This expansion is expected to result in more cases flooding China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC). It is reported that the SPC is also recruiting more judges from local courts to handle the increased caseload.
On 1 Aug. 2023, the SPC issued the “Guiding Opinions on Strengthening and Standardizing the Work of Elevated Jurisdiction and Retrial of Cases” (關于加強和規范案件提級管轄和再審提審工作的指導意見, hereinafter the “Guiding Opinions”).
According to the Guiding Opinions, the SPC has relaxed the standards for its retrial of civil and administrative cases. Two years ago, the SPC released a guideline that narrowed its jurisdiction, which means that the SPC’s jurisdiction has now changed from narrowing to expanding in only two years.
The previous guideline from two years ago refers to the “Implementation Measures for the Pilot Program of the Reform of Improving the Trial Levels and Functional Orientations of Courts Structured in a Four-Tier System” (關于完善四級法院審級職能定位改革試點的實施辦法, hereinafter the “Implementation Measures”) issued by the SPC in 2021.
According to the Implementation Measures, the SPC, in principle, no longer directly accepts applications for retrial of effective decisions by high people’s courts, requiring that parties shall, in principle, apply for retrial to the high people courts (as the trial courts).
Following the promulgation of the Implementation Measures, the Chinese legal media Legal Daily (法治日報) reported an 85.33% drop in the number of such cases accepted by the SPC, which had caused dissatisfaction among the public and the legal community, as it was seen as restricting the parties’ access to the SPC.
Accordingly, the 2023 Guiding Opinions provides that while the SPC may still direct the high people’s courts (as the trial courts) to rehear a case under certain circumstances, the principle is that the SPC will handle these cases independently.
Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team
