Law [2023] No. 88
Issued by the Supreme People's Court
The Supreme People's Court on the Application of Law
Please indicate the notification of the provisions of the response
The Higher People's Courts of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the Military Courts of the People's Liberation Army, and the branches of the Production and Construction Corps of the Higher People's Courts of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region:
The Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Requests for Answers to Questions Concerning the Application of Law are hereby issued to you, please carefully organize and implement them. If you encounter any situations and problems during the implementation process, please report them to the Supreme People's Court in a timely manner.
Supreme People's Court
May 26, 2023
Supreme People's Court
Provisions on requesting answers to questions about the application of law
I. General Provisions
Article 1: These Provisions are drafted on the basis of relevant laws and judicial interpretations, and in conjunction with the actual conditions of trial work, so as to regulate people's courts' efforts to request answers to questions on the application of law, strengthen trial oversight and guidance, and increase judicial fairness and efficiency.
Article 2: In any of the following circumstances, the Higher People's Court may submit a request to the Supreme People's Court:
(1) Where laws, regulations, judicial interpretations, normative documents, and so forth do not have clear provisions, and there are major disputes over the applicable law;
(2) There are major disputes over the understanding of the specific meaning of laws, regulations, judicial interpretations, normative documents, and other provisions;
(3) Where there are major changes in the objective circumstances on which judicial interpretations or normative documents are based, and the continued application of relevant provisions clearly violates fairness and justice;
(4) The adjudication rules for similar cases are obviously inconsistent;
(5) Other major disputes over the application of law.
Where the application of technology-related intellectual property rights and anti-monopoly laws falls under any of the circumstances provided for in the preceding paragraph, the people's court of first instance may submit a request to the Supreme People's Court for instructions.
When the Supreme People's Court deems it necessary, it may request the lower people's court to report the relevant circumstances.
Article 3: Requests for instructions on the determination of the facts of a case must not be submitted.
II. Instructions
Article 4: Requests to the Supreme People's Court shall be discussed and decided by the adjudication committee of that court, and opinions on the application of law shall be submitted, and the reasons explained; Where there are divergent opinions, the preferred opinions shall be clearly stated.
Article 5: Requests for instructions shall be reported level by level in accordance with the level of review.
Article 6: The people's court submitting the request shall draft a written request in the name of the court, briefly stating the application of law to the request, and draft a comprehensive report on the request, indicating the following content:
(1) The issue and origin of the application of the law requested;
(2) The collegial panel and adjudication committee's discussion of the application of law to the requested instructions, divergent opinions, and their respective reasons;
(3) The search situation of similar cases;
(4) Other circumstances that need to be reported;
(5) Contact persons and contact information.
Where a higher people's court requests instructions from the Supreme People's Court on the application of law to the instructions requested by the basic or intermediate people's courts, it shall also attach a comprehensive report on the instructions requested by the lower level people's court.
The comprehensive report on requests for instructions and instructions shall be submitted to the Case Filing Division of the Supreme People's Court together with the electronic text.
3. Handling
Article 7: The Supreme People's Court's case filing division shall complete its review within three working days of receiving the requested materials. Where the requested materials meet the requirements, the case number shall be compiled and handled separately in accordance with the following circumstances:
(1) Where the scope and procedures of the request are met, it shall be accepted and the department undertaking the request shall be determined;
(2) Where it does not fall within the scope of the request, or violates the procedures for requesting instructions, it shall not be accepted, and the people's court that submitted the request shall be notified in writing.
Where the materials requested do not meet the requirements, the people's court that submitted the request shall be notified at one time to supplement them within the specified time limit.
Article 8: The Supreme People's Court's Case Filing Division shall follow the following provisions to determine the department handling the request:
(1) Where the issue of the application of law requested involves the specific meaning of the provisions of judicial interpretations or normative documents, or falls under similar issues targeted by judicial interpretations or normative documents, the drafting department is to undertake it; where there are multiple drafting departments, the main drafting department shall undertake it;
(2) Where it does not fall under the circumstances provided for in the preceding paragraph, the department undertaking the request is determined based on the division of duties.
Where it is difficult to determine the department undertaking the case, it shall be determined by the case registration division in conjunction with the research office.
Article 9: After the handling department receives the materials for instructions transferred by the case registration division, and upon review finds that it does not fall within the scope of that department's duties, it shall return it within three working days through consultation with the case registration division; If the consultation fails, it shall be reported to the leaders of the branch management court for approval, and then returned to the case registration division to resubmit the opinions of the branch office. Relevant departments must not transfer or transfer on their own.
Where other departments find that requests for instructions should be handled by that department, they shall report to the leaders of the branch management court for approval and submit opinions to the case registration division.
Article 10: The undertaking department shall designate a special person to handle the request. After the undertaker studies and puts forward opinions on handling, the undertaking department shall organize collective research.
For the application of law to the requested instructions, the undertaking department may consult with the relevant departments in the hospital to jointly study, or after putting forward preliminary handling opinions, solicit the opinions of the relevant departments in the hospital. When necessary, the opinions of relevant departments or experts outside the hospital may be solicited.
Article 11: The handling department shall report the handling opinions to the leaders of the branch management court for approval. When necessary, the leaders of the branch court may report to the president for approval or request that the adjudication committee discuss and make a decision.
Before reporting to the leaders of the branch management institute for approval, the undertaking department shall send the handling opinions to the research office for review. The laboratory generally issues an audit opinion within five working days. Where the research office raises different opinions, the undertaking department shall make an explanation when reporting to the leaders of the branch management institute for approval.
Article 12: The Supreme People's Court shall separately handle it in accordance with the following circumstances:
(1) Give a clear answer to the question of the application of law to the request, and specify the basis for the response;
(2) Where it does not fall within the scope of the request for instructions, or violates the procedures for requesting instructions, it will not respond, and notify the people's court that submitted the request in writing;
(3) Where the Supreme People's Court has responded to the same or similar questions on the application of law, it may not respond and inform the people's court that made the request of the relevant circumstances.
Article 13: The Supreme People's Court's response shall be made in the name of the court.
Replies are generally in writing. Where it is made in other forms such as telephone replies, the manuscript and other materials shall be retained for future reference.
After the response is made, the undertaking department shall promptly upload the response to the inquiry database.
Article 14: The Supreme People's Court shall handle the request as soon as possible, and conclude it within two months of accepting the request at the latest. Where it is necessary to solicit the opinions of relevant departments outside the court or submit it to the adjudication committee for discussion, it may be extended for two months.
Where due to special reasons it cannot be completed within the time limit provided for in the preceding paragraph, the handling department shall, after reporting to the leadership of the branch court, promptly notify the people's court that submitted the request, and send a copy to the trial management office.
When necessary, the relevant people's courts may be reminded to modify compulsory measures in accordance with law for requests for instructions on issues involving the application of criminal law.
Article 15: The people's court that submitted the request shall enforce the Supreme People's Court's response, but must not be cited as the basis for a judgment.
Article 16: Responses that may be made public shall be released to the public by the Supreme People's Court through appropriate methods.
4. Other provisions
Article 17: The Supreme People's Court shall compile a case number for the response to the handling of a request, and the type code is "Fa Fu".
Article 18: In the course of handling responses to requests for instructions, the Supreme People's Court finds that the issue of the application of law to the request is universal and representative, and has a particularly significant impact, it may notify the lower level people's court to transfer the relevant case to that court for trial in accordance with law.
Article 19: Where the response to the issue of law application has general guiding significance, the people's court that submitted the request may draft a case and recommend it to the Supreme People's Court as an alternative guiding case.
Article 20: When necessary, the Supreme People's Court may draft judicial interpretations to make clear the application of law to requests for instructions.
Article 21: The Supreme People's Court shall establish special modules and inquiry databases for its own courts to handle requests for responses, and carry out informationized handling, intelligent management, and digital analysis and application of requests for responses.
The Trial Management Office is responsible for the process management and quality evaluation of requests for responses.
Where the handling department fails to conclude the case beyond the time limit provided for in article 14 of these Provisions, the trial management office shall request that the handling department explain the circumstances in writing, urge it to conclude within the time limit, and make a report as appropriate.
Article 22: Submissions and handling of requests for instructions and other such work shall comply with relevant provisions on confidentiality work.
Article 23: Where basic level or intermediate people's courts submit requests for instructions on the application of law, and intermediate or higher people's courts handle issues on the application of law, these Provisions apply by reference.
Article 24: All higher people's courts and PLA military courts shall, before January 31 of each year, submit the court's responses made in the previous year to the Research Office of the Supreme People's Court.
Article 25 These Provisions shall take effect on September 1, 2023. Where previous normative documents are inconsistent with these Provisions, these Provisions shall prevail.
Source: Supreme People's Court