The 18^th　CPC National Congress has made important strategic arrangements for further deepening the reform of the judicial system from the new level of developing socialist democracy and accelerating the establishment of a socialist country under the rule of law.　The Decision of the CCCPC on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform　adopted　at　the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee has determined the main tasks of advancing the construction of the rule of law in China and deepening the reform of the judicial system. The Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Several Important Issues of Comprehensively Advancing Rule of Law　adopted　at　the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee has set the establishment　of　socialist rule of law system with Chinese characteristics and the construction of a socialist country under the rule of law as the general objective of comprehensively advancing the rule of law. We have proposed a series of major reform measures in terms of scientific legislation, strict law enforcement, judicial fairness and observance of the law by all citizens. The judicial reform of people's courts is facing an unprecedented historical opportunity. In order to implement the spirit of the 18th CPC National Congress and of the Third and Fourth Plenary Sessions of the 18th CPC Central Committee and further deepen the reforms of people’s courts, These Opinions on Deepening the Reform of People’s Courts in All Respects are formulated and implemented as the Fourth Five-Year Reform Plan of the People's Courts (2014-2018).

I.　General Guideline on Comprehensive Deepening of Reform of People's Courts

The general guideline on comprehensive deepening of reform of People's Courts is: by sticking to the goal of making the people feel impartiality and justice in each and every judicial case and consistently adhering to the main line of judiciary for the people and the work of judicial fairness, to work hard to resolve the underlying issues affecting judicial fairness and restricting judicial capabilities, and ensure that people’s courts exercise their jurisdiction independently and impartially in accordance with the law, continuously improve the judicial credibility, and promote the modernization of the country's governance system and capabilities. By 2018, we will initially establish a socialist judiciary power operating system with Chinese characteristics, making it an important part of socialist rule of law system with Chinese characteristic, which provides a strong judicial guarantee for the realization of the "Two Centenary Goals" objective and the Chinese dream of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

II. Basic Principles Governing Comprehensive Deepening of Reform of People's Courts

To comprehensively deepen the reform of people’s courts shall be in compliance with the following basic principles:

-- Upholding the leadership of the Party and adhering to a correct political direction. Deepening of the judicial reform by people’s courts should always uphold the leadership of the Party, bring into full the role as the leadership core in exercising overall leadership and coordinating all efforts, truly achieve organic unity of leadership of the Party, ruling of the country by the people and the rule of law and ensure that judicial reform always adheres to the correct political direction.

-- Respecting the law of justice and reflecting the attributes of judicial power. To deepen judicial reforms, people's courts should strictly follow the law with which power operates that judicial power serves as the judging and discretionary power, highlight the attribute of central committee power or authority of the judicial power and emphasize the central position of trials in the litigation system so that the results of reforms can fully reflect the independence, neutrality, procedural and final attributes of the judicial power.

-- Promoting reform in accordance with the law and ensuring that the reform　is　carried forward prudently and orderly. To deepen judicial reform, the people's courts should adhere to the constitutional laws, base themselves on China's national conditions, advance in accordance with the law　and in an orderly way, realize　existence of ready legal basis for major reforms, and promote upgrade of reform approaches in conformity to the law of justice and requirement for impartial justice onto laws in a timely manner.

-- Adhering to the overall advancement and emphasizing breakthroughs in key areas. To deepen judicial reform, people's courts should focus on solving the deep-seated issues affecting judicial fairness and restricting judicial capabilities, removing　barriers on the part of systems, mechanisms and security. At the same time, people’ courts must distinguish between primary and secondary issues, stress the key point, be problem-oriented and ensure the overall advancement of reform.

-- Strengthening top-level design and encouraging local explorations and practices. To deepen judicial reform, people's courts should strengthen top-level design, make overall plans for major reform projects, and pay attention to the systematicness, integrity and synergy of reform measures. At the same time, people’s courts must respect local initiatives and encourage courts at lower levels to be the first to act and operate pilot projects under unified arrangement and planning by the Central Government,, sum up the pilot experience in a timely manner and promote institutional innovation.

III. Major　Tasks of　Comprehensively　Deepening the　Reform of　People’s　Courts

(I) Establishing a judicial jurisdiction system that is appropriately separated from administrative division

To establish the system of operation of socialist judicial power with Chinese characteristics, it is necessary to proceed from the requirements of safeguarding the unification of the country’s legal system and reflecting the fairness of the judiciary, and to explore and establish a judicial jurisdiction system that ensures that people’s courts independently and fairly exercise their judicial power according to law. By the end of 2017, a scientific and rational system of judicial jurisdiction with orderly coordination for ensuring impartiality shall have initially formed.

1. Setting up circuit courts of the Supreme People’s Court. The Supreme People's Court establishes circuit courts to hear major civil and commercial affairs and administrative cases across administrative divisions in order to ensure that national laws are uniformly and correctly　implemented. The system of graded jurisdiction over major civil, commercial and administrative cases across different administrative divisions shall be adjusted, to realize orderly coordination with the scope of jurisdiction over cases by the Supreme People's Court.

2. Exploring the establishment of courts　across different　administrative divisions. Under the principle of scientificity, streamlining, high efficiency and benefiting realization of judicial impartiality, exploration shall be made for establishing courts across different administrative divisions, to develop a pattern of legal proceedings under which ordinary types of cases are acceptable for trial by courts within the relevant administrative divisions and special types of cases are acceptable for trial by courts across different administrative regions. All railway transportation courts shall be transformed into courts across different administrative divisions, which shall mainly try cases across different administrative divisions, major administrative cases, cases of environment and resources protection, enterprise bankruptcy, food and drug safety, etc that are vulnerable to influence of local factors, cases prosecuted by People's Procuratorates across different administrative divisions, and criminal and civil cases previously acceptable for trial by former railway transportation courts.

3. Promoting the establishment of an intellectual property courts. In accordance with the characteristics of intellectual property cases and the need for trials, exclusive procedures, systems of jurisdiction and rules for trial meeting the law of trial of intellectual property cases shall be established and perfected.

4. Reforming the administrative case jurisdiction system. By means of assigning jurisdiction to courts at higher levels and jurisdiction by designated courts, jurisdiction by intermediary courts and courts at higher levels over administrative cases that are vulnerable to influence of local factors shall be gradually realized.　The conditions and procedures for application　for　retrial of administrative cases　shall be standardized.

5. Reforming the maritime case jurisdiction system. The system of maritime justice shall be further rectified.The scope of jurisdiction of maritime courts　shall be　scientifically determined and working mechanisms　better meeting the law of trial of maritime cases shall be established.

6. Reforming the environmental resource case jurisdiction system. Construction of institutions for justice of the environment and resources shall be promoted. The system of jurisdiction over cases in the category of the environment and resources shall be further improved.

7. Improving the public interest litigation jurisdiction system. Exploration shall be made for establishing a system of jurisdiction over cases prosecuted by prosecutorial organs that is in coordination with public interest legal proceedings.

8. Continuing to promote the reform of the court management system. Forestry courts and land-reclamation and-cultivation court shall be brought under the coverage of the national justice management system on a unified basis, in rectification of the system of jurisdiction over cases, and in reform of the system of management of courts by departments and enterprises.

9. Reforming the military judicial system mechanism. The military adjudication system under unified leadership shall be improved, to maintain interests of national defense, to protect the legitimate rights and interests of servicemen, and to crack down on law violations and crimes in accordance with law.

(II) Establishing a trial-oriented litigation system

To establish the system of operation of socialist judicial power with Chinese characteristics, the law of justice must be respected　to　ensure the court hearing plays a decisive role in protecting the right to lodge complaints, identifying evidence, ascertaining facts, and impartial judgment,　and　realize　the questioning of litigation evidence in courtroom, ascertaining the facts of the case in courtroom,　presentation of opinions in courtroom and the formation of juridical grounds in courtroom. By the end of 2016, the establishment of a lawsuit system centered on adjudication shall have been promoted, to make activities of investigation and examination before prosecution always get in line with trial procedures.

10. Fully implementing the principle of evidentiary adjudication. The awareness about court trial centralism shall be strengthened. The principle of direct wordage shall be implemented. The system of appearance of witnesses and appraisers in court shall be strictly implemented. The inhibitive and guiding effect of court trial to procedures for investigation and to institution of legal proceedings shall be brought into play. The principle of no punishment in doubtful cases shall be resolutely implemented. The illegal evidence removal rule shall be strictly applied. The scope of illegal evidence and the procedure for removal thereof shall be further defined.

11. Strengthening of mechanisms for judicial protection of human rights: The modern judicature civilization shall be demonstrated, with prohibition of appearance in court of criminal defendants in custody and criminal appellants wearing identification clothes, waistcoats, prison uniforms, etc with labels of regulators to receive trial. Systemic protection of the right to be informed, the right of statement, the right to defense, the right to debate, the right of application and the right of appeal on the part of the parties concerned and other legal proceedings participants in the legal process shall be strengthened. Mechanisms for protecting the rights of lawyers in the practice of law shall be improved, and the judicial concept of equality of the accusing party and the defense shall be strengthened, with prohibition of discriminative security check on lawyers, and with provision of convenience for lawyers to fulfill their duty in accordance with law. Fulfillment of the duty of defense and representation by lawyers shall be protected in accordance with law. The rights of action of lawyers including questioning, cross examination and debate in court trial shall be honored. Judicial supervision over judicial measures and means of investigation restricting personal freedom shall be improved. Prevention and control from the source of extortion of confession by torture and illegal collection of evidence shall be strengthened. Mechanisms for effective prevention and timely correction of cases of unjust, fake and false charges shall be made completed.

12. Perfection of mechanisms for rapid handling of minor criminal cases: Under authorization and supervision by legislative authorities, reform of the procedures for rapid ruling in criminal cases shall be promoted in an orderly manner.

13. Improvement of the system of leniency for acknowledgement of guilt and acceptance of punishment in criminal proceedings: The contentious procedures and punishment standards for and the mode of processing of cases in which defendants voluntarily acknowledge guilt, voluntarily accept punishment, and actively give up ill-gotten gains and pay compensation shall be defined; and mechanisms for diverting cases in which defendants plead guilty and cases in which defendants plead not guilty shall be established, to optimize the distribution of judicial resources.

14. Improving civil litigation certification rules. The leading status of the parties concerned in proof in civil litigation shall be strengthened, and the burden of proof by the parties concerned shall be determined in accordance with law. The conditions for, the scope of and the procedures for investigation and collection of evidence by People's Courts by virtue of their authority of office shall be defined. The system of appearance in court by witnesses and appraisers shall be strictly implemented. The core role of cross examination and attestation during court trial in determining facts in cases shall be brought into play. The standards for applying the principle of high probability shall be made strict, and the conditions for and the scope of exercise of the right of discretion by judges shall be further defined. Only after undergoing cross examination in court trial can all evidence be used as basis for ruling and judgment; and for important evidence which is relatively seriously controversial between the two parties concerned, the reason for whether to adopt it or not must be specified in documents of ruling or judgment.

15. Establishing a trial-process video and audio recording mechanism. The construction of scientific and technological courts shall be strengthened, and synchronous video and audio recording during the whole process of court trial shall be promoted. Systems of management, use and storage of video and audio recordings of court trial shall be established. The scope of and the procedures for live broadcast of court trials with photos and articles, video signals, etc shall be regulated.

16. Standardizing the judicial procedures for dealing with the property involved. Standardization of judicial procedures for disposing of property involved in cases: The standards for, the scope of and the procedures for disposal of property involved in cases by People's Courts shall be defined. Judicial procedures for sealing up, seizing, freezing and disposing of property involved in cases in criminal, civil and administrative proceedings shall be further standardized. Establishment of information platforms for centralized management of property involved in cases shall be promoted, and mechanisms for disclosure of information on property involved in cases shall be improved.

(III) Optimizing the allocation of the authority of office within　people's　courts

In the establishment of the system of operation of socialist judicial power with Chinese characteristics, distribution of the authority of office within People's Courts must be optimized; and mechanisms for mutual inhibition and mutual coordination among all links of case filing, trial, enforcement and trial supervision shall be made complete, with the different functions of trial of first instance, trial of second instance and retrial brought into full play, to ensure independence of trial grades. By the end of 2016, models for the distribution of the authority of office of courts with scientific definition, specific functions and effective operation shall have formed.

17. Reforming the case acceptance system. The case filing review system shall be changed for the case filing registration system; and for cases that shall be accepted by People's Courts for processing in accordance with law, they shall be filed as long as they are in existence, and the suits in them shall be processed as long as they are in existence, to protect the right of action of the parties concerned. Efforts for online disclosure of information on case filing shall be strengthened. Improvement of the litigation fee charge system shall be promoted.

18. Improving the　case　division system. On the basis of strengthening construction of specialized collegiate benches, the case distribution system of giving first place to random distribution of cases and giving second place to designated distribution of cases shall be applied. The system of internal disclosure of results of case distribution shall be established. Where a trial organization or an undertaking judge is changed, the reason shall be given and the change shall be publicly announced.

19. Improving the level of trial system. The system of graded jurisdiction over civil and commercial cases shall be further reformed, with scientific determination of the scope of jurisdiction over cases by grassroots level People's Courts, and with gradual change of the approach of determining graded jurisdiction over cases mainly by the value of objects of action. The system of assigning jurisdiction to courts at higher levels shall be improved, with definition of the conditions for, the scope of and the procedures for transferring jurisdiction over cases of trial of first instance from courts at lower levels to courts at higher levels. Realization of focusing on settling determination of facts and application of law in trial of first instance and focusing on settling disputes over facts and law in trial of second instance to realize trial of second instance being trial of final instance, and realization of focusing on correction of mistakes in retrial to maintain authority of ruling and judgment shall be promoted.

20. Strengthening the supervision of level of trial. We will strictly regulate the conditions and number of cases of which the higher court remands for retrial and directs retrial, and improve the mechanism for releasing and interpreting the documents of remanding for retrial and directing retrial and for case information feedback. People's courts that handle the second instance, arraignment, application for retrial, and appeal cases should point out in the judgement document the problems existing in the first instance or the original trial, and clarify the reasons for the judgement.　People's courts should handle the case that has been filed for case acceptance and should issue a closure document in a legal form to the parties. If they meet the conditions for disclosure, they will be published on China Judgments Online.

21. Improving the case quality assessment system. We will establish a scientific and reasonable case quality assessment system. We will abolish the assessment indicators and measures that violate the laws of justice and eliminate any form of ranking. We will strengthen case filing for acceptance by statutory deadlines and case closing within the normal period of trial, establish a long-term pending case notification mechanism, and resolutely stop the wrong practice of artificially controlling the closing of the case. Relying on the disclosure of the trial process, judgement document and enforcement information, we will bring into play the role of the case quality assessment system in serving, judging and guiding the judicial fairness　of　the people's courts.

22. Deepening the reform of judicial statistics. Guided by the concept of “big data, big pattern and big service”, we will reform the judicial statistics management system, create a system of judicial statistics standard with classified science and comprehensive information, and gradually build an empirical analysis model that meets the actual conditions of trials and the law of justice as well as establish a national court judgments library and a national court justice information big data center.

23. Improving the uniform application mechanism of law. We will improve the methods of trial guidance of the Supreme People's Court and strengthen the standardization, timeliness, pertinence and effectiveness of judicial guidance and other trial guidance methods. We will reform and improve the screening, evaluation and release mechanism of guiding cases. We will improve and perfect the working mechanism for ensuring the uniform application of laws by the people's courts.

24. Deepening the implementation of institutional reforms. We will promote the implementation of the pilot system reform that separates judicial power from enforcement power. We will establish the legal system of credit supervision, deterrence, and punishment for dishonest persons subject to enforcement. We will intensify the reform of judicial auction methods and focus on the implementation of an online judicial auction model. We will improve the enforcement system for execution of property-oriented penalty and promote the implementation of property-oriented penalty in a unified criminal execution system.

25. Promoting the improvement of the judicial aid system. We will clarify the conditions, standards and scope of judicial aid, standardize the acceptance, review and decision of judicial aid, and tighten the management and use of funds. We will promote the national judicial aid legislation, and give full play to the positive role of judicial aid in helping people and resolving conflicts.

26. Deepening international cooperation in the judicial area. We will promote the improvement of the judicial aid system and expand the coverage of interregional and international judicial assistance. We will promote the formulation of the criminal justice assistance law.

(IV) Improving the operating mechanism of judiciary power

To establish a system of　operation of　socialist judiciary power with Chinese characteristics, we must strictly observe the laws of justice and improve the trial power operating mechanism with the judiciary at its core and with adjudication supervision power and the trial management power as guarantee, and implement the trial responsibility system so that judges can make the judgment falling into the scope of the judicators. By the end of 2015, we will improve and perfect the trial power operating mechanism with clear definition of power and responsibilities, unification of power and responsibilities and supervision in an orderly manner.

27. Improving the trial procedure for the presiding judge and the collegiate bench. We will select judges with good political qualities, strong case handling skills, high professional standards, and rich judicial experience as presiding judges. The trial in the system of sole-judge proceedings will have the presiding judge as its center. The required number of trial assistants will be provided. In a collegiate system trial, the presiding judge will serve as the chief judge. Where all members of the collegiate bench are presiding judges, in principle, the presiding judge who handles the case serves as the chief judge. We will perfect the working mechanism that the president, division-chief judge and members of the judicial committee serve as the chief judge and participate in case trial by the collegiate bench. We will reform and improve the working mechanism of the collegiate bench, clarify the scope of functions of the collegiate bench as a trial organization, improve the joint participation of members of the collegiate bench in cross file review,　court　hearing, colloquia, etc. and the control and supervision mechanism. We will reform the mechanism of issuing the judgment　documents.

28. Improving the responsibility system of cases　handling by the presiding judge and the collegiate bench. In accordance with the principle of integration of power and responsibility, we will clarify the case handling responsibilities and conditions of exemption of the presiding judges, the collegiate bench and its members, and achieve effective connection of evaluation mechanism, accountability mechanism, disciplinary mechanism and exit mechanism as well as protection mechanism. When the presiding judge participates in the collegial discussion as the chief judge, he or she has equal power with other members of the collegiate bench, but he or she will be responsible for presiding over court hearing activities, controlling the trial process, organizing case discussions, and avoiding procedural errors. We will scientifically define the responsibilities of the members of the collegiate bench to ensure that they independently express their opinions and clarify the responsibilities of their personal opinions and performance of their duties in the outcome of the case.

29. Perfecting court president and presiding judge trial management mechanism. We will clarify the trial management responsibilities of　the　court president and presiding judge in line with their duties. We will standardize the review and approval system for changing the procedures and time limit of trials. We will improve the internal supervision mechanism for the classification and filing of lawsuit files, online case handling and management of trial procedures and uploading of judgment　documents.

30. Perfecting court president and presiding judge trial supervision mechanism. We will clarify adjudication supervision duties of the court president and the presiding judge in line with their duties and improve the internal control and supervision mechanism. We will improve the presiding judges meeting and professional judges meeting mechanism. We will standardize the supervision mechanism for major, difficult and complicated cases by the president and the presiding judge, establish a filing system for all the instruments formed by the president and presiding judge during the supervision activities. Relying on modern information technology, we will establish a mechanism that follows the trace, is mutually supervised and controlled throughout the procedure and under which the presiding judge and the collegiate bench exercise the trial power and the president and the division-chief judge exercise the supervision power. We will ensure that supervision is not absent, supervision do not offside, supervision is left with records and any one with misconduct will be held accountable.

31. Perfecting the trial management system. We will give play to the role of protection, promotion and service of trial management in enhancing the quality of trials, standardizing judicial actions, tightening litigation procedures, and unifying　proceeding standards. We will strengthen the management of the trial process links and further improve the quality assessment of cases.

32. Reforming the working mechanism of the judicial committee. We will properly position the functions of the judicial committee, and strengthen its macro-guidance functions for summarizing trial experience and discussing and deciding major issues for trial work. We will establish a preemptive filtering mechanism for the matters discussed by the judicial committee and standardize the range of cases discussed by the judicial committee. Except for the circumstances stipulated by law and major complex cases involving state diplomacy, security and social stability, the judicial committee mainly discusses the issue on the application of law in cases. We will perfect the rules of procedure of the judicial committee, and establish the signature verification system for meeting materials and minutes of the judicial committee. We will establish a supervision, reply and publicity system for the resolutions of the judicial committee meetings. We will establish the mechanism for performance assessment of members of the judicial committee and the internal publicity mechanism.

33. Promoting the reform of the people's assessors system. We will implement the "multiplication plan" of the people's assessors, broaden the channels and scope of the selection of people's assessors, ensure the participation of the masses in the judiciary, and ensure that the proportion of grass-roots people is no less than two-thirds of the new people's assessors. We will further standardize the conditions for the selection of people's assessors, reform the method of selection and improve the exit mechanism. We will clarify the power of people's assessors in participation in case trial　and improve　random drawing　mechanism. We will reform the fact that jury system will gradually introduce people’s assessors who will no longer hear the issue of the application of the law and only participate in the issue of fact finding. We will strengthen the funding guarantee for people's assessors performing their duties according to law. We will establish a dynamic management mechanism for people's assessors.

34. Promoting the reasoning reform of judgment documents. According to different levels of trials and types of cases, we will divide complex and simple judgment documents. We will strengthen the reasoning for the judgment documents of first-instance case where the parties involved hold objections, the legal relationship is complex and there is much attention from society, and all the cases of the second-instance, retrial and those determined by discussion of the judicial committee. We will use simple judgment documents for the first-instance civil and commercial cases with clear facts, clear rights and obligations and the least disputes between the parties, and the first-instance minor criminal cases with clear facts, verified and sufficient evidences and guilty pleading by defendants. We will improve the judgment efficiency by filling in the elements and simplifying the format. We will attach importance to the defense and agency opinions of the lawyer. If the lawyer's defense and agency opinion has not been adopted admitted according to law, he or she will explain the reason in the judgment document. We will improve the rigid restraint mechanism and incentive mechanism of reasoning　of　judgment documents, establish an evaluation system for reasoning　of　judgment documents, and use the reasoning level of judgment documents as a key factor for performance assessment, promotion and selection for promotion of the judges.

35. Improving the judicial supervision mechanism against corruption. We will improve and intensify the work of judicial inspections, trial affair supervision and anti-corruption inspectors. We will establish a mechanism for investigating and punishing violations of disciplines by presiding and lower courts under cooperation with higher discipline inspection commissions and higher courts, and achieve orderly integration of discipline inspection and supervision procedures with judge disciplinary procedures. We will establish a record system and accountability system for interrogating cases by court personnel. We will regulate the contact and communication of court personnel with parties, lawyers, special relationships and intermediary organizations according to law.

36. Reforming the　letters and visits system involved in lawsuits. We will perfect the working mechanism of separation of litigation and petition, and clearly define the criteria, scope and procedures for the separation of litigation and petition. We will improve the closing mechanism for letters and visits involved in lawsuits, and standardize the order of letters and visits involved in lawsuits according to law. We will establish the local supervision mechanism for accepting letters and visits and be bold in establishing the online letters and visits handling mechanism. We will promote the establishment of the agency by lawyer system for appeal cases. We will explore the establishment of mechanisms for the participation of the third parties in society and intensify diversified joint efforts to revolve　contradictions of letters and visits involved in lawsuits.

　 (V) Building an open, dynamic, transparent and convenient judicial mechanism

　　The establishment of a socialist judicial power operation system with Chinese characteristics must rely on modern information technology to build an open, dynamic, transparent and convenient judicial mechanism so as to enhance public understanding, trust and supervision on the judiciary. By the end of 2015, the three major publicity platforms that are judicial process, judgement document and executive information of people’s court with complete system, complete information and convenient for use have been formed, and the comprehensive, systematically scientific judicial mechanism oriented by people has also been established.

　　37.　Improving　the open trial system. We will establish the publicity and appointment system for trial notice and auditor seat information. The people’s court will give priority to the court which should be adapted to the number of auditors who have been applied to the court with respect to the cases should be heard in public in accordance with the law and are concerned by the society. The conditional courts will set up a media auditorium to give priority to satisfying the needs of the news media.

　　38. Improving the trial process publicity platform. We will promote the construction of the National Court Affairs website and establish the litigation notice online handling platform and litigation notice website unified by national courts. The construction of China’s trial process information disclosure website will be continue strengthened to improve the mechanism of timely collection and immediate updating of trial information data. The construction of electronization of litigation files will be speeded up. The national courts will be encouraged to　open　trial process information on the same platform, so as to facilitate the parties to obtain online information about trial process node from the date of accepting the case.

　　39.　Improving　the judgement document publicity platform. We will strengthen the website construction of China Judgments Online to improve its function of querying, searching and aggregating information, so as to facilitate the public to effectively acquiring, accessing and copying the　judgement documents. In strict accordance with the requirements of “publicity as the principle and non-publicity as the exception”, the judgement document in force that should be published by people's court at four levels in accordance with the law will be published in the China Judgments Online.

　　40. Improving the executive information disclosure platform. The national courts will be encouraged to publish executive information on the same platform by integrating all kinds of executive information, so as to facilitate the parties to understand the progress of implementation online. Furthermore, we will strengthen the information disclosure about dishonest person subject to enforcement to give full play to their credit disciplinary function and urge the person subject to enforcement to perform the effective legal instruments automatically. We will also enhance the construction of information disclosure system for the person subject to enforcement to facilitate the public to understand the implementation and take the initiative to accept social supervision.

　　41. Improving the commutation, parole, temporary execution outside prison publicity system. We will improve the conditions suitable for commutation, parole, temporary execution outside prison and the procedures for handling cases, so as to ensure that the relevant cases are handled in open and fair principle. In conjunction with the penal executive and procuratorial organs to promote the construction of an online collaborative handling case platform, the important items and key links in the execution of law enforcement and evaluation of rewards and punishments will be published, shared and recorded on the website, so as to ensure supervision in place from the system and technology. In addition, establishing the information network of commutation, parole, temporary execution outside prison will be our major task to achieve the case filing notice, trail announcement and instruments of the three categories of cases are published online.

　　42. Establishing judicial public supervision system. We will encourage the public to supervise the judicial publicity and the complaint mechanism and relief channels for violating judicial public provisions will be sound. With fully use of the supervision function of the three major judicial openness platforms, the opinions and suggestions proposed by the public on platform will become the important reference for the trial management, trial supervision and work improvement of people's court.

　　43.　Improving　the litigation service center system. We will strengthen the standardization construction of litigation service center to improve the litigant service hall, online litigation service platform and judicial service hotline (12368). We will also establish the online booking for case filing, service, announcement, complaints and other working mechanisms. The remote mediation, petition and other video applications will be vigorously used to further expand the breadth and depth of justice for the people.

　　44.　Improving　the people’s court system. We will optimize the regional layout and personnel ratio of the people's court and actively promote the layout form of court oriented by central court and supplemented by community court and circuit trial place. We will also improve the case filing mechanism of people's court s for the convenience of the people according to the actual situation of the jurisdiction and optimize the personnel composition of the people's court. In addition, we will conduct the personnel exchanges between the people's courts, people's courts and other halls of basic people's courts orderly.

　　45. Promoting the service system reform. We will push the restriction mechanism in which the parties should confirm the address for service and undertake the corresponding legal consequences, and explore the electronic delivery mode under the condition of information promotion so as to improve the efficiency of service.

　　46. Improving the diversified dispute resolution mechanism. We will further promote the organic connection and coordination of the dispute settlement mechanism and litigation, such as mediation, arbitration, administrative adjudication and administrative reconsideration, thus guiding the parties to choose appropriate dispute settlement methods. In the field of land expropriation, environmental protection, labor security, medical and health, traffic accidents, property management, insurance disputes and so on, we will enhance the construction of industrial and professional dispute resolution organizations to promote the perfection of the arbitration and administrative adjudication system. We will establish a joint working system for people's mediation, administrative mediation, industrial mediation, commercial mediation and judicial mediation, and drive the legislative process of diversified dispute resolution mechanism to establish a systematically and scientifically diversified dispute resolution system.

　　47. Promoting the implementation of law popularity responsibility system. We will strengthen the consciousness of the law popularity by court, and fully utilize the law popularity function produced from the open trial, reasoning by documents and publication of cases to promote the high unity of the people's court to exercise the judicial function and fulfill the responsibility of law popularity.

　　 (VI) Promoting the normalization, specialization and professionalization of court officials

　　The establishment of a socialist judicial power operation system with Chinese characteristics must be centered with trial and focused on the judge to promote the standardization, specialization and professionalization of court officials in an all-round way, and strive to improve the professional quality and level. By the end of 2017, the court official management system with a scientific classification, clear division of labor, reasonable structure and conforming to the professional characteristics of justice had been initially established.

　　48. Promoting the reform of classification management system of court officials. We will establish a separate job sequence for judges with professional characteristics and improve the management system of trial assistant, such as judge assistant, clerk and executor. The proportion of judges and trial assistants will be scientifically determined, and a normal supplementary mechanism for trial assistants will be established in order to effectively reduce the workload of judges. The sources of trial assistants will be broadened to optimize the structure of trial assistants by exploring ways to purchase social services. Additionally, we will explore and promote the judicial police management system, as well as improve the administration system of judicial administrative personnel.

　　49. Establishing the specified number of judge system. According to the economic and social development, population size (including temporary population), number of cases, type of cases and other basic data in the jurisdiction of the court, we will scientifically determine the specified number of judge in courts at four levels in combination with the functions of the court, workload of the judges, allocation of trial assistant, guarantee conditions for handling case and other factors. The dynamic adjustment mechanism of specified number of judge will be improved as per the number of cases and changes in personnel structure. To ensure that excellent judges remain on the frontline of the trial, we will set up the interim scheme for reform of specified number of judge system in a comprehensive and scientific way, taking into account the factors such as trial performance, business capability, theoretical level and work experience.

　　50. Reforming the judge elective system. We will set up qualifications of different judges for different levels of court. At the national and provincial level, a Judge Selection Committee, with the participation of judge representatives and social related personnel, will be set up separately to establish an open, fair and just elective procedure to ensure that outstanding legal personnel with good conduct, rich experience and higher professional level become candidates, such that the judge selection mechanism and the statutory appointment and removal mechanism can be effectively linked. We will complete the mechanism in which the newly appointed judges are recruited by the Higher People's Court and serve the Basic People's Court. We will improve the training system for reserved judges in line with the reform of the unified pre-service training system for legal professionals. The age of the newly appointed judge will be appropriately raised. We will establish the working mechanism in which the judge from superior court is selected from the lower court in principle, and perfect the system of appointing outstanding lawyers, legal scholars, and professional legal personnel serving in the legislative, procuratorial and law enforcement departments as judges. Finally, the two-way communication mechanism between court, law schools and legal research institutions personnel will be improved to implement the mutually engagement plan of universities and court officials.

　　51. Improving the judge performance evaluation system. We will establish a scientific and rational, objective and fair judge performance evaluation system consistent with rules to improve the evaluation criteria, and take the evaluation results as an important basis for the grade promotion and preferential selection of judges. We will also establish the exit mechanism of incompetent judges to improve relevant supporting measures.

　　52. Improving the on-the-job training mechanism of judges. We will focus on enhancing the judge's ability to handle the trial, apply the law and writing ability of judgement document strictly being oriented by the actual demands, adhering to the classification, grading and all staff training. We will improve the plan preparation, organizational training, tracking management and quality evaluation mechanism of education and training on judge. Furthermore, we will perfect the teaching staff, case base and excellent courseware library and strengthen the construction of judge training institution and on-site teaching bases. The China judge education and training network will also be established to achieve high-quality courseware free online shared by court officials relying on information technology and vigorously promoting online teaching. Efforts will be made to strengthen the training of judges at the grass-roots level and bilingual judges of ethnic minorities.

　　53. Improving the judge wage system. To implement the provisions in the Judge-made Law, we will research and establish the wage system matching the separate duties of judge.

　 (VII) Ensuring　people's　court to exercise judicial power independently and impartially in accordance with the law

　　To establish a socialist judicial power operation system with Chinese characteristics, the various systems will be promoted and improved to ensure that the people's court will exercise judicial power independently and impartially in accordance with the law under the leadership of the　Party, to optimize the judicial environment, establish judicial authority, strengthen the occupational security and improve the credibility of the judiciary. By the end of 2018, the system environment and social atmosphere of reliance on justice, respect for justice and support for justice will be promoted.

　　54. Promoting unified management reform of court officials below provincial level. In line with the relevant departments of the　Central　Government, we will promote the unified management system about staffing level of local court officials below the provincial level. We also will propose the mechanism in which the judges of local court below provincial level are nominated and managed by the provincial court, as well as appointed and removed as per legal procedures.

　　55. Establishing a working mechanism to prevent the intervention of judicial activities. We will, in accordance with the relevant departments of the　Central　Government, promote the system for leading cadres to intervene in trial activities and step in records, notifications and accountability for handling specific cases. According to the requirements of recording cases in whole course, the record obligation and responsibility of the judicial organization will be clearly defined, and the leading cadres will be involved in the judicial activities, instructions, letters, records and other information of the specific cases. The mechanism of legal access, storage of media, entry of the special library, and filing for reference will be established, and the relevant information will be stored in the original document about case for access of parties and their agents.

　　56. Improving the protection mechanism for the judges to perform their legal duties. We will reasonably determine the duties, working procedures and working standards of judges and trial assistants. We will clarify the selection criteria and exemption reasons for different subjects and different types of fault, so as to ensure that judges perform their duties according to law without investigation. Without statutory circumstances, judges shall not be transferred or dismissed, or removed or demoted. We will improve the system of judges' appealing and accusation, establish a relief mechanism for judges' legitimate rights and interests being infringed upon by their duties according to law, and improve the mechanism of false reporting and clarification. At the national and provincial level, the judge disciplinary committee, which is composed of judges' representatives and social related personnel, is set up respectively to make open and impartial procedures for the punishment of judges, not only to ensure that the judge who violates rule and law will be punished in time, but also to guarantee the rights of justification, proof, reconsideration and appeal.

　　57. Perfecting the judicial authority guarantee mechanism. We will improve the prosecution mechanism for refusing to execute judgments, rulings, contempt of court authority and other criminal acts. We will also promote relevant legal amendments and punish the personnel who destroy evidence materials, court records, legal documents, court facilities in court and have other behavior with seriously contempt of court, as well as have the criminal acts, such as threatening, insulting, tracking, harassing the court officials or their immediate family, etc.　in accordance with law.

　　58. Strengthening the guarantee mechanism of litigation integrity. We will establish the record and punishment system of litigation integrity. In accordance with the law, we will punish the false litigation, malicious litigation and unreasonable repeated-appealing which will be incorporated into the social credit system. We will explore the establishment of suit for damage for victim from false litigation and malicious litigation.

　　59. Optimizing the external environment of administrative trial. We will improve the system of responding to lawsuits by head of administrative organs, guide and regulate administrative organs to participate in litigation activities. We will also standardize the preparation and submission of judicial proposals to promote the level of law-based administration of government.

　　60. Perfecting the judge oath system. We will improve the judge oath system. The judges elected or appointed by the NPC at different levels and their standing committees shall make a vow publicly to the constitution.

　　61. Improving the judicial honor system. We will clearly define the criteria, conditions and procedures for conferring judges and adjudication assistant on different categories so as to enhance the sense of honor and belonging of the judicial profession for court officials.

　　62. Straightening out the relationship of judicial administrative affairs management of the court. We will scientifically set up judicial administrative affairs administration organ of the People's Court to standardize and unify the responsibilities of management, and to explore the relative separation of the administrative power of the judicial administrative affairs and the judicial power of the court. We will improve the judicial administrative affairs administration mechanism of the higher and lower courts, and make clear the supervisory functions of the judicial administrative affairs administration department of higher courts to the judicial administrative affairs of the lower courts.

　　63. Promoting the reform of the property management system of people's court. In line with the relevant departments of the　Central　Government, we will promote the reform of the unified management mechanism for the local courts below the provincial level. We will improve the budget guarantee system, treasury receipt and payment system and financial management system of the people's court, and promote the long-term mechanism construction of the funds management and guarantee of the people's court. In strictly accordance with the management principle of “two lines of revenue and expenditure”, the litigation fees, fines, confiscated property, as well as the recovered stolen money and stolen goods, and so on collected by local people's courts at different levels will be handed over the provincial treasury. In addition, we will strengthen the construction of “two tribunals” and other places and establish the equipment standard system of the people's court.

　　64. Promoting the reform of internal organization in the people's court. In accordance with the scientific, streamlined and efficient work requirements, we will promote flat management and gradually set up the setting model of internal organization in court focusing on service trial.

　　65. Promoting the information construction of the people's court. We will speed up the construction of “balance project”, focus on integrating existing resources, and promote all kinds of information applications that serve the court and public demands. The coverage rate of the main business information of the Supreme People's Court and the Higher People's Court shall reach 100%, and the Intermediate People's Court and the Basic People's Court shall be more than 95% and 85%, respectively.

IV. Comprehensively　Deepening the　Work　Requirements of　People's　Court　Reform

　　Comprehensively deepening the reform of the people's court is an arduous task, with great responsibilities and time constraints. The people's courts at all levels shall conscientiously carry out the decision and deployment of theCentral　Government, strengthen the organization and leadership, improve the working mechanism, carry out and promote the work in a key, step and orderly way to ensure the actual effect of the reform measures and the achievements of the reform to benefit all the people.

　　The judicial reform leading group of the Supreme People’s Court is a deliberative, coordinating and guiding institution for the judicial reform of the people’s court. The regular group meeting shall be held to study and determine the key points of the reform, consider the reform scheme, listen to the progress report and discuss the major issues.

　　The Supreme People's Court will establish the system of information sharing, supervision and examination, and　evaluation　and　summary, to promptly grasp the reform dynamics, strengthen the supervision and guidance, correct the wrong practice, and summarize the successful experience, so that every reform task will be arranged, supervised and inspected, so as to ensure that all the tasks are not broken down.

　　The Higher People’s Court shall set up a judicial reform leading group to supervise, guide and coordinate the judicial reform of the courts within the jurisdiction. The people's courts at all levels shall establish and improve the system of filing and reporting of judicial reform, and sum up the experience of the reform, report the work progress and reflect the difficulties and problems in time. Where the Higher People’s Court will carry out a pilot project on some of the reform projects, the pilot scheme must be submitted to the Supreme People’s Court for approval, and the pilot scheme for major reform must be submitted to the central government by Supreme People’s Court for approval prior to implementation.

Supreme People’s Court　　

February 4, 2015