NEW REGULATION TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCY OF LITIGATION DOCUMENT DELIVERY

The Supreme People's Court of China has issued new regulations on delivering civil bills of indictment regarding Taiwan residents. The interpretation took effect on April 23.

Both Taiwan and the mainland have been having difficulty in delivering litigation documents and according to the Xinhua News Agency, it is estimated that almost 80% of civil suits handled by mainland courts concerning Taiwanese do not reach relevant parties on the island.

“There was no formal reciprocal arrangement for service of judicial documents between the mainland and Taiwan. In the past, a court in China or Taiwan would request the Cross Strait Commercial Exchange Association to facilitate service. Because this depended on informal cooperation, only about one in five document overall ever being served,” said Darren FitzGerald, head of Asia dispute resolution at Bird & Bird.