China News Service:

The difficulty of filing lawsuits was an issue the people were strongly concerned about in the past. What measures have the people's courts taken to address this problem over the past decade? And what progress has been made? Thank you.

Gao Jinghong:

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the people's courts have implemented reform of the case-filing registration system, meaning that the longstanding difficulty people had filing lawsuits is now history. In order to help people resolve their disputes in a more convenient, inclusive and cheaper way and give them more diverse choices, the people's courts have created a "one-stop, diversified service system for dispute resolution and litigation," which is unique worldwide, blazing a new path with Chinese characteristics that can ensure justice for the people.

First, we have shaped a model of coordinated governance and dispute resolution under the leadership of the Party committee to highlight China's advantages. Relying on the leadership of the Party, we have built the world's most interconnected dispute resolution mechanism. We invited NPC deputies, CPPCC members, administrative organs, all kinds of mediation organizations, lawyers, experts and scholars, as well as community-level organizations to establish a "court + society" system for solving disputes, providing people with a menu of services. The numbers of mediation organizations and mediators connected with the courts have increased from 1,264 and 14,000 in early 2018 to 83,000 and 335,000. A total of 29.62 million disputes have been mediated, with an average of 51 successfully mediated per minute. Diverse channels for dispute settlement not only help realize justice in a timely manner, but bring about mutual understanding and accommodation.

Second, we have opened online and offline integrated and sharing platforms, and established a one-stop service system for resolving disputes, thus creating a Chinese model. Courts at four levels have built one-stop litigation service centers, with the scope of services expanded from simply providing guidance for case filing in the past to now more than 50 items. All types of litigation cases are addressed in the centers, which have become "lawsuit service supermarkets." Last year, courts nationwide resolved more than 80% of civil disputes in litigation service centers, and the average time taken was 43% less than that of civil cases of first instance. The four levels of courts leveraged the unified online service platform to support the public in filing lawsuits and handling the whole process online, with total visits exceeding 2.7 billion. Online dispute resolution has become standard practice. The 12368 Litigation Service Hotline has helped address disputes at any time, with an average of 35,000 calls being received and handled per day and satisfaction rate exceeding 96%, which has greatly reduced the cost for people to resolve disputes.

Third, we have improved the service mechanism for addressing disputes in both urban and rural areas to provide a Chinese-style model. "Cross-region filing services" have been fully realized, with more than 13,000 service centers being established. Cases can be filed nearby and handled nationwide. A special service window for the elderly and a unified code service channel for lawyers have been fully implemented. Bilingual judges and a litigation guide written in Braille have helped various parties during lawsuits. Mediation platforms have entered rural areas and communities and gone online, connecting 9,852 people's courts and more than 70,000 community-level governance units, thereby providing people in both rural and urban areas with access to more high-quality legal services and allowing them to resolve their problems at home. In remote areas, judges go to villages to provide services in people's homes and conduct circuit case handling, making judicial services "zero-distance." Through these efforts, the public deeply feel the warmth and convenience of the socialist judicial system. 

Thank you.