Circular on Issuing the Opinions of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Justice on Promoting the People's Mediation by Chambers of Commerce

Circular on Issuing the Opinions of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Justice on Promoting the People's Mediation by Chambers of Commerce

March 27, 2018

Federations of industry and commerce and departments (bureaus) of finance of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps,

Opinions of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Justice on Promoting the People's Mediation by Chambers of Commerce are hereby issued to you for your earnest implementation. All regions shall, in consideration of the local situation, formulate concrete implementing opinions in accordance with the guidelines herein, and promptly report situations of the implementation and any difficulties and problems arising during the implementation to the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Justice.

Opinions of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Justice on Promoting the People's Mediation by Chambers of Commerce

To practically implement the guidelines proposed at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, fully play the institutional advantages of the chamber of commerce to which federations of industry and commerce (hereinafter referred to as the "chamber of commerce") and its fundamental role in people's mediation, prevent and resolve contradictions and disputes in the non-public sector of the economy, and maintain social harmony and stability, opinions are hereby proposed to promote the people's mediation by chambers of commerce, in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on Civil Mediation and other applicable laws, regulations and policies.

I. Having a Thorough Understanding of the Significance of the People's Mediation by Chambers of Commerce
The report delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposes to create social governance featuring joint construction, governance and sharing, and stresses the need to better establish mechanisms to prevent and resolve social contradictions and deal with disagreement among the people. The non-public sector of the economy is a critical part of the socialist market economy and an important basis of China's economic and social development. Currently, non-public enterprises face frequent contradictions and disputes in respect of production and operation management, labor-capital relationship and protection of intellectual property rights and are weak in resolving disputes, which affects the healthy development of enterprises. Chambers of commerce, as social organizations voluntarily established and managed by non-public enterprises and non-public economy representatives as subjects with self-raised funds, characterized by the united fronts and economic and folk nature, act as grassroots organizations of federations of industry and commerce and a form of their work, and an important approach to resolve contradictions and disputes in the non-public economic field. The people's mediation regime, as a method with Chinese characteristics to solve disputes by non-litigation means, is advantageous in several aspects, such as being flexible and convenient and not hurting the feelings of the parties concerned. The people's mediation by chambers of commerce, acting as an extended form of people's mediation in the non-public economy, is a pragmatic measure for federations of industry and commerce to enhance legal services and promote the healthy development of the non-public economy and the healthy growth of non-public economy representatives. Stepping up efforts of chambers of commerce in people's mediation is also a significant practice to strengthen the development of a mechanism to better prevent and resolve social disputes, and is of great significance to facilitate the development of chambers of commerce with Chinese characteristics, expand fields in which the people's mediation works, boost service capability of chambers of commerce, promote the standardized and law-based development of mediation by chambers of commerce and create a favorable development environment for enterprises doing business in the non-public economy.
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