The Civil Procedure Law of China was amended on December 12, 2021 and the revised law became effective on January 1st, 2022.

The modifications, some of which are summarised below, aim to facilitate and accelerate the procedure.

Online hearings

The new Article 16 provides that, if the litigants agree, a hearing may be organised online.

Single judge

According to Article 40 (ex 39), in a simplified procedure or, in a normal procedure but, if the facts are very clear, the case may be adjudicated by one single judge.

Service of documents

Article 90 (ex 87) provides that, the parties agree, the service of the court documents maybe made electronically (it is still possible however, to request a paper copy of the documents), and the official date of the service is the day when the document is entered in the server. Where the documents need to be served by way of publication in the press, which is necessary when the person to whom the documents are to be served cannot be found, Article 95 (ex 92) specifies that the documents are deemed to have been served 30 days after the publication (previously two months).

Appeal

Article 165 (ex 162) provides that for small cases (where the claim is only monetary and is less than 50 % of the local average salary), the judgment is final and not subject to appeal (unless the case involves a foreign party) and must be issued within 2 months (instead of 6). Article 176 (ex 169) provides that the court of second instance who finds - after study and inquiry (which may include "court talk", equivalent to an informal hearing) - that the facts are clear, and no new facts, evidence or arguments are presented, may decide to adjudicate the case without a formal hearing.

Mediation

Finally, according to article 201 (ex 194), if a case is settled via a mediation organisation, and the parties require that the settlement be endorsed by the court, this request must be made within 30 days of the settlement signature.

COMMENT:

The service of documents is a problem frequently encountered by litigants who sue an "elusive" defendant. The system of serving document via the press, even if it is slightly improved by the amendment (30 days instead of 2 months), remains a cause for delays and frustrations. It would be more efficient to provide that the address of registration of a person, individual or corporate, is the only address to be taken in consideration for the service of documents. A person who moves without changing the address is responsible for organising the mail to be forwarded to the new address, or if the registered address is fake, this should not constitute an obstacle to the normal operation of the procedure.

Co-authored by Zhigang Zhu & Paul Ranjard, first published by IAM