On March 21, 2019, Shanghai Pudong New Area People¡¯s Court (hereinafter referred to as the ¡°Shanghai Pudong Court¡±) held a press conference to release the 2018 report on judicial review of administrative cases (hereinafter referred to as the ¡°White Paper¡±), and held a seminar on the topic of ¡°trans-district benign interaction between justice and administration against the background of concentrated and cross-jurisdiction over administrative cases.¡±

Zhang Bin, Vice President of Shanghai Higher People¡¯s Court, Zuo Yimei, Deputy Head of Huangpu District, Cao Fusheng, Deputy Head of Minhang District, Chen Xiaojie, Deputy Head of Baoshan District, Gu Jiming, Deputy Head of Chongming District, and Yin Yong, President of Shanghai Pudong Court attended and addressed at the conference. Other participants include heads of relevant departments at city and district levels. Jin Minzhen, Vice President of Shanghai Pudong Court, presided over the conference and gave the briefing.

According to the conference, in 2018, the reform of centralized and cross-jurisdiction over administrative cases was enforced in Shanghai courts. Since July 1, Shanghai Pudong Court began to hear first-instance administrative cases in Huangpu, Minhang, Baoshan and Chongming districts, which brought a number of challenges.

According to the White Paper, in the second half of 2018, Shanghai Pudong Court accepted 606 administrative cases involving the four districts and municipal organs. Among them, 117 are related to Huangpu District, 126 to Minhang District, 153 to Baoshan District, 55 to Chongming District and 155 to municipal organs.

The distribution of the types of cases suggest wide coverage and high occurrence of disputes in traditional fields. 70% of the total number of cases received are cases regarding public security, administrative urban construction, market supervision, planning, labor and social security, as well as housing and land resources. As for the characteristics of the district, as Huangpu District is located in the central urban area, it is burdened with the task of renovation, hence a large number of cases concerning administrative agreements and information disclosure related to expropriation. In administrative cases involving Chongming District, the main types are cases concerning labor and social security, and agriculture-related cases with township governments as defendants. Baoshan District and Minhang District are in the period of transformation and development of old industrial areas, with prominent problems of illegal construction in large residential areas, old towns and old areas, hence a large number of administrative cases concerning demolition of illegal buildings. In the cases with municipal organs as the defendants, the main types of cases received are concerning real estate registration, administrative urban construction, labor and social security.

According to the conference, since the establishment of circuit trial site in Chongming for administrative cases in 2018, Shanghai Pudong Court has provided much convenience for case filing, session opening and responding to lawsuits by administrative organs through cooperation with local governments and courts. The past six months have seen a significant rise in the number of cases concluded compared with the previous years, which reflects increasing public recognition of trans-district administrative trial and remarkable growth in judicial credibility.

In briefing the administrative trial work in 2018, Jin Minzhen, Vice President of Shanghai Pudong Court, said that Pudong Court has prepared and sent out the White Paper on Administrative Trial for ten consecutive years, and this is the first time that the court has sent the White Paper to the governments of the four districts and the municipal organ after the implementation of concentrated jurisdiction. It is of great significance to further accelerate the construction of a government of laws and improve the level of administration according to law against the background of concentrated jurisdiction.

On the trial results, in the second half of 2018, the organs of the four districts and the city performed quite well in administration according to law. Substantial settlement of administrative disputes has achieved a good result, with 127, or 28.60% of cases concluded in settlement. In addition, heads of administrative organs responded to 111 lawsuits in court, accounting for 35.24% of the total number of cases settled in court. While responding to lawsuits in court more than ever before, administrative organs also pay attention to the effect of making an appearance in court, with better speeches and better ability to resolve disputes.

According to the White Paper, Shanghai Pudong Court made the following suggestions to the administrative organs: one, further enhance the framework of the rule of law in enforcement and administration, and improve the authority and credibility of administrative enforcement; two, further strengthen law enforcement at the grass-roots level, establish and perfect the law enforcement mechanism and governance structure at the grass-roots level; three, further strengthen the substantial resolution of disputes, raise consciousness of risk prevention and control for defeat suits, and work proactively to resolve the disputes; four, further build a trans-district linkage mechanism, and deepen the new pattern of benign interaction between justice and administration.