On October 15, 2021, the Shanghai Qingpu District People¡¯s Court (Shanghai Qingpu Court) held a press conference to brief on its efforts to serve and guarantee the China International Import Expo (CIIE) over the past three years, release a white paper and model cases. Reporters from nearly 20 media outlets attended the press conference, and Zhang Fuquan, member of the Party Leadership Group and vice president of Shanghai Qingpu Court, briefed on the relevant situation. This was the fourth press conference on promoting a law-based business environment by courts in Shanghai.

According to the press conference, as of September 2021, Shanghai Qingpu Court had accepted 266 civil and commercial cases involving the CIIE, with the number increasing year by year. There are mainly four types of disputes: service, lease, engineering, and security. Over the past three years, it has become increasingly difficult to handle the CIIE-related cases, which involve various stakeholders, complex foreign elements, and extensive influence.

To handle the CIIE-related cases in a fair and efficient manner and protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese and foreign parties on an equal basis, the West Hongqiao (CIIE) Tribunal (the ¡°CIIE Tribunal¡±) of Shanghai Qingpu Court has adhered to professional, international, and intelligent trial, and built 12 long-term mechanisms through efforts in dispute resolution, litigation services, source management, and collaboration, so as to help foster a quality law-based business environment and ensure ¡°continued success¡± of the CIIE. With the goal of exploring and creating adjudication rules for the CIIE-related cases, developing new models of handling such cases, Shanghai Qingpu Court has combined professional judgment with multiple mediation, developed a smart court, set up specialized teams, specially handled civil and commercial cases involving the CIIE and the exhibition industry, researched the new situations and new problems concerning the CIIE, and developed an adjudication mechanism for the CIIE-related cases. At the same time, the CIIE Tribunal has launched a menu-based mediation mechanism, introduced professional commercial mediation organizations, and worked with the Xujing Town (CIIE) Joint Mediation Center and other professional mediation institutions to meet the demand of the parties involved in the CIIE-related disputes for easier relief and diversified resolutions. The CIIE Tribunal has also adopted information technologies to enable whole-process online case handling, with an online trial rate of 20%.

According to Zhang, the CIIE Tribunal has actively responded to the judicial needs of various entities involved in the CIIE, set up the CIIE Litigation Service Center, and established a circuit litigation service mechanism focusing on the exhibition halls, a comprehensive litigation service mechanism aiming to provide one-stop services, and a smart litigation service mechanism represented by the smart cabin. Considering the short exhibition period and the intensive congregation of people, the CIIE Tribunal has provided circuit litigation service. During the larger exhibitions, it contacted the organizers and set up more service points, where it distributed guidelines in both Chinese and English, answered people¡¯s questions and filed cases, and helped with dispute mediation and settlement, so as to ensure that the exhibitions were held in an orderly manner.

According to the press conference, over the past three years, the CIIE Tribunal has promoted the settlement of disputes in various stages and ways by prioritizing the non-litigation dispute resolution mechanism, reducing the number of lawsuits from the source, and implementing mechanisms to resolve disputes in the exhibition halls without litigation, warn the parties involved in the CIIE against possible risks, and raise their awareness of abiding by the law. Under the risk warning mechanism, which is based on the judicial big data, the Tribunal has analyzed the data about case handling, carried out prospective research on the new problems concerning the CIIE, and warned against risks through regular analysis of the key areas. By visiting and investigating the enterprises that are often involved in cases, developing and distributing judicial proposals and white papers, the Tribunal has warned the CIIE-related parties like organizers and service providers against risks. In addition, since its establishment, the CIIE Tribunal has made concerted efforts to serve and guarantee the event through interaction with the CIIE organizers, collaboration with courts in the demonstration area, and communication with the local governments.

At the press conference, Shanghai Qingpu Court also released model cases involving the CIIE, which cover organizers, exhibitors, purchasers, service providers, and consumers, as well as preparation, hosting, and cancellation during the process. Those model cases include issues about entities, procedures, fact-finding, and application of laws. There are responses to the new situation of traditional quality issues in the CIIE-related cases, and settlement of new disputes arising amid the COVID-19 epidemic.

Zhang said that Shanghai Qingpu Court will follow the new development philosophy at the new stage of development, continue to carry out reform and innovation with more confidence and in a more pragmatic style, so as to provide better judicial services and guarantees for a new round of high-level opening up.