Recently, a trial team headed by Jian Wancheng, member of the Party leadership group and vice president of Haikou Maritime Court, visited the Justice Bureau of Sanya, with a view to implementing the requirements of the province’s high court that encouraged the practice of jurisdiction over administrative cases across regions. The team also met with lawyers from the locality.

Xu Kezheng, secretary of the Party leadership group of the bureau, and Ji Duanrong, the bureau’s chief, introduced the general information of the administrative cases brought against the municipal government of Sanya in recent years, and the major measures and problems when administrative organs responded to these lawsuits. Further discussion on detailed implementation of the high court’s reform measures on cross-regional handling of administrative cases was also held between the parties, and a preliminary consensus in the following aspects was achieved. These measures included strengthening pre-litigation coordination, fostering diversified dispute resolution mechanism, exploring an applicable judicial confirmation scheme for administrative disputes, enhancing judicial transparency and publicity by jointly releasing administrative adjudication white paper, and putting in place a communication mechanism for the handling of major and sensitive cases.

The trial team also visited its Sanya Tribunal and met some lawyers from the locality. The lawyers’ representatives shared the good practices and measures in the handling of such cases based on personal experience, and introduced the major types of administrative cases in Sanya. They also voiced their concerns for the cross-regional jurisdiction reform that different courts might judge the same case differently, and that the courts might not be able to accommodate the needs of trial. The lawyer representatives also shared their thinking in aspects like enhancing judicial publicity, unifying judgment standards and building a diversified dispute resolution mechanism.

In response to the problems found during this survey, Haikou Maritime Court will make enabling measures and plans promptly, enhance communications and coordination with other courts, strengthen the court’s capability, and continue to improve the diversified dispute resolution mechanism, so as to advance the reform smoothly.