Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Cases by Internet Courts

Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Cases by Internet Courts

Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Cases by Internet Courts

Fa Shi [2018] No.16

September 6, 2018

The Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Cases by Internet Courts, adopted at the 1747th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on September 3, 2018, are hereby promulgated and shall take effect from September 7, 2018.

Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Cases by Internet Courts

(Adopted at the 1747th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on September 3, 2018 and to become effective from September 7, 2018)

To regulate the litigation activities of internet courts, protect the lawful rights and interests of litigants and other parties involved in litigation, and ensure that cases are tried in a fair and efficient manner, provisions in respect of the trial of cases by internet courts are provided as below, in accordance with the
Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, the Administrative Procedure Law and relevant laws.

Article 1 Internet courts will try cases online, and all litigation processes, ranging from the acceptance of cases, service, mediation, evidence exchange, pre-trial preparations, court trials, and sentencing, shall be completed online in general.
Internet courts may decide to complete part of the said litigation process offline, upon an application by the litigants or needs of trying cases.

Article 2 The following types of first-instance cases that should be accepted by grassroots people's courts, within the jurisdiction of the city where an internet court is located, will fall under the jurisdiction of the internet court in Beijing, Guangzhou and Hangzhou respectively.
1. Disputes arising out of signing or performing online shopping contracts on e-commerce platforms;
2. Disputes over online service contracts which were signed and performed on the internet;
3. Disputes over finance-lending contracts or small-amount lending contracts, which were signed and performed on the internet;
4. Disputes over the ownership of the copyright or neighboring rights of work initially published on the internet;
5. Disputes arising out of the online infringement of the copyright or neighboring rights of work published or disseminated online;
6. Disputes over the ownership, infringement, or contracts of internet domain names;
7. Disputes arising out of the online infringement of others' civil rights, such as personal and property rights.
8. Disputes over product liability as a result of the infringement of others' personal or property rights caused by defects of products bought on e-commerce platforms;
9. Internet-related public interest lawsuits brought by procuratorial organs;
10. Administrative disputes arising out of administrative behaviors of administrative organs in respect of the administration of internet information services, internet commodity trading and the management of relevant services; and
11. Other internet-related civil and administrative cases that fall under the jurisdiction of internet courts, as designated by superior people's courts.

Article 3 Parties concerned may agree according to the law on an internet court, at the place actually in connection with the disputes over contracts and other property rights and interests as specified in Article 2 hereof, to take charge of trying cases involving such disputes.
Where e-commerce operators and online service suppliers use standard terms to enter into jurisdiction agreements with consumers, the provisions in respect of standard terms in relevant laws and judicial interpretations shall be observed.

Article 4 Appeals brought by litigants against the judgments or verdicts issued by the Beijing Internet Court shall be tried by the Beijing No.4 Intermediate People's Court; however, appeals about disputes over the ownership of internet copyright, tort disputes, and disputes over internet domain names shall be tried by the Beijing Intellectual Property Court.
Appeals brought by litigants against the judgments or verdicts issued by the Guangzhou Internet Court shall be tried by the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court; however, appeals about disputes over the ownership of internet copyright, tort disputes, and disputes over internet domain names shall be tried by the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court.
Appeals brought by litigants against the judgments or verdicts issued by the Hangzhou Internet Court shall be tried by the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court.

Article 5 Internet courts shall develop an internet litigation platform (hereinafter referred to as the "litigation platform") as a platform exclusively for the court to handle cases and for litigants and other individuals involved in litigation to carry out litigation-related activities.
  ......
Please consent to the LexisNexis Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.