On 1 Nov. 2023, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) issued the “Notice Concerning the Establishment of a National Database of Court Judgments” (關于建設全國法院裁判文書庫的通知, hereinafter the “Notice”).
According to the Notice, the SPC will establish a national database of court judgments. The highlights of the Notice are as follows.
- Uploaded documents in the database shall be the final versions, i.e. those served on the parties and stamped with the seal of the courts.
- These judicial documents specifically include judgments, rulings, settlement statements, and decisions (excluding cases involving classified or sensitive information).
- The scope of the documents in this database includes judicial documents that have been finalized since 1 Jan. 2021 and have already been served on the parties
- The database is anticipated to go online in January 2024, with access restricted solely to staff from courts at all levels nationwide. Visitors can access this database via an internal court intranet for document searches and retrieval.
Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team
