Cross-jurisdictional case filing begins nationwide

Litigants can enjoy the service of cross-jurisdictional case filing across the country starting Wednesday, thanks to Chinese courts' increasingly intensified efforts in giving people easier access to litigation this year.

Cross-jurisdictional case filing means a litigant is allowed to initiate a lawsuit in a court close to them, even when it has no right to hear the dispute, according to a the Supreme People's Court, China's top court.

"The new service will make litigation much easier, quicker and more convenient," said Qian Xiaochen, head of the top court's case filing division.

He made the remark at a press conference on Wednesday, noting the move is to implement a key requirement raised by President Xi Jinping during a conference on political and legal work at the beginning of this year.

Now, litigants or their lawyers can submit materials of civil, commercial, administrative and ruling enforcement disputes to the closest court at the intermediate or district level to their residence, and the court will be responsible for reviewing and transferring the documents to the court that has the right to deal with the case, he said.

The court with jurisdiction to hear the disputes should file cases as quickly as possible after receiving the transferred materials and checking them as qualified, and they also are ordered to give a quick response or feedback to litigants in a timely manner, he said.

"The cross-jurisdictional case filing can reduce the cost and time that litigants or their attorneys spend on traffic, and avoid their traveling to faraway courts again and again," he added.

The top court launched a pilot program for the service in some courts, such as those in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province in July. By Monday, the pilot courts had offered the cross-jurisdictional case filing service for 19,471 disputes, according to statistics released by the top court.

"We'll improve the quality and efficiency of the service to resolve more problems of litigants in lawsuits," Qian added.