On the afternoon of 29 April 2016, we held a lecture on issues in connection with maritime administrative trial. The lecture was delivered by our special guest Qian Bin, chief judge of the Administrative Division of the Higher People’s Court of the province.

Mr Qian first briefly introduced the establishment, development and purpose of the administrative litigation system. He explained how administrative litigation clearly differed from civil and criminal proceedings, focusing on competent courts, subjects of litigation, principle of legality examination, distribution of burden of proof, and standard of proof. He then instructed in difficulties presented after the implementation of the new administrative litigation law. He explored and shared his insight into issues such as plaintiff qualification, justiciability of meeting minutes and auction of the right to use state-owned land, types and results of administrative judgments, examination of non-litigious enforcement cases, and reconsideration authorities becoming co-defendants by affirming the original administrative acts.

Mr Qian further outlined the general administrative trial practices in our province, and put forward the following suggestions about our administrative litigation trial practices taking into account the assessment of our administrative cases made by the Higher People’s Court of the province: first, necessary litigation guidance should be provided in complicated cases where civil and administrative litigation overlapped, various administrative acts were involved, and a number of defendants or interested persons were concerned. Second, the significance of court hearings should be exerted to help solve disputes. Third, site investigations should follow standard procedures and detailed records should be kept. Fourth, the role of collegial benches should be given full play, and comprehensive collegial consideration should be applied in connection with case facts and application of law. Fifth, judgments should be in correct formats and contain detailed descriptions of the administrative acts involved and their courses. Sixth, communication and coordination should be maintained with administrative authorities concerned and other competent authorities at the municipal and provincial levels in order to properly solve disputes.