China: Justitia 4.0 – the pros and cons of digital court proceedings and notarial records in China

In accordance with the online court procedure rules of the Chinese People’s Courts, digital court proceedings can be carried out in the context of a pilot project in specially set-up “pilot courts” in the following cases:

• civil and administrative disputes;
• criminal matters in accelerated proceedings, conversion and probationary matters as well as criminal matters that are not suitable for offline negotiations for other special reasons;
• special civil proceedings, supervision and bankruptcy proceedings as well as non-judicial enforcement cases;
• civil and administrative enforcement cases and enforcement cases of criminal law secondary actions.

Digital notarial documents are currently being tested in a pilot project. The respective notaries are entitled to execute selected digital notarial records (e.g. certification and securing of evidence).

In the aforementioned cases, the plaintiff can register on the platform for online disputes of the competent pilot court and upload electronic documents. The implementation of the digital proceedings requires the defendant’s consent. All parties participating in an online process may enter process documents or evidence directly into the process platform.

The online negotiation phase then takes place via video meeting on the platform. If witnesses and technical experts have to appear online, separate digital rooms for testimony are set up for this purpose (below the main digital meeting room) so that the witnesses and technical experts do not participate in the other hearing sections. At the end of the proceedings, the pilot courts may issue and deliver the decisions electronically.

Autor: Marcel Brinkmann