News Center

Viewpoint... "People's Procuratorate Civil Litigation Supervision Rules" process guidelines & old and new comparison.

Published:

2021-09-02

The Rules for the Supervision of Civil Litigation by the People's Procuratorates (hereinafter referred to as the "New Rules") were adopted at the 62nd meeting of the 13th Procuratorial Committee of the Supreme People's Procuratorate and shall come into force on August 1, 2021. As an important judicial interpretation of the procuratorial organs in the field of civil prosecution, the new rules have a far-reaching impact on lawyers to apply for inspection suggestions or to inspect and supervise cases. In view of this, this paper selects the bright spots in the new regulations to interpret, and combs the "acceptance-review-supervision-management" model under the new rules into process guidelines and compares the old and new provisions, with a view to throwing bricks and mortar. Interpretation of New Highlights The new rules have 10 chapters and 135 articles, which is 1 chapter less and 11 more than the original rules. The main contents are: 1. Section on "Jurisdiction" deleted 2. Clarify the time limit for applying for supervision The parties shall submit the retrial application within two years from the date when the people's court makes a ruling rejecting the retrial application or the retrial judgment or ruling takes legal effect. This period is a constant period and does not apply to suspension, interruption or extension. There are no restrictions on cases in which the people's procuratorates initiate supervisory procedures ex officio. It is worth noting that Feng Xiaoguang, director of the Sixth Procuratorate of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said that this clause generally does not have retroactive effect and is only applicable to newly accepted cases. Considering that the parties need to have reasonable expectations for the new provisions of judicial interpretation, for civil cases before the implementation of the new civil litigation supervision rules, the time limit for the parties to apply for supervision should be calculated from the date of implementation of the revised civil litigation supervision rules, so as to ensure the exercise of the parties' right to apply for supervision. 3. Clarify the remedies for procuratorial organs not accepting applications for supervision in accordance with the law. If the procuratorial organs fail to accept the application for supervision according to law, the parties have the relief channels to apply to the procuratorate at the next higher level for supervision, which broadens the channels for safeguarding rights, and forces the procuratorial organs to perform their duties and accept the application for supervision from the standpoint of level supervision. 4. New types of ex officio supervision cases Three new cases of ex officio supervision have been added and a bottom-up clause has been added, especially the case of false litigation has been included, thus broadening the scope of ex officio supervision. "Major" and "necessary" situations need to be independently judged by the procuratorate, which gives the procuratorate more room for ex officio supervision. The newly added People's Procuratorate initiates supervision procedures for civil cases ex officio, and is not restricted by whether the parties apply for retrial. This is of great significance to the parties. For some cases that have failed to apply for retrial, if they are unable to apply for supervision, if they fall within the scope of ex officio supervision, they can provide clues to the procuratorate to continue legal procedures. 5. New Implementation Supervision The new rules stipulate that the people's procuratorate may issue a "notice explaining the implementation of the case" to the people's court and make procuratorial suggestions to the people's court at the same level. A special chapter is also set up to provide for supervision of implementation. Civil cases from filing, trial, adjudication to enforcement, including the enforcement of civil non-litigation enforcement basis such as arbitral awards and notarized creditor's rights documents, no matter which link there is illegal situation, the procuratorial organ has the right to supervise in accordance with the law. If a lawyer finds that the people's court is negligent in performing its duties or is passive or delays execution during the execution of the lawsuit, he may provide clues to the procuratorate, which may request the court to explain the execution and reasons or make procuratorial recommendations to the people's court at the same level. 6. Increased the specific work of the expert consultation and argumentation system and access to the provisions of the sub-volume (1) According to the "Supreme People's Procuratorate's Civil Administrative Litigation Supervision Case Expert Consultation and Demonstration Work Measures", the new rules increase the relevant content of organizing expert consultation and demonstration. (2) The new rules implement the requirements of the CPC Central Committee on exploring the system of reviewing the main and secondary volumes together, increase the relevant provisions of the court's litigation files and secondary volumes, and further improve the working mechanism of case review, investigation and verification. Guidelines for the Process of the Rules for the Supervision of Civil Litigation by the People's Procuratorate

In view of this, this paper selects the bright spots in the new regulations to interpret, and combs the "acceptance-review-supervision-management" model under the new rules into process guidelines and compares the old and new provisions, with a view to throwing bricks and mortar.

Interpretation of New Highlights

The new rules have 10 chapters and 135 articles, which is 1 chapter less and 11 more than the original rules. The main contents are:

1. Section on "Jurisdiction" deleted

2. Clarify the time limit for applying for supervision

The parties shall submit the retrial application within two years from the date when the people's court makes a ruling rejecting the retrial application or the retrial judgment or ruling takes legal effect. This period is a constant period and does not apply to suspension, interruption or extension. There are no restrictions on cases in which the people's procuratorates initiate supervisory procedures ex officio.

It is worth noting that Feng Xiaoguang, director of the Sixth Procuratorate of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said that this clause generally does not have retroactive effect and is only applicable to newly accepted cases. Considering that the parties need to have reasonable expectations for the new provisions of judicial interpretation, for civil cases before the implementation of the new civil litigation supervision rules, the time limit for the parties to apply for supervision should be calculated from the date of implementation of the revised civil litigation supervision rules, so as to ensure the exercise of the parties' right to apply for supervision.

3. Clarify the remedies for procuratorial organs not accepting applications for supervision in accordance with the law.

If the procuratorial organs fail to accept the application for supervision according to law, the parties have the relief channels to apply to the procuratorate at the next higher level for supervision, which broadens the channels for safeguarding rights, and forces the procuratorial organs to perform their duties and accept the application for supervision from the standpoint of level supervision.

4. New types of ex officio supervision cases

Three new cases of ex officio supervision have been added and a bottom-up clause has been added, especially the case of false litigation has been included, thus broadening the scope of ex officio supervision. "Major" and "necessary" situations need to be independently judged by the procuratorate, which gives the procuratorate more room for ex officio supervision. The newly added People's Procuratorate initiates supervision procedures for civil cases ex officio, and is not restricted by whether the parties apply for retrial. This is of great significance to the parties. For some cases that have failed to apply for retrial, if they are unable to apply for supervision, if they fall within the scope of ex officio supervision, they can provide clues to the procuratorate to continue legal procedures.

5. New Implementation Supervision

The new rules stipulate that the people's procuratorate may issue a "notice explaining the implementation of the case" to the people's court and make procuratorial suggestions to the people's court at the same level. A special chapter is also set up to provide for enforcement supervision. Civil cases from filing, trial, adjudication to enforcement, including the enforcement of civil non-litigation enforcement basis such as arbitral awards and notarized creditor's rights documents, no matter which link there is illegal situation, the procuratorial organ has the right to supervise in accordance with the law.

If a lawyer finds that the people's court is negligent in performing its duties or is passive or delays execution during the execution of the lawsuit, he may provide clues to the procuratorate, which may request the court to explain the execution and reasons or make procuratorial recommendations to the people's court at the same level.

6. Increased the specific work of the expert consultation and argumentation system and access to the provisions of the sub-volume

(1) According to the "Supreme People's Procuratorate's Civil Administrative Litigation Supervision Case Expert Consultation and Demonstration Work Measures", the new rules increase the relevant content of organizing expert consultation and demonstration.

(2) The new rules implement the requirements of the CPC Central Committee on exploring the system of reviewing the main and secondary volumes together, increase the relevant provisions of the court's litigation files and secondary volumes, and further improve the working mechanism of case review, investigation and verification.

Guidelines for the Process of the Rules for the Supervision of Civil Litigation by the People's Procuratorate