On July 22, Haikou Maritime Court openly heard an administrative case of dispute over compensation for house demolition and relocation in the locality of Sanya. The Court’s Vice President Jian Wancheng, as presiding judge, together with other experienced judges sat on the collegial bench to ensure the quality of the trial. It was the first case accepted by Haikou Maritime Court and heard at its Sanya Tribunal since the reform on practicing jurisdiction over administrative cases across regions implemented by Hainan courts.

Since the implementation of reform on practice of jurisdiction over administrative cases across regions in May this year, the Court has been actively making preparations in the following aspects to ensure smooth advancement of the reform:

1、Interacting with relevant parties to increase publicity of the reform

By holding meeting with Sanya Municipal Bureau of Justice and lawyer’s representatives from the locality on the practice of jurisdiction over administrative cases across regions, the Court is able to understand the major types of the administrative cases in Sanya and anticipate situations that may arise from such disputes, and hence explore and establish a mechanism to enable quick response to the major and public-concerned group disputes. The Court is also able to increase the publicity of the reform by illuminating the detailed reform measures, paving the way for efficient filing, acceptance and trial of cases.

2、Introducing better services for the people

First, the Court has introduced case filing windows both at its Sanya Tribunal and head office to enable litigants to file a case without having to go far, and to provide more accessible and efficient litigation services. Second, it has established a trial mechanism in which Sanya Tribunal will take the lead with support from the head office. That means, generally, a cross-regional case will be heard at Sanya to reduce the litigation burden on litigants. Third, simple administrative case with clear facts and explicit legal relationships will be directly handled by Sanya Tribunal to improve the efficiency of dispute resolution.

3、Studying the characteristics of administrative disputes

The Court also arranged a study tour for its administrative trial team to the Intermediate People’s Court of Sanya, to have better understanding of the types and characteristics of local administrative cases, and to study the situations of work and the tendency of such disputes, so as to anticipate and develop a trial philosophy and unified judgment standard to address the types of cases with high frequency.

Haikou Maritime Court vows to make more efforts in providing more accessible and fair judicial services and resolving disputes, and by advancing the reform on the practice of cross-regional jurisdiction over administrative cases, to provide better judicial services for the building of a law-based, internationalized, and enabling business environment for the free trade port.