Beijing courts will launch a pilot program to test out new
regulations on dealing with evidence-related issues in lawsuits,
according to Qin Zheng'an, president of
Beijing High People's Court.
The new regulation aims to improve fairness and efficiency in the
judicial system, Qin declared at a conference yesterday.
In
recent years, many problems have occurred during the adjudication
process especially in lawsuit litigation, Qin said.
The fact that there did not use to be any time restrictions on
citing evidence resulted in some litigates abusing the system,
which not only damaged the legal rights of their counterparts, but
also influenced the quality and efficiency of case handling.
Some litigates and witnesses have faced threats to their safety for
citing evidence in court, because some related rules have not been
fully applied, he said.
Furthermore, many litigates even doubt the fairness of judges,
after some courts appear to have abused their authority on
investigations and in their collection of evidence, the president
added.
The question appears to be how to determine the effectiveness of
appraisals, poly-appraisals and double evaluation, leading to
unresolved cases.
Another big problem is that the witnesses, who always issue written
evidence, seldom appear in court for questioning, he said.
He
Rong, vice-president of the court, said that the new regulation
urges the exchange of evidence in courts dealing with civil and
administrative actions, as well as in criminal cases.
According to He, the regulation will provide a norm for all courts
belonging to the capital on evidence appraisal and
investigation.
More importantly, the regulation will serve as a test stone on
exploring the best methods available to deal with such issues, as
some areas of the law are currently not able to regulate such
matters.
Wan Exiang, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, praised
the efforts of the Beijing High People's Court.
The regulation has set an example for other courts in other
provinces and cities, Wan said.
"The regulation will instill new blood to the current judicial
system and will especially provide an important reference for the
drafting of a long-awaited law on evidence," he said.
With China's approaching accession to the WTO, more effort is
needed to improve and to make clear the process, results and
documents of the adjudication, Wan said.
(China
Daily 09/26/2001)