(Fighting against New Coronary Pneumonia) China's Supreme Law Issues Judicial Opinions Focusing on Foreign-related Commercial Maritime Cases
China News Agency, Beijing, June 16 (Zhang Su, Zhu Chenxi) A judicial opinion issued by the Supreme People's Court of China on the 16th focused on the legal issues applicable to transportation contracts and foreign-related commercial maritime cases that were greatly affected by the epidemic.
Luo Dongchuan, vice president of the Supreme People's Court of China, introduced that the "Guiding Opinions on Issues in Properly Trialing Civil Cases Concerning New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic Situations (3)" (hereinafter referred to as "Guiding Opinions 3") have 19 articles, which can be divided into four Sections.
The first is "the litigants, litigation evidence, limitation and period". "Guiding Opinion 3" combined with the content of the judicial interpretation of the newly amended civil litigation evidence in 2019, clarified that the parties affected by the epidemic postponed the submission of identity certification materials and authorization entrustment procedures, applied for extension of the proof period, and the extraterritorial notarial documents cannot be notarized or related certification procedures Issues such as cross-examination, application for postponement of reply and filing of appeals, application for recognition and suspension of the validity of foreign court judgments, rulings or foreign arbitral awards.
The second is "Identification and Application of Law". On April 20, the Supreme Law issued the "Guiding Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Proper Trial of Civil Cases Involving New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic Cases (1)" (hereinafter referred to as "Guiding Opinions 1"). Luo Dongchuan said that for the application of extraterritorial laws, the "Guiding Opinion Three" proposed that the content of statutory provisions or case law similar to the force majeure rules in the extraterritorial law should be accurately understood and correctly applied. "The force majeure provisions in Chinese law cannot of course be understood. Similar provisions in extraterritorial law".
The third is the applicable legal issues of transportation contracts, foreign-related commercial affairs and maritime and commercial cases that are greatly affected by the epidemic. Luo Dongchuan said that how to adjust and balance the rights and obligations of the parties is an urgent problem to be solved. "Guiding Opinion 3" is a detailed refinement of the relevant provisions of "Guiding Opinion 1" in the field of foreign-related commercial maritime trials.
The fourth is the reference implementation of litigation green channels and cases involving Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. "Guiding Opinion III" proposes that in the trial of foreign-related commercial maritime disputes and other cases related to the epidemic, it is necessary to actively open up a green channel for litigation, optimize cross-domain litigation services, and improve online litigation service procedures and operational guidelines.
Luo Dongchuan also said that the people's courts may hear cases involving commercial and maritime disputes related to the epidemic in Hong Kong, Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan, which can be implemented with reference to Guiding Opinion 3. (Finish)