Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Cases by Internet Courts

(Promulgated by the Supreme People's Court on September 6, 2018 and effective as of September 7, 2018.)

 

SPC Interpretation [2018] No.16

 

With a view to regulating litigation activities in internet courts, protecting the lawful rights and interests of concerned parties and other litigation participants and ensuring the impartial and efficient trial of cases, we, pursuant to laws such as the PRC Civil Procedure Law and the PRC Administrative Procedure Law and in light of the realities of the adjudication work of people's courts, hereby provide as follows in respect of issues relevant to the trial of cases by internet courts:

 

Article 1: While an internet court tries a case online, the various litigation steps, such as acceptance of the case, service, mediation, evidence exchange, pre-trial preparation, court trial and pronouncement of the judgment shall, in general, be completed online.

 

Pursuant to an application by a party or as required for the trial of a case, an internet court may decide to complete certain litigation steps offline.

 

Article 2: Each of the Beijing, Guangzhou and Hangzhou Internet Courts shall have centralized jurisdiction over the following first instance cases that shall be handled by the basic people's courts in the jurisdiction of the city where it is located:

 

(1)        disputes arising in connection with online shopping contracts entered into or performed on an e-commerce platform;

 

(2)        disputes concerning online service contracts the entry into and the performance of which are completed on the internet;

 

(3)        disputes concerning financial lending contracts or small loan contracts the entry into and the performance of which are completed on the internet;

 

(4)        disputes concerning ownership of copyrights or neighboring rights in works that were first released on the internet;

 

(5)        disputes arising from the infringement on the internet of copyrights or neighboring rights in works released or communicated online;

 

(6)        disputes involving title to, infringement of, or contracts concerning, internet domain names;

 

(7)        disputes arising in connection with the infringement on the internet of another's civil rights and interests, such as personal rights and property rights;

 

(8)        product liability disputes involving the infringement of another's personal or property rights and interests arising due to defects in products purchased on e-commerce platforms;

 

(9)        internet public interest litigation cases instituted by procuratorates;

 

(10)      administrative disputes arising in connection with administrative acts concerning the administration of internet information services, the administration of internet merchandise transactions and related services, etc. carried out by administrative authorities; and

 

(11)      other internet civil and administrative cases the jurisdiction of which is assigned to them by higher-level people's courts.

 

Article 3: Parties may, to the extent of disputes over contractual and other property rights and interests determined in Article 2 hereof, agree to specify in accordance with the law that the internet court the location of which has an actual connection with a dispute has jurisdiction over such dispute.

 

Where an e-commerce operator, online service provider, etc. concludes a jurisdiction agreement with users in the form of standard terms, it shall comply with the provisions of laws and judicial interpretations on standard terms.

 

Article 4: An appeal lodged by a party against a judgment or ruling rendered by the Beijing Internet Court shall be tried by the Fourth Intermediate People's Court of Beijing Municipality, but appeals in internet copyright title disputes and infringement disputes and internet domain name disputes shall be tried by the Beijing Intellectual Property Court.

 

An appeal lodged by a party against a judgment or ruling rendered by the Guangzhou Internet Court shall be tried by the Guangzhou Municipal Intermediate People's Court, but appeals in internet copyright title disputes and infringement disputes and internet domain name disputes shall be tried by the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court.

 

An appeal lodged by a party against a judgment or ruling rendered by the Hangzhou Internet Court shall be tried by the Hangzhou Municipal Intermediate People's Court.

 

Article 5: An internet court shall establish an internet litigation platform (an ILP), which shall serve as the platform for the handling of cases by the court and the carrying out of litigation acts by concerned parties and other litigation participants. Litigation acts carried out on an ILP shall be legally valid.

 

The e-commerce platform operator, online service provider and/or relevant state authorities shall provide the case related data required by an internet court to try a case and access the ILP in an orderly manner. The internet court shall verify the data online, fix them in real time and manage them securely. The storage and use of case related data by the ILP shall comply with the provisions of laws and regulations such as the PRC Cybersecurity Law.

 

Article 6: Where a concerned party or other litigation participant uses an ILP to carry out a litigation act, he/she shall complete identification online through means such as certificate/license comparison, biometric identification or certification through the uniform state identification platform and obtain a dedicated account for logging on to the ILP.

 

An act carried out using a dedicated account to log on to an ILP shall be deemed an act by the identified person, unless a system error occurs due to an ILP technical error or the identified person can show that his/her ILP account was stolen.

 

Article 7: An internet court shall accept online the complaint materials submitted by the plaintiff and, within seven days after the receipt thereof, deal with the same online in the following manner:

 

(1)        where the conditions for the institution of a legal action are satisfied, it shall register the opening of the case and serve litigation documents such as the case acceptance notice, court charge payment notice and evidence adducing notice;

 

(2)        where the submitted materials do not satisfy the requirements, it shall issue a notice requiring submission of the missing/correct materials in a timely manner and, on the day immediately following receipt of such materials, count the acceptance date anew; if the plaintiff fails to provide the missing/correct materials as required within the designated period, the complaint materials shall be returned; or

 

(3)        if the conditions for institution of the legal action are not satisfied and the plaintiff has no objection after being given an explanation, the complaint materials shall be returned; if the plaintiff insists on proceeding with the legal action, a ruling to the effect that the case is not accepted shall be rendered in accordance with the law.

 

Article 8: Once it has accepted a case, the internet court may inform the defendant and any third parties by means of the mobile numbers, fax numbers, e-mail addresses, instant messaging account numbers, etc. provided by the plaintiff to carry out case linkage and identity verification through the ILP.

 

The defendant and third parties shall apprise themselves of the case information, receive and submit litigation materials and carry out litigation acts on the ILP.

 

Article 9: If the internet court arranges for the online exchange of evidence, the parties shall upload or import online electronic data to the ILP or digitize offline evidence through scanning, photography, rerecording, etc. and upload it to the ILP to adduce evidence, or, alternatively, they can employ electronic data that has already been imported to the ILP to support their claims.

 

Article 10:       Where a concerned party or other litigation participant submits litigation documents such as an identity document, duplicate of business license, power of attorney and identity document of the legal representative, and exhibits such as certificates, forensic opinion and investigation notes after digitizing them by technical means, the same shall be deemed to satisfy the formal requirements in respect of originals once they are reviewed and approved by the internet court. If the other party challenges the authenticity of the aforementioned materials and has reasonable grounds for doing so, the internet court shall require the party in question to provide the originals.

 

Article 11:       Where a party challenges the authenticity of electronic data, the internet court shall, in light of the cross-examination thereof, review and determine the authenticity of the process of generating, collecting, storing and transmitting the electronic data and focus on reviewing the following:

 

(1)        whether the hardware and software environment, such as the computer system relied on to generate, collect, store and transmit the electronic data, is secure and reliable;

 

(2)        whether the electronic data generating entity and the time thereof are clear and whether the content thereof is clear, objective and accurate;

 

(3)        whether the storage and safekeeping medium for the electronic data is clear and whether the method and means of safekeeping the same are appropriate;

 

(4)        whether the entity, tools and method of extracting and fixing the electronic data are reliable and whether the extraction method can be repeated;

 

(5)        whether there is any indication that there have been additions, deletions or revisions made to the content of the electronic data or that it is not fully intact; and

 

(6)        whether the electronic data can be verified through specific means.

 

Where the authenticity of electronic data submitted by the parties may be substantiated through electronic signatures, trusted timestamps, hash value verification, blockchains and other such evidence collecting, fixed and tamper-proof technical means, or by certification carried out through platforms for discovery and storage of electronic evidence, an internet court shall recognize the same.

 

A party may apply for a person with technical knowledge to give an opinion on technical issues on electronic data. The internet court may, pursuant to an application by a party or ex officio, appoint an expert to assess the authenticity of electronic data or retrieve other related evidence for comparison.

 

Article 12:       An internet court shall hold trials by online videoconferencing. In special circumstances where there is a genuine need to ascertain identities, verify originals, examine physical evidence, etc., the internet court may decide to hold trials offline, but the other litigation steps shall still be completed online.

 

Article 13:       An internet court may, in light of the circumstances, simplify trial procedures in the following ways:

 

(1)        where the verification of the parties' identities, the notification of their rights and obligations and the announcement of the trial disciplinary rules have been completed online before the trial, the carrying out of the same again at the start of the trial may be obviated;

 

(2)        where the parties have completed the exchange of evidence online, the adducing and cross-examination of evidence that is not in dispute may be obviated after explanation thereof by the judges during the trial; and

 

(3)        subject to the consent of the parties, trial steps such as the statements by the parties, court investigation and court arguments, may be carried out together. In simple civil cases, the trial may be conducted directly about the claims or the case elements.

 

Article 14:       An internet court shall, in light of the specific features of online trials, apply relevant provisions of the PRC Court Rules of the People's Courts. Where a party fails to punctually participate in an online trial other than due to a network failure, equipment damage, power failure or force majeure that is ascertained as being genuine, such party shall be deemed to have refused to appear in court, or if such party withdraws from a trial without cause, such party shall be deemed to have left the court trial without permission, and the same shall be dealt with in accordance with the PRC Civil Procedure Law, the PRC Administrative Procedure Law and related judicial interpretations as appropriate.

 

Article 15:       Subject to the consent of the parties, an internet court shall serve litigation documents and the exhibits submitted by the parties by electronic means such as China Judicial Process Information Online, the ILP, mobile short message, fax, e-mail or instant messaging account.

 

Where a party has not expressly indicated his/her consent but it has been provided that, in the event of a dispute arising, electronic service would be applied during a legal action, or has accepted completed electronic service by responding that he/she has received the same, carrying out the pertinent litigation act, etc. and does not expressly indicate that he/she does not agree to electronic service, he/she may be deemed to have agreed to electronic service.

 

Where the parties have been informed of their rights and obligations and their consent has been secured, the internet court may serve the judgment/ruling document electronically. If a party requests a hard copy version of the judgment/ruling document, the internet court shall provide the same.

 

Article 16:       When carrying out electronic service, an internet court shall confirm with the parties the specific method and address for such service and inform them of the scope of application and effectiveness of electronic service, the method of changing the service address and other service-related matters that need to be mentioned.

 

If an addressee fails to provide a valid electronic service address, the internet court may use the addressee's mobile number, e-mail address, instant messaging account or other such common electronic address that it can confirm has been in a regularly active state during the most recent three years as the primary service address.

 

Article 17:       When an internet court effects service at the electronic address provided by an addressee on his/her own initiative or confirmed by him/her, such service shall be deemed effected upon the information being served reaching the addressee's specific system.

 

Where an internet court effects service at an addressee's regular electronic address or other available electronic address, completion of service shall be determined based on following circumstances:

 

(1)        if the addressee responds that he/she has received the materials served or carries out the pertinent litigation action based on the information served, valid service shall be deemed to have been completed; or

 

(2)        if the addressee's media system gives feedback to the effect that the addressee has read the information served or there is other evidence showing that the addressee has received the same, completion of valid service shall be assumed, unless the addressee is able to show that he/she did not receive the information served, e.g. there was an error in the media system, the service address is not one owned or used by him/her, it was not him/her who read the information served, etc.

 

Where valid service is completed, the internet court shall produce an electronic service receipt. An electronic service receipt shall have the effect of an acknowledgement of service.

 

Article 18:       In simple civil cases where the facts are clear and the rights-obligations relationship is definite and service needs to be effected by announcement, the internet court may conduct the trial using summary procedure.

 

Article 19:       Where the judges, judicial assistants, stenographer, concerned parties and other litigation participants, etc. in a case tried online by an internet court confirm the settlement agreement, notes, electronic service receipt and other litigation materials by means of online confirmation, electronic signature/stamp or other such online method, the requirements in respect of “signatures” of the PRC Civil Procedure Law shall be deemed satisfied.

 

Article 20:       At litigation steps of a case tried online such as mediation, evidence exchange, court trial and in chamber discussions, the internet court may employ speech recognition technology to simultaneously generate an electronic record. Once an electronic record has been verified and confirmed online, it shall have the same legal force and effect as a written record.

 

Article 21:       An internet court shall use the ILP to simultaneously generate electronic case files and create an electronic dossier. Where the hard copy dossier for a case has been fully converted into an electronic dossier, the electronic dossier may be used instead of the hard copy dossier for transfer for appeal and for archiving.

 

Article 22:       Where a party lodges an appeal in a case tried by an internet court, the appeal court shall, in principle, try such appeal online. These Provisions shall apply mutatis mutandis to the rules for the online trial by the appeals court.

 

Article 23:       These Provisions shall be effective as of September 7, 2018. In the event of a discrepancy between these Provisions and judicial interpretations previously promulgated by the Supreme People's Court, these Provisions shall prevail.