"Regulations of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Cases in Internet Courts"

In order to regulate the litigation activities of Internet courts, protect the legitimate rights and interests of parties and other litigation participants, and ensure fair and efficient trial of cases, in accordance with the "Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China" and the "Administrative Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China" and other laws, combined with the actual trial work of the People's Court, the following provisions are provided on issues related to the trial of cases in Internet courts.

Article 1 Internet courts use online methods to hear cases , including case acceptance , service , mediation , evidence exchange , pre-trial preparation , court hearing , and sentencing . Sections should generally be completed online .

Based on the application of the parties or the needs of case hearing , the Internet Court may decide to complete part of the litigation process offline .

Article 2 Beijing , Guangzhou , and Hangzhou Internet Courts have centralized jurisdiction over the following first- instance cases that should be accepted by grassroots people's courts within the jurisdiction of the cities where they are located :

( 1 ) Disputes arising from signing or performing online shopping contracts through e - commerce platforms ;
( 2 ) Disputes over network service contracts where the signing and performance are all completed on the Internet ;
( 3 ) Financial loan contract disputes and small loan contract disputes where the signing and performance are completed on the Internet ;
( 4 ) Disputes over the ownership of copyright or neighboring rights in works published for the first time on the Internet ;
( 5 ) Disputes arising from infringement of copyright or neighboring rights of works published or disseminated online on the Internet ;
( 6 ) Internet domain name ownership , infringement and contract disputes ;
( 7 ) Disputes arising from infringement of other people ’s personal rights , property rights and other civil rights on the Internet ;
( 8 ) Product liability disputes arising from products purchased through e - commerce platforms due to product defects that infringe upon the personal and property rights of others ;
( 9 ) Internet public interest litigation cases initiated by the procuratorate ;
( 10 ) Administrative disputes arising from administrative actions by administrative agencies such as Internet information service management , Internet commodity trading and related service management ; _
( 11 ) Other Internet civil and administrative cases designated by the superior people 's court as having jurisdiction .

Article 3 The parties may, within the scope of contract and other property rights disputes determined in Article 2 of these Provisions , legally agree on a location that is actually connected with the dispute . The Internet Court has jurisdiction .

E- commerce operators , network service providers , etc. who enter into jurisdiction agreements with users in the form of standard clauses shall comply with the laws and judicial interpretations regarding the format. provisions of the terms .

Article 4 Cases where parties appeal against judgments and rulings made by the Beijing Internet Court shall be heard by the Beijing No. 4 Intermediate People 's Court , but Internet authors shall Appeal cases involving copyright ownership disputes , infringement disputes , and Internet domain name disputes are heard by the Beijing Intellectual Property Court .

Cases where parties appeal against judgments and rulings made by the Guangzhou Internet Court shall be heard by the Guangzhou Intermediate People ’s Court , but disputes over Internet copyright ownership shall be heard by the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court. Appeal cases involving disputes and infringement disputes and Internet domain name disputes shall be heard by the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court .

Cases in which parties appeal against judgments and rulings issued by the Hangzhou Internet Court shall be heard by the Hangzhou Intermediate People 's Court .

Article 5 The Internet Court shall build an Internet litigation platform ( hereinafter referred to as the litigation platform ) as a court to handle cases and the parties and other litigation participants A dedicated platform for conducting litigation actions . Litigation actions made through the litigation platform have legal effect . _

E - commerce platform operators , network service providers , and relevant state agencies should provide the case - related data required for the Internet Court to hear cases and access them in an orderly manner Litigation platform , verified online , fixed in real time , and securely managed by the Internet Court . The storage and use of data involved in the case by the litigation platform should comply with the provisions of the Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China and other laws and regulations .

Article 6 If the parties and other litigation participants use the litigation platform to carry out litigation acts , they shall use certificate and photo comparison , biometric identification or national unified Complete identity authentication through online methods such as identity authentication platform certification , and obtain a dedicated account to log in to the litigation platform .

The behavior of logging in to the litigation platform using a dedicated account shall be deemed to be the act of the authenticated person . However, if there is a system error due to technical reasons on the litigation platform , or the person is Exceptions will be made if the certifier can prove that the litigation platform account has been stolen .

Article 7 The Internet Court receives the prosecution materials submitted by the plaintiff online and makes the following processing online within seven days after receiving the materials :

( 1 ) If the conditions for prosecution are met , the case shall be registered and the case acceptance notice , litigation fee payment notice , evidence evidence notice and other litigation documents shall be served .
( 2 ) If the submitted materials do not meet the requirements , a notice of supplementation and correction will be issued in a timely manner , and the acceptance time will be restarted on the next day after receipt of the supplementary materials ; the plaintiff failed to submit the application within the specified period . If corrections are made as required within the time limit , the prosecution materials will be returned .
( 3 ) If the conditions for prosecution are not met and the plaintiff has no objection after explanation , the prosecution materials will be returned ; if the plaintiff insists on continuing the prosecution , the lawsuit will be rejected in accordance with the law . Acceptance ruling .

Article 8 After the Internet Court accepts a case , it may notify the defendant and the third party through the mobile phone number , fax , email , instant messaging account , etc. provided by the plaintiff . The three people conducted case correlation and identity verification through the litigation platform .

Defendants and third parties should understand case information , receive and submit litigation materials , and implement litigation actions through the litigation platform .

Article 9 When an Internet court organizes online evidence exchange , the parties shall upload and import online electronic data to the litigation platform , or submit offline evidence through scanning . Electronically process the data by scanning , copying , transcribing , etc. and then upload it to the litigation platform for evidence . You can also use electronic data that has been imported into the litigation platform to prove it . own opinion . _

Article 10 The parties and other litigation participants use technical means to submit identity certificates , copies of business licenses , power of attorney , legal representative identity certificates , etc. Litigation materials , as well as documentary evidence , appraisal opinions , inspection records and other evidentiary materials submitted after electronic processing shall be deemed to be in compliance with the requirements after being reviewed and approved by the Internet Court . Meet the original form requirements . If the other party objects to the authenticity of the above-mentioned materials and has reasonable grounds , the Internet Court shall require the party to provide the originals .

Article 11 If a party raises objection to the authenticity of electronic data , the Internet Court shall review and judge the generation , collection and storage of electronic data based on the cross-examination situation . The authenticity of the storage and transmission process , and focus on reviewing the following contents :

( 1 ) Whether the computer systems and other hardware and software environments relied upon for the generation , collection , storage , and transmission of electronic data are safe and reliable ;
( 2 ) Whether the subject and time of generation of electronic data are clear , and whether the performance content is clear , objective and accurate ;
( 3 ) Whether the storage and storage medium of electronic data is clear , and whether the storage methods and means are appropriate ;
( 4 ) Whether the subjects , tools and methods for extracting and fixing electronic data are reliable , and whether the extraction process can be reproduced ;
( 5 ) Whether the content of the electronic data is added , deleted , modified , incomplete , etc .;
( 6 ) Whether the electronic data can be verified in a specific form .

The electronic data submitted by the parties is collected , fixed and tamper - proof through technical means such as electronic signatures , trusted timestamps , hash value verification , and blockchain . Or if its authenticity can be proven through certification through an electronic evidence collection and storage platform , the Internet Court should confirm it .

Parties may request a person with specialized knowledge to provide opinions on technical issues involving electronic data . The Internet Court may , upon application by the parties or ex officio , entrust the identification of the authenticity of the electronic data or obtain other relevant evidence for verification .

Article 12 The Internet Court shall hold court sessions via online video . If there are special circumstances such as identification , verification of original documents , and inspection of physical objects in court , the Internet Court may decide to hold the hearing offline , but other aspects of the litigation will still be held . Should be completed online .

Article 13 The Internet Court may decide to adopt the following methods to simplify court proceedings as appropriate :

( 1 ) If the identity verification of the parties , notification of rights and obligations , and declaration of court discipline have been completed online before the trial , it may not be repeated during the trial ;
( 2 ) If the parties have completed the exchange of evidence online , for undisputed evidence , the judge may no longer adduce or cross-examine evidence after the judge explains it during the trial ;
( 3 ) With the consent of the parties , the parties ' statements , court investigation , court debate and other court hearing sessions may be combined . For simple civil cases , the court hearing can directly focus on the litigation claims or case elements .

Article 14 Internet courts shall apply the relevant provisions of the " Court Rules of the People's Court of the People's Republic of China " based on the characteristics of online hearings . Unless it is determined to be caused by network failure , equipment damage , power outage or force majeure , etc. , if a party fails to participate in the online hearing on time , it will be deemed as " refusal" . " Present in court " , who withdraws without authorization during the trial will be deemed as " leaving the court midway " , and shall be governed by the provisions of the "Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China", "Administrative Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China " and relevant judicial interpretations respectively . prescribed processing .

Article 15 With the consent of the parties , the Internet Court shall use the China Trial Process Information Disclosure Network , litigation platform , mobile phone text messages , faxes , emails , Instant messaging accounts and other electronic means are used to deliver litigation documents and evidence materials submitted by the parties .

The parties have not expressly agreed , but have agreed to apply electronic service in litigation when a dispute arises , or receive it through a reply and take corresponding litigation actions If you accept electronic service that has been completed and do not expressly express your disapproval of electronic service , it may be deemed that you agree to electronic service .

After informing the parties of their rights and obligations and obtaining their consent , the Internet Court may electronically serve the judgment documents . If a party requests a paper version of the judgment document , the Internet Court shall provide it .

Article 16 When conducting electronic service , the Internet Court shall confirm the specific method and address of electronic service to the parties , and inform the parties of the applicable scope and address of electronic service . Effectiveness , change of delivery address and other delivery matters that need to be notified .

If the recipient does not provide a valid electronic service address , the Internet Court may confirm that the recipient is in a daily active state within the past three months . Your mobile phone number , email address , instant messaging account and other commonly used electronic addresses are used as priority delivery addresses .

Article 17 If the Internet Court makes service to the electronic address actively provided or confirmed by the recipient , when the service information reaches the specific system of the recipient , that is for delivery .

If the Internet Court makes service to the recipient 's usual electronic address or other electronic address that can be obtained , it will determine whether the service has been completed based on the following circumstances:

( 1 ) If the recipient replies that he has received the service materials , or takes corresponding litigation actions based on the contents of the service , it shall be deemed that effective service has been completed .
( 2 ) If the recipient ’s media system reports that the recipient has read it , or there is other evidence to prove that the recipient has received it , it is presumed that the effective delivery has been completed . However , the recipient can prove that there is a media system error , the delivery address is not owned or used by the person , or the person did not read the content , etc. except .

If effective service is completed , the Internet Court shall issue an electronic service certificate . Electronic delivery certificates have the effect of delivery receipts .

Article 18 For simple civil cases where the facts and rights and obligations that need to be served are clear and the relationship between rights and obligations is clear , Internet courts may apply simplified procedures to hear them . .

Article 19 For cases heard online by Internet courts , judges , judge assistants , clerks , parties and other litigation participants shall confirm , _ _ Confirmation of mediation agreements , transcripts , electronic service certificates and other litigation materials through online methods such as electronic signatures shall be deemed to comply with the requirements of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China. Regarding the “ signature ” requirement .

Article 20: Cases heard online by Internet courts can be generated simultaneously using speech recognition technology during mediation , evidence exchange , court hearings , collegial discussions and other litigation links. Electronic transcripts . After electronic transcripts are verified and confirmed online , they have the same legal effect as written transcripts .

Article 21 Internet courts should use litigation platforms to simultaneously generate electronic files along with the case and form electronic archives . If all paper files of the case have been converted into electronic files , electronic files can be used instead of paper files for appeal transfer and case file archiving .

Article 22 If a party files an appeal against a case heard by the Internet Court , the court of second instance shall , in principle , conduct the hearing online . The online hearing rules of the second instance court shall apply with reference to these provisions .

Article 23 These regulations will come into effect on September 7 , 2018 . _ _ If the judicial interpretation previously issued by the Supreme People's Court is inconsistent with these regulations , these regulations shall prevail .

"Regulations of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Cases in Internet Courts"
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