Your current location >> Press Release
shanghai high peoples court released white paper ontypical cases of administrative trials 2019
[2020-05-29]

 

 

 

On May 29, 2020, the Shanghai High People's Court (hereinafter referred to as the "SHPC") held a press conference to release the White Paper on Administrative Trials 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper") and Typical Cases of Administrative Trials 2019 & Cases of Substantive Resolution of Administrative Disputes (hereinafter referred to as the "Typical Cases"). Zhang Bin, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice President of the SHPC, and Hou Danhua, Presiding Judge of the Administrative Tribunal of the SHPC, attended the press conference and answered reporters' questions. Sun Jing, Deputy Director of the Office of Political Affairs and Spokesperson of the SHPC, served as the hostess.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the implementation of the Administrative Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and also the 5th anniversary of the amendment of the law. The press conference was held both online and offline. In addition to media reporters, administrative law scholars, relevant principals of Administrative Review Division and Action Response Division of Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice, Shanghai Public Security Bureau, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Shanghai Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, other municipal organs and Shanghai Bar Association as well as relevant principals of district justice bureaus of Pudong New Area, Baoshan and Chongming, etc. were invited to the spot. Personnel of relevant courts across the city attended the press conference online.

The White Paper shows, in 2019, the courts across the city accepted 8015 cases of first and second instance, among which 8113 were concluded. It is worth noting that with the effective implementation of Shanghai's strategy of law-based governance of the city and advancement in the work of the substantive resolution of administrative disputes, some administrative disputes are resolved before litigation, and the incidence of administrative disputes has declined. According to statistics, in 2019, the courts across the city accepted 5183 administrative cases of first instance, a year-on-year decrease of 5.2%. This is the decrease in the number of administrative dispute case for the second year in a row after the number of cases accepted peaked in 2017.

 

The trend of administrative cases of first instance in the courts of the city from 2015 to 2019

 

Number of first-instance administrative cases accepted

 

 

In the meantime, in the context of the reform of administrative organs and the reform of centralized jurisdiction over administrative cases, in 2019, Shanghai courts promoted the working mechanism of administrative organ heads' appearance in court to respond to lawsuits and launched the "three-in-one" work of trying, hearing and commenting on administrative cases, which played a positive role in promoting law-based governance, alleviating the contradictions between the government and the people, and promoting the substantive resolution of disputes. Heads of administrative organs responded to cases in court throughout the year 1251 times, a year-on-year increase of 15.3%, and the appearance rate was 39.9%, a year-on-year increase of 7.7%.

In addition, the administrative litigations in 2019 also show the following characteristics: greater enthusiasm of lawyers in participating in the resolution of administrative disputes, further development of dispute resolution mechanisms, improved efficiency of administrative case handling, and better service for the creation of law-based business environment.

The White Paper points out that some of the cases in 2019 also reflect some problems in administrative law enforcement and response to administrative lawsuits. For example, some grassroots organs need to strengthen their awareness of law enforcement norms; violations of administrative law enforcement procedures happen from time to time; administrative organs' ability to respond to lawsuits and defend for themselves needs to be improved.

The press conference informed that the substantive resolution of administrative disputes is and will be the focus of Shanghai's administrative trial work at present and for some time to come. This is not only a powerful point of strength for the implementation of the "people-centered" development thinking in administrative trials, but also an important part of the implementation of the "resolution of administrative disputes" in the new administrative procedure law. The White Paper shows that in 2019, Shanghai courts resolved 1,541 administrative disputes through first- and second-instance coordination and reconciliation, accounting for 29.2% of the total number of first-instance cases concluded, an increase of 6.4% year on year. Nearly 30% of administrative disputes were substantially resolved through litigation.

Among the typical cases released this time, there are 10 cases of substantive resolution of administrative disputes. According to Hou Danhua, the substantive resolution of administrative disputes represents the results of Shanghai courts achieved in the intensive work of substantive resolution in recent years and displays diversified mediation and settlement means of the courts and judges at various levels, such as reliance on multiple mediation and settlement central forces of non-centralized jurisdiction courts, president or presiding judges' leading role in coordination and case handling, administrative heads' appearance in court to respond to lawsuits, package dispute resolution, facilitation of mediation with judgments and other mechanisms; working out a whole process for the substantive resolution of administrative disputes and applying it before, during and after litigations, which not only supports and promotes the law-based governance of the administrative organs, but also effectively protects the legitimate rights and interests of the people.

In 2018, the SHPC formulated and issued the opinions on the improvement of the mechanisms for substantive resolution of administrative disputes and established the center for diversified mediation and settlement of administrative disputes. In 2019, the SHPC continued working on the "updated version" of substantive resolution of administrative disputes: first, the Court formulated a guidance on the substantive resolution of administrative disputes which lays emphasis on "coordination and reconciliation" and "judgment acceptance and no more appeals" and aims to facilitate coordination and reconciliation while guiding on how to avoid idling procedures and alleviate the parties' litigation fatigue, etc. through making judgment according to law; second, the SHPC developed the visualization module for substantive resolution of administrative disputes to conduct all-round and dynamic assessment and management of the substantive resolution of administrative disputes on departments, trial teams and judges undertaking the administrative trial functions of courts across the city.

Zhang Bin expressed that this year the SHPC would fully promote pre-litigation mediation in administrative cases by relying on the center for diversified mediation and settlement of administrative disputes, build a mechanism that connects the diversified dispute resolution platform of the court and the municipal justice bureau's platform "smart justice" to actively explore non-litigation mediations, and truly put the non-litigation resolution mechanisms first, and continue to build a mediation and settlement platform that adapts to the centralized jurisdiction of administrative cases. So far, both Shanghai Chongming District People's Court and Shanghai Fengxian District People's Court have established diversified mediation and settlement centers. Courts without centralized jurisdiction over administrative cases are also encouraged to establish diversified mediation and settlement centers in the future so as to form a joint force for substantive resolution of administrative disputes.

The press conference informed that this is the 17th year that the SHPC produced and issued white paper on administrative trials. As early as in 2004, the SHPC began to formulate and release white paper on administrative trials. In 2010, it became a normal for the white paper on administrative trials to fully cover both municipal and district (county) levels. Compared with previous years, this year the White Paper displays the whole picture of administrative litigations instead of only introducing administrative trial work, and makes analyses by combining administrative actions with Shanghai's building of a law-based government.

The White Paper puts forward four suggestions for the building of a law-based government: 1.  improve governance according to law and provide the power for the rule of law to enhance the core competitiveness of the city; 2. improve the ability to respond to lawsuits as well as the working mechanism for response to administrative lawsuits; 3. intensify reconsideration supervision and give full play to the role of administrative reconsideration as the main channel for dispute resolution; 4. build a new platform for positive interactions to promote the substantive resolution of administrative disputes.

At the press conference, Zhang Bin emphasized that in 2020 Shanghai courts would continue to take the promotion of substantive resolution of administrative disputes as the main task, serve the overall situation around the center, give full play to the adjudication function, strengthen practical research on common issues, push forward the work to encourage the heads of administrative organs to appear in court to respond to lawsuits and hear trials, do better in the review of normative documents and promote the building of a law-based government. In the meanwhile, Shanghai courts would focus on the national strategy and the overall situation of the city, adhere to the principle of justice for the people and fair justice, further strengthen the judicial review function, continue to promote the substantive resolution of administrative disputes, work on the emphases, strengthen areas of weakness, and pay attention to coordination, so as to facilitate the high quality development in the administrative trial work of the city and provide Shanghai with good judicial services and strong judicial guarantee for enhancing the city's energy level and core competitiveness and improving the governance capacity and capability of the modern socialist international metropolis.

White Paper on Administrative Trials in Shanghai 2019.docx

Typical Cases of Administrative Trials by Shanghai Courts in 2019.docx

Cases of Substantive Resolution of Administrative Disputes by Shanghai Courts in 2019 0529.docx

 


>> Chinese Version
The English version of this article, which is translated from the Chinese version by CTPC, is for reference only and shall be subject to the corresponding contents on the Chinese webpage.
Copyright @2014 Shanghai High People's Court, All Rights Reserved.