Sui Zhong Fa [2020] No.101

　　Notice of Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court on Issuing theRules for the Implementation of the Extension of the Application Scope of the Single-Judge Trial System in Courts in Guangzhou

To all primary courts and all departments of this Court,

　　To implement theDecision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Authorizing the Supreme People's Court to Carry out the Pilot Program of the Reform of Separation between Complicated Cases and Simple Ones under Civil Procedureand the Measures for the Implementation of the Pilot Program of the Reform of Separation between Complicated Cases and Simple Ones under Civil Procedureof the Supreme People's Court, further scientifically allocate judicial resources, expand the scope of application of the single-judge trial system, promote judicial justice, enhance judicial efficiency and meet the diverse judicial needs of the people, these Rules are formulated in combination with the court trial practice in Guangzhou. These Rules, which were discussed and adopted by the Judicial Committee of this Court on April 7, 2020, and approved by Guangdong Higher People's Court on June 1, 2020, are hereby printed and distributed to you, please implement it carefully. Please promptly report any new situation and new problem encountered during the implementation to the Office of the Leading Group for Pilot Program of the Reform of Civil Litigation System of Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court.

　　Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court

　　June 17, 2020

　　Rules for the Implementation of the Extension of the Application Scope of the Single-Judge Trial System in Courts in Guangzhou

　　To actively and steadily drive the pilot work on the reform of the separation between complicated cases and simple ones under civil procedure, expand the scope of application of the single-judge trial system, further scientifically allocate judicial resources, promote judicial justice, enhance judicial efficiency and meet the diverse judicial needs of the people, these Rules are formulated in accordance with theDecision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Authorizing the Supreme People's Court to Carry out the Pilot Program of the Reform of Separation between Complicated Cases and Simple Ones under Civil Procedureand the Measures for the Implementation of the Pilot Program of the Reform of Separation between Complicated Cases and Simple Ones under Civil Procedureof the Supreme People's Court, in combination with the court trial practice.

　　1. Civil and commercial cases to which small claims procedure, summary procedure or single-judge trial of ordinary procedure is applied by a people's court shall be tried by a single judge alone.

　　2. After appointing a single judge, the case-filing department of a primary court may not specify the date of trial and the tribunal, and the time of trial shall be determined by the single judge.

　　The Case Filing Chamber of Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court should transfer the case files and electronic files to the single judge within three (3) days after appointing the single judge, who shall examine and determine whether the trial will be held without court hearing within three (3) days upon receipt of the case files, and schedule and serve alone. If the single judge considers that the case should be transferred to a collegial panel, it shall report to the division head for approval.

　　3. Civil and commercial cases which are accepted by a primary court and subject matter thereof is not less than RMB 3 million and not more than RMB 10 million (including civil and commercial cases involving foreign elements with clear application of the law) may apply to the single-judge trial of ordinary procedure, other than the following cases:

　　(1)Cases involving the national and public interests;

　　(2)Cases that have greater social impact and easy to attract wide attention of the people;

　　(3)New-type cases;

　　(4)Cases which could conflict with the effective judgment in similar case records in this Court or a higher court;

　　(5)Cases which are remanded, applied to the trial supervision procedure, or are challenge the judgement by the third party or lawsuit of the execution objection;

　　(6)Cases involving group disputes that may affect social stability;

　　(7)Cases involving potential false litigation;

　　(8)Other cases that are not suitable for the single-judge trial system.

　　4. The parties should be clearly informed in writing of the cases to which the single-judge trial of ordinary procedure is applied, which should list the names of judges and clerks, to fully guarantee their right to know.

　　5. Where a case to which the single-judge trial is applied has any of the circumstances under Article 3 of these Rules and is to be tried by a collegial panel, it shall be reported to the division head of the court for approval, and the members of the collegial panel and the relevant information should be notified to the parties. The trial period is not interrupted and the actions already taken remain in force. The parties may not be required to produce evidence for or cross-examine the facts they have confirmed.

　　6. The civil and commercial cases, which are accepted by a primary court and the subject matter is more than RMB 10 million, shall be tried under the collegial system of ordinary procedure.

　　7. Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court may apply the single-judge trial to the appeal cases against the conclusion by summary procedure in the first instance and civil ruling in the first instance. In order to guarantee the legality of the trial organization and avoid triggering a retrial, the appeal cases to which the single-judge trial of ordinary procedure is applied should be strictly limited to those mentioned in the preceding paragraph without extended application.

　　8. Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court shall not apply the single-judge trial to the cases discussed by the judicial committee of a primary court.

　　9. It should be stated in the descriptions of trial process of the judgment document of a case to which the single-judge trial of ordinary procedure is applied that "this case is subject to ordinary procedure and tried by a single-judge alone in accordance with theDecision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Authorizing the Supreme People's Court to Carry Out the Pilot Program of the Reform of Separation between Complicated Cases and Simple Ones under Civil Procedure in Some Areas.

　　10. The single judge may decide whether to adjudicate by record an appeal case applied by Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court to the single-judge trial under any of the following circumstances:

　　(1)An appeal against a civil ruling;

　　(2)A case which should be tried by a collegial panel in accordance with the law and judicial interpretation was wrongly applied to the single-judge trial;

　　(3)Hearing by default in violation of law;

　　(4)Adjudicatory personnel who should withdraw did not withdraw;

　　(5)A person incapable of action did not entrust its legal agent with participation in action;

　　(6)Failure to submit to exclusive jurisdiction and a competent court;

　　(7)Application for rescission of final arbitration award for labor and personnel dispute;

　　(8)Cases involving judicial review of arbitration awards under any of the following circumstances:

　　①After an arbitration institution has made a decision on the validity of an arbitration agreement, the parties apply to the court for confirmation of the validity of the arbitration agreement or for cancellation of the decision of the arbitration institution;

　　②The documents submitted by the applicant do not meet the conditions for accepting the cases involving judicial review of arbitration awards;

　　③The applicant fails to apply for cancellation of the arbitration award or non-enforcement of the arbitration award within the statutory time limit

　　(9)Other simple civil and commercial cases.

　　11. The single judge may decide whether to adjudicate by record the following cases which should be remanded according to law due to disagreement of the parties to mediation:

　　(1) Omission of judgment items;

　　(2) Omission of the parties;

　　(3) A judgment of no-divorce is made in the first instance, the second-instance court holds that a judgment of divorce should be made, and the parties do not agree to mediation on issues, such as child support, property division, etc.

　　12. In order to protect the party's right to apply for withdrawal and other litigation rights according to law, the single judge who decides to adjudicate by record shall inform in writing the parties of the members of trial organization in advance and ask whether to submit any new written statement.

　　13. Where the parties have not presented new evidence that meets the requirements of the civil procedure law and its judicial interpretation or new reasons which are different from the statement and argument in the first instance in their complaint and brief, or the new evidence is supplementary or repeated, or the new reason has no essential difference from the statement and argument in the first instance in respect of a case which the facts were clearly ascertained and the law was correctly applied in the first instance and the disputed amount in the appeal is minor, the single judge may decide to adjudicate by record with the consent of the parties.

　　14. An appeal case, which the parties failed to make a claim or defend against the legal consequences of non-establishment, invalidity or rescission of a contract, and no interpretation and mediation was made in the first instance, and direct interpretation and amended judgment is required in the second instance in accordance with Article 36 of theMinutes of the National Court of Civil and Commercial Trial Work, shall not be adjudicated by record.

　　15. An appeal case, which one party claimed for liquidated damages on the grounds of the other party's breach, the other party made exculpatory exception on the grounds that the contract was not established, invalid or was not breached but did not claim for adjustment of the excessive liquidated damages, the first-instance court held that the exculpatory exception was established but did not interpret, and the second-instance court holds that the liquidated damages should be paid, and direct interpretation and amended judgment is required in accordance with Article 27 of theInterpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Issues concerning the Application of Law for the Trial of Cases of Dispute over Sales Contracts, shall not be adjudicated by record.

　　16. An appeal case, which one party claimed compensation for the other party's infringement, the other party made exculpatory exception on the grounds that the infringement was not established but failed to make argument on the items and amount of compensation, the first-instance court held that the exculpatory exception was established but did not interpret, and the second-instance court holds that the infringement is established and the compensation should be paid, shall not be adjudicated by record.

　　17. A case to be adjudicated by record shall be concluded within two (2) months from the date of filing the case. In special circumstances the time limitation may be extended by another one month with the approval of the division head of the court.

　　18. The people's court should strengthen the supervision over the cases to which the single-judge trial system or adjudicating by record is applied, and evaluate the quality of cases by means of regular and irregular random inspection. Evaluation results are linked with performance appraisal.

　　Each trial business department should establish a case quality evaluation team to carefully verify the problems reflected and complained by the parties for the single-judge trial system or adjudicating by record, and transfer those who have no integrity and violate discipline to the discipline inspection and supervision department for investigation.

　　Model for Documents of Single-judge Trial

　　Form 1.Notice of Cases to Which the Single-judge Trial of Ordinary Procedure or Single-judge Trial is Applied

　　Form 2.Summons for Single-judge Trial in the Second Instance

　　Form 3.Notice to Adjudicate by Record

　　Form 4.Approval Form for Transfer from Single-judge Trial to Collegial Panel

Form 1

　　Guangzhou XX District People's Court

　　Notice of Cases to Which the Single-judge Trial of Ordinary Procedure is Applied

　　1. According to theDecision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Authorizing the Supreme People's Court to Carry Out the Pilot Program of the Reform of Separation between Complicated Cases and Simple Ones under Civil Procedure in Some Areas(Ren Da Chang Wei Hui Zi [2019]No. 42), the cases, which this Court is not easy to find out the facts, but the application of law is clearly, may be tried by a single judge alone according to the single-judge trial of ordinary procedure.

　　2. There is no difference between the litigious right of the parties including the time limit for adducing evidence and the time limit of reply in the cases to which the single-judge trial of ordinary procedure is applied and the ones in the case of the collegial system of ordinary procedure.

　　3. Where you have any objection to the application of the single-judge trial of ordinary procedure, please submit it in writing within three (3) days upon receipt of this notice.

　　4. The cases to which the single-judge trial of ordinary procedure is applied may be converted into the collegiate system of ordinary procedure in case of compliance with relevant provisions. Before applying to the collegiate system of ordinary procedure, the facts that the parties have ascertained may not be proved and cross-examined.

　　Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court

　　Notice of Cases to Which the Single-judge Trial is Applied

　　1. According to theDecision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Authorizing the Supreme People's Court to Carry Out the Pilot Program of the Reform of Separation between Complicated Cases and Simple Ones under Civil Procedure in Some Areas(Ren Da Chang Wei Hui Zi [2019]No. 42), the cases to which the summary procedure was applied in the first instance, or the ruled cases may be tried by a single judge alone.

　　2. There is no difference between the litigious right of the parties including the time limit for adducing evidence and the time limit of reply in the cases to which the single-judge trial is applied and the ones in the case of the collegial system of ordinary procedure.

　　3. Where you have any objection to the application of the single-judge trial, please submit it in writing within three (3) days upon receipt of this notice.

　　4. The cases to which the single-judge trial is applied may be converted into the collegiate system in case of compliance with relevant provisions. Before applying to the collegiate system, the facts that the parties have ascertained may no longer be proved and cross-examined.

Form 2

　　Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court

　　Summons

Form 3

　　Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court

　　Notice to Adjudicate by Record

　　(20xx) Yue 01 Min Zhong No. XX

　　ToXXX,

　　This case between you and XX XXX (cause of action) has been filed for trial by this court. In accordance with theDecision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Authorizing the Supreme People's Court to Carry Out the Pilot Program of the Reform of Separation between Complicated Cases and Simple Ones under Civil Procedure in Some Areas, Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court is a pilot unit for reform. This case is to be adjudicated by record by Judge XXX as single judge and XXX as Clerk. The parties shall submit their written statements within ten (10) days upon receipt of this notice, otherwise they shall be deemed to have waived the submission. If the parties have objections to adjudicating by record, they may submit written objections within three (3) days upon receipt of this notice. Failure to submit them within the time limit shall be deemed to be an approval.

　　MM/DD/YYYY

Form 4