Chinanews.com, January 22. The Supreme Law today released the "Report on the Practice of Judicial Assistance in Civil and Commercial Affairs between the Mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region", with a large space dedicated to the "Mutual Recognition Arrangement for Marriage and Family Judgments."
Si Yanli, deputy director of the Supreme Law Research Office, stated that after the "Marriage and Family Judgment Arrangement" and the "Civil and Commercial Judgment Mutual Recognition Arrangement" are superimposed, about 90% of the judgments in civil and commercial cases by the courts of the two places are expected to be mutually recognized and enforced. Basically full coverage of judicial assistance in the civil and commercial fields of the two places.
On the 22nd, the Supreme People's Court held a press conference on the "Report on the Practice of Judicial Assistance in Civil and Commercial Affairs between the Mainland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region".
A reporter asked: The "Report on the Practice of Judicial Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters" used a lot of space to introduce the "Mutual Recognition Arrangement for Marriage and Family Judgments". Does this arrangement have any special significance and value?
In response, Si Yanli stated that on June 20, 2017, the Supreme People's Court and relevant parties of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region signed the Arrangement for Mutual Recognition of Marriage and Family Judgments.
At present, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has submitted local legislation related to this arrangement to the Legislative Council for deliberation.
According to the agreement between the two parties, it will be implemented after the completion of local legislation in Hong Kong and the judicial interpretation issued by the Supreme People's Court.
Si Yanli said that the signing of the "Arrangement for Mutual Recognition of Marriage and Family Judgments" has been evaluated by the industry as a pioneering work that focuses on public opinion, is closest to people's livelihood, and is most in line with people's aspirations in the judicial assistance field of the two places. It has the following significance:
The first is to truly make it the primary goal of judicial assistance to reflect the aspirations of the people and improve their welfare.
With the closer economic ties between the two places, the situation in which families have assets in both places continues to increase, and cross-border marriage and family disputes have increased dramatically.
According to statistics, in the nearly 70,000 divorce cases filed by the parties in the Hong Kong Family Court in the past three years, about 80% of cases involving marriages in the Mainland.
The people of the two places have urgent needs and strong expectations for the mutual recognition and enforcement of marriage and family judgments by the courts of the two places and the reduction of repeated litigation.
What the people want and the law is bound by the law, the "Marriage and Family Judgment Mutual Recognition Arrangement" incorporates all types of cases such as the return of minor children that are of great concern to all walks of life in Hong Kong, and implements the value concept of maximizing the interests of minors. The maximization advocated by the Civil Code seeks to complement the interests of the people.
The second is to effectively resolve social conflicts and maintain the prosperity and stability of the two places as the fundamental direction of judicial assistance.
If the judgments of marriage and family cases made by the courts of the two places involve the division of property of the husband and wife, or the upbringing of related children, if they cannot be mutually recognized and enforced as soon as possible, the rights and obligations of the parties will be in a state of uncertainty for a long time.
After the "Mutual Recognition Arrangement for Marriage and Family Judgments" comes into effect, most judgments in cross-border marriage and family cases will be mutually recognized and enforced in the two places, providing more certain legal protection for relevant family members, especially minor children, and avoiding cross-border factors Or the differences in the legal systems of the two places affect their legal rights. While maintaining the stability of the marriage and family relations between the two places, it also contributes to the stability of the two places’ society.
The third is to effectively resolve outstanding problems and focus on long-term development as the work guide for judicial assistance.
The judicial assistance work in the two places involves comprehensive and extensive influence.
In terms of mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments, both the Arrangement for Mutual Recognition of Marriage and Family Judgments and the Arrangement for Mutual Recognition of Civil and Commercial Judgments are documents for the mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial cases between the two places, but their scope of application is different.
In a gradual and orderly manner, the two places first fixed the mutual recognition of marriage and family judgments, which the people of the two places are most concerned about and the easiest to reach a consensus, in the form of arrangements, and then continue to expand to other civil and commercial cases, and finally signed the Arrangements for mutual recognition of commercial judgments.
It can be said that the "Marriage and Family Judgment Arrangement" and the "Civil and Commercial Judgment Mutual Recognition Arrangement" are similar to special regulations and general regulations. After the two are superimposed, about 90% of the judgments in civil and commercial cases of the two courts will be expected to be mutually recognized and enforced. It marks the basic full coverage of judicial assistance in the civil and commercial fields of the two places.