry and Commerce, people's organizationsand public figures and actively participated in the special survey organizedby the Rule of Law Committee of the CPPCC for judicial reform and listened to their suggestions carefully.

 

Accepting the supervision on litigation by the procuratorial organs inaccordance with law. We treated the suggestions of procuratotates withearnest and energetically cooperated with procuratorial organs in theirdutiful implementation of litigation supervision. We attached great  importance to procuratotates' counter appeal of legally effective judgments.The SPC heard in accordance with law the counter appeal case filed bythe Supreme People's Procuratorate against Ma Le who used undisclosedinformation for securities transaction and changed the sentence from probation into imprisonment.

 

Accepting wide public supervision. We strengthened the protectionfor duty performance of special supervisors and specially invited consultants,and improved the advice-seeking mechanism for judicial decisions.The SPC proactively accepted supervision by inviting delegates of NPC,members of CPPCC, experts and scholars to attend for the first time thejudicial committee meetings.

 

 

The year of 2015 was crucial to the comprehensive deepening ofthe reform of judicial system. Under the strong leadership of the CPCCentral Committee, the Supreme People's Court and local courts at alllevels thoroughly boosted the major pilot reforms deployed by the CPCCentral Committee, earnestly implemented the 65 reform measures of thepeople's court, adhered to the problem-orientation and focused on solving problems, trying to make people have strong sense of benefits in society.

 

Firstly, we fully implemented the reform of case filing registration system to solve the difficulty in case-filing. Courts nationwide implemented in an all-round way the registration system for casefiling on May l, 2015 and turned the case-filing from case review tocase registration. The cases that should be accepted must be filed, withno appeals left unattended. The rate of on-site registration reached95%. The difficulty in case filing was fundamentally solved, thus weopened the door for people to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. We strengthened the supervision over case filing, and put an end tothe phenomenon of refusing to file cases, delaying the case filing or notaccepting cases at the end of year. We bring convenience to the peopleand leave the difficulties to ourselves. To maintain the normal order of litigation, we punished in accordance with the law the illegal vexatious litigation and fake lawsuits. By working with the reform of case filing registration system, we advanced the online appeals and petition and visit reception through video. We encouraged lawyers to participate in the resolution of cases of appeals through letters and visits or act as agent forsuch cases. We improved the petition hearing system and further put inplace the termination system for petition through letter and visits. Petitioners received by the SPC decreased by 12% over 2014.

 

Secondly,we pushed forward the construction of the circuitcourts of the Supreme People's  Court, delegating the power downwards. The first and second circuit courts of theSPC innovated on thework mechanism, based themselves on Shenzhen and Shenyang and carried out circuit trial in their circuit areas.They heard the major trans-regional administrative, civil and commercial cases properly, resolvedcontradictions locally and solved people's problems such as traveling andinconvenience in action. The two circuit courts concluded l,653 cases intotal and were called the“SPC on the door”. Circuit courts played therole of“experimental field”and “vanguard”in reform. They adoptedthe accountability system of presiding judges and collegialpanels and theflat management mode, which improved the quality and efficiency of trials.

 

Thirdly, we pushed forward the construction of trans-administrative-region courts and addressed the problem of “homeand guest courts”with initial success. To protect the legitimate rightsand interests of the local parties and their counterparts outside of the region, we fended off all kinds of interventions and proactively advancedthe reform of trans-regional courts. Beijing Fourth IntermediatePeople's Court and Shanghai Third Intermediate People's Court,whichare both courts that stride over different regions, concluded 2,961 casesin 2015. The Beijing Fourth Intermediate People's Court pushed aheadthe response to administrative litigation, with the rate of administrative organ staff 's appearing in court reaching 100% , which promoted the substantive resolution of administrative disputes. The Shanghai Third Intermediate People's Court established pre-court interpretation system andput an end to the unlawful interference. The rate of accepting judgmentand dropping lawsuits after concluding the case reached 100%.

 

Fourthly, we pushed forward the building of the intellectualproperty rights court and intensified the judicial protection of intellectual property rights. Intellectual property right courts in Beijing,Shanghai and Guangzhou concluded 9,872 cases, with a significant improvement in professional trials. These courts innovated on workingmechanism, highlighted the principle position of the presiding judge andexplored to hear cases by the Adjudication Committee directly. We established a technical ombudsman system to help the judges find out technical facts. The Beijing Intellectual Property Right Court tried writing theopinions of professional agencies on technical problems into the judgmentto enhance the credibility of the judgment.

 

Fifthly, we deepened the reform of judicial accountability system to improve the quality and efficiency of trials. In view of theproblem of administerization, approvals at all levels and unclear powersand responsibilities in trials, we promulgated the opinions on improving thejudicial accountability system inpeople's courts, according to which judges hearing a case should be left to make their rulings and be responsiblefor them. We attempted to team up judges, judge assistants and courtclerks, to handle cases to achieve higher efficiency. We strictly implemented the“Two Rules”to record and hold accountable those who intervened in the trials. We also advanced the normalization of court presidents handling cases. We adhered to the combination of delegation andsupervision, according to which the court presidents no longer sign and issue the adjudicative documents of cases which they did not take part in.Judges take lifelong responsibility within the scope of their official dutyfor the quality ofcases which they hear but at the same time we beef upthe management and supervision of the trials.The related pilot courtswitnessed significant elevation in the quality and efficiency of their trials.The judgesin Shanghai courts concluded 187 cases per capita. The judges of pilot courts in Guizhou concluded 2-4 times of cases per capitayear-on-year.

 

Sixthly, we deepened the reform of enforcement system andstrove to solve the difficulty with enforcement. We improved the investigation and control network by connecting with more than 200 financialinstitutions and with related departments to realize the functions of onlineinvestigation and control and remote command.All these moves constituted major breakthroughs in solving the problems of“difficult to find thepersons subject to enforcement and difficult to locate their assets”. Thecourts in provinces such as Hebei, Zhejiang and Guangxi carried out actively the reform of separating trials from enforcement and achieved initial results. The courts in 16 provinces including Hunan, Inner Mongolia,Liaoning and Jiangxi established the coordination mechanism for enforcement outside of their jurisdiction. We have also sharpened the punishmenton credit default. We signed cooperation memorandum with 43 centraldepartments including NDRC to impose an all-round restrictions on defaulters in their civil and commercial activities and assumption of important positions. The scope of restriction on high-value consumption hasbeen expanded to travelling by high-speed rail and buying first-classseat ticket for bullet train travel. As of February this year, courts at alllevels took disciplinary measures for credit default for 4.67 million persontimes and exposed 3.385 million people who had been added to the list ofcredit defaulters and were subject to enforcement. For fear of punishment, 359,000 defaulters willingly fulfilled their obligations. Courts at alllevels accepted4.673 million enforcement cases (up by 37% over 2014),3.816 million of which have been enforced, up by 31.3% over 2014. Weresolutely safeguarded the authority ofjustice and feared no tough questions or defaulters. We punish in accordance with law those who refuseto carry out the judgment and rulings, whoever they are. We imposed judicial detention on 14,000 persons and criminal penalty on 1,145 persons.

 

Seventhly, we improved the unified application mechanism oflaw in order to improve judicial credibility. Targeting the problemssuch as unstandardized hearing procedures or inconsistent judgment forcases of similar nature, we ameliorated supervision and guidance mechanism for trials and unified the standard of judgment. We formulated 24judicial interpretations for Iaws like Civil Procedure Law and Administrative Procedure Law to elevate judicialjustice. We have deepened the reform on the standardization of sentencing. Courts in places like Shanxi,Liaoning, Hubei and Ningxia issued specific measures for the implementation of the SPC's opinions on the standardization of sentencing so as toregulate judges' discretionary power. We have strengthened the guidanceon case studies and released 12 guiding cases for better unification ofjudicial decision scaling.

 

Eighthly, we promoted the reform of sort management of humanresources, further enhancing the level of standardization, specialization and professionalization of the court team. We concretely advancedthe reform on the prescribed number ofjudges and gave full play to therole of judge selection committee. The SPC guided the pilot courts tostrictly follow the proportion of prescribed number of personnel and rigidify the standard for recruiting judges into the prescribed proportion. Thecourts in 18 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions We Shanghai, Guangdong, Hainan and Qinghai have finished the recruitment of 10,094 judges into the prescribed proportion, which elevated the holisticquality of judges and injected new forces into the judges' teams. TheSPC participated in the formulation of pilot plans for the reform of independent order of posts for judges to strengthen the vocational protectionfor judges. We joined hands with related departments to research on andpromulgate the opinions on the reform of management system for judicialassistants and judicial police so as to properly allocate judicial resources.

 

Ninthly, we promoted the reform of people's jurors system toimprove judicial democracy. The national people's jurors participated in2.846 million cases in all. In line with the authorization of the NPC Standing Committee, we carried the pilot reform on people's jurors in 50 courtsin 10 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions including Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Shandong and Shanxi. We worked with the Ministry ofJustice to formulate the pilot plans and implementation methods for thereform of people's juror system so as to reform the procedures for theselection and appointment ofjurors, the expansion of the scope ofjurors'participation in court hearing, and the improvement of the universality andrepresentativeness of people jurors. People should participate in justiceand supervise justice.

 

Tenthly, we deepened the judicial openness and promoted thesunshine justice. In light of the problems that some parties say they lackthe information regarding the progress of cases or the trial process is nottransparent enough, we focused on the application of information technology to comprehensively promote the opening of the judicial work and toensure that the honest people and behaviors receive the praise and all thecrimes be exposedin the sunshine. We leave no room for black box operations and make justice visible in a tangible way. We vigorously implemented the“Balance Project”and achieved full network connection and data coverage of3,512 courts. We built 18,000“digital courts”and integrated the trial process into the information-based management. Webuilt a data centralized management platform for people's courts, whichcould achieve functions like real-time statistics, real-time update anddynamic management. Courts in Jilin and Zhejiang established a “digital court” that covered the whole process of trial and enforcement, makinglitigation convenient to the masses. We further promoted the building of 3major public platforms for judicial procedures,judgments and enforcementinformation respectively, realizing a complete coverage of all China'scourts, all the work and all the staff and all the posts. As of February ofthis year, courts in China made public 15.7 million judgments, 35.6 millionpieces of information of the persons subject to enforcement, 130,000 livebroadcasts of court hearing. We protected the parties' right to know andconsciously accepted supervision and at the same time we also forcedjudges to improve their judicial capacity and work efficiency. We revisedJudicial Opinions of China(www.court.gov.cn) website, China's networkfor judgments. We made public judgments of another five ethnic minoritylanguages and provided intelligent retrieval service in the entire network.Judicial Opinions of China has become the most influential network forjudgments which allows people to share the judicial cases.

 

We awake to that there are some problems which were not solvedso welllast year, leaving a big gap to people's expectations. At the sametime, with the development of the situation, some new problems and newsituations have popped up afterwards. First,there are still some cases ofunjust rulings, low efficiency, and inconsistent judgment scaling.Second,the number of the cases accepted by the people's courts continues togrow,in addition to a sharp increase of cases of new types, increasingdifficulty and pressure in case handling. Some judges work overloaded fora long time and some judges' ability fails to meet the need of the situation.Third, there are still some difficult problems regarding enforcement,which are prominent in some places. Fourth,some judges display weakbelief in the rule of Iaw, inappropriate judicial style, violations of professional ethics and CPC party disciplines, with some even bending laws forpersonal gains. In particular, the case of Xi Xiaoming's violation of disciplines and Iaws has yielded very bad effects and taught us a heavy lesson. Fifth,there are insufficient policy support, inadequate interpretation and un-sufficing classified guidance in the process of promoting judicial reform of the people’s court. Sixth, some courts face the problem of difficulty in personnel recruitment and the brain drain. New complications pop up in team management. The shortage of bilingual judges in ethnic minority areas needs to be addressed. Facing these problems, we will insist on the principle of not shirking and not covering. We will closely rely both on the leadership of the party and the people and will take effective measures to address these problems earnestly.

 

 

In 2016, the people’s courts will hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, fully implement spirits of the 18th National Congress of the CPC, and the third, fourth and fifth plenary meetings of the 18th CPC Central Committee, the spirits of the central political and legal work conference, adhere to the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of“There Represents”and the Concept of Scientific Development, further put in place the spirits of the speech of General Secretary Xi Jinping, focus on the “Five in one” overall layout and the“four Comprehensives”strategies, firmly establish the concept of development featuring innovation, coordination, green development, openness and sharing. We will earnestly implement the resolution of the session, comprehensively strengthen trial and enforcement, focus on risk prevention and control, serve development, solve difficult problems, shore up our weak spots to make people feel justice in every judicial case.

 

First, we will fully give play to court’s function of trial, and actively promote the implementation of new development concept. We will further implement the State Security Law and Counterterrorism Law and punish severely the crimes such as inciting separating the country and violent terrorist attacks. We will punish in accordance with law the economic crimes including illegal financing to resolutely defend national security and social stability. We will maintain tough stance of high pressure on corruption,Strengthen the trial of major duty crimes and fortify the anti-corruption efforts further. We will focus on serving development and safeguard in accordance with law the smooth implementation of supply side structural reform. We will strengthen the judicial protection of the property right, creditor’s rights, stock rights, IPR etc. We will hear in accordance with law the private lending cases and standardize financing. We will back up the researches on and guidance of trial on the Internet-based financial case. We will hear in accordance with law the cases of enterprise bankruptcy and restructuring and establish the nationwide information network for such cases. We will properly deal with “zombie” enterprises and resolve excess capacity by legal means. We will improve the judicial system for environment and resources, hear in accordance with cases of public interests and promote the building of a beautiful China. We will support in accordance with law the targeted measures in poverty reduction and alleviation. We will serve and protect the implementation of the“Belt and Road initiative”and sea power strategy. We will also resolutely safeguard China's sovereignty, maritime rights and interests and other core interests. We will strengthen the workrelated to maritime trials and build the international maritime justice center. 

 

Second, we will always adhere to justice for the people, fair administration of justice and fully safeguard social fairness and justice. we will hear in accordance with law the cases related to education, employment, health care, food and drug, the elderly, women, minors and the disabled. We will actively carry out the pilot reforms of domestic affairs, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of people and improve people’s livelihood. We will improve the building of litigation service center. Where there are the judicial needs of the people, there are our services. We will give full play to lawyer service platform and provide convenience to lawyers in their lawful practice of profession. We will strictly implement the rule of excluding illegal evidences; improve the legal aid system in the review of death penalty as well as judicial assistance system to further provide judicial protection for human rights. We will address the handling of administrative cases in accordance with law, support and supervise the administrative organs in their lawful administration of government affairs and give impetus to the construction of a government based on rule of law. We will accept the supervision of National People’s Congress, the democratic supervision of CPPCC, the litigation supervision from procuratorial organs and the social supervisions more consciously. We will always uphold people’s voice as the first signal and declare a war on the difficulty in enforcement. We will deepen the reform of the implementation system and extend the application of information technology, regulate enforcement and strengthen implementation measures. We will increase punishment on credit default, making thosesubject to enforcement for credit default no way to go and nowhere to hide. We will guide the citizens to respect the law, learn the law and abide by the law. We expect to basically solve the difficulty in enforcement in two or three years from now on and break down the last barrier to the realization of justice and fairness. 

 

Third, we will comprehensively deepen the reform of the judicial system, speed up the construction of a fair, efficient and authoritative socialist judicial system. The people’s court reform is a profound revolution in itself and the current reform has entered the deep water zones, involving deep-rooted problems such as the distribution of judicial functions and powers. The strength, depth and difficulty of these problems are unprecedented. We should have the courage not to shirk but to assume the responsible. We shall have ideals and also connect with the masses. We should do a good job in the top-level design and strengthen classified guidance and respect the initiative spirit of courts nationwide. We will comprehensively promote the four pilot reforms with judicial responsibility system at the core and perfect the supporting system to guarantee the security of judges in their performance of duties.We will actively promote the lawsuit system reform centered on trials. We will explore the system of leniency for those who plead guilty or fine in criminal actions, and advance the pilot work related to expeditious criminal adjudication.We will increase the building of circuit courts of the Supreme People’s Court. We will continue to reform the trans-administrative-region courts. We will intensify the diversified dispute settlement mechanism, further improve simple procedure and the small claims procedure to separate the complicated cases from the simple ones. 

 

Fourth, we will continue to deepen judicial openness and speed up the construction of“smart court”. The application of information technology is a profound reform for the people’s courts. We will depend on the application of information technology to leave the tracks of the whole process of court hearing and enforcement so as to standardize our judicial behaviors. We will strive to complete the building of an intelligent information system that features complete coverage, mobile internet, transparency and easy access, security and reliability. We will continue to improve the three public platforms for judicial openness and the data centralized management platforms, increase the application of big data analysis, unify judgment criteria and promote the same sentences for same kinds of cases and the standardization of sentencing. We will put forward judicial suggestions targeting the problems found from trial data so to promote social governance. We will advance the digitalization of lawsuit files, the digital delivery of charging documents so as to solve the difficulty in retrieving files and delivery. 

 

Fifth, we will build a faithful, clean and responsible people’s court to guarantee the impartiality and integrity in our judicial practice. We will earnestly carry forward the education of “Two Examples and One Do” and improve the political awareness, the awareness of big picture, the awareness of core values and the awareness of keeping up with the advanced personnel. We will continue to follow the example of comrade Zou Bihua and guide our staff to uphold justice for people and be courageous judges and officials. We will put in place the entity accountability system in strengthening party discipline and adhere to strict administration and zero tolerance in the crack-down on judicial corruption. We will implement the two regulations that track responsibility of those who intervene the cases, severely punish in accordance with law the crimes that do harms to judges and resolutely support the judges in their practice of justice. We will further advance the standardization, specialization and professionalization of court teams to foster a sound environment for inviting and keeping talents. We will lay a solid foundation at the grass-roots level and increase the support to court team building in ethnic minority areas, remote areas, poverty-stricken areas and old revolutionary base areas. 

 

*ZHOU Qiang(周强), president of the Supreme People's Court.He delivered the Report at the Fourth Session of the 12th NPC on March 13, 2016.