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COVID-19: SPC issues third guidance on handling civil disputes related to pandemic
Practical Law UK Legal Update w-026-1404 (Approx. 3 pages)
COVID-19: SPC issues third guidance on handling civil disputes related to pandemic
| Law stated as at 22 Jun 2020 • China |
The Supreme People's Court has issued a third set of guiding opinions on adjudicating civil claims related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 8 June 2020, the SPC issued the Guiding Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Proper Trial of Civil Cases Involving Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic Cases (III), with immediate effect.
The opinions guide China's lower people's courts in adjudicating civil claims related to the novel coronavirus pandemic and mainly focus on the proper adjudication of foreign-related commercial maritime and transportation contract disputes.
The opinions follow prior guidance issued in April and May 2020. For information on the prior opinions see, Legal updates, COVID-19: SPC issues guidance on handling civil disputes related to pandemic and COVID-19: SPC issues second guidance on handling civil disputes related to pandemic.
According to a SPC press conference on the opinions held on 16 June 2020, the legal issues addressed in the opinions can be divided into four main sections:
- Delays in filing or responding to a lawsuit or completing various procedures or submitting certification documents. For example, the opinions require the people's courts to issue extensions where they find that court filings, notarisations, certification procedures and so on cannot be completed in time due to the pandemic or related prevention and control measures.
- The proper identification of applicable law, including extraterritorial law, under Chinese laws governing conflicts of law, including the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Application of Laws concerning Foreign-Related Civil Relations 2010 and relevant judicial interpretations, and the impact of related treaties, conventions and other binding arrangements to which China is a party.
- Commercial disputes involving foreign elements, commercial maritime and other transportation issues and ship building. The opinions call for the people's courts to accurately determine if and to what extent a delay or a failure to perform a contractual obligation can be attributed to the pandemic or related prevention and control measures.
- Housekeeping issues. The opinions reiterate the need to fast-track cases stemming from the pandemic or related prevention and control measures and permit people's courts to refer to the opinions when hearing relevant commercial maritime cases involving parties from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.