Today, The Supreme People’s Court printed and distributed Guiding Opinion on Several Issues Regarding Proper Hearing of Civil Case related to COVID-19 according to Law Released by the Supreme People’s Court (1) (Hereinafter referred to as Opinion) to put forward 10 specific measures for people’s courts to properly hear civil case related to COVID-19, safeguard people’s legitimate rights and keep social and economic order and stand up for social equality and justice.
Opinion points out that people’s courts at all levels,based on the general planning to promote prevention and control of COVID-19 and social development, shall adequately realize the adverse influence of COVID-19 on economic society, give full play to the judiciary to regulate social relation, take an active part in governance at litigation source, put particular emphasis on Alternative Dispute Resolution and give priority to mediation, encourage litigants to achieve reconciliation and carry out negotiation, share risks, weather the hard times so as to nip the conflict into bud to solve conflict at grass roots.
Opinion defines that rule of force majeure shall be applied accurately and the applicable condition thereof shall be strictly determined. Regarding the contract dispute case as a direct result of COVID-19 or measures for prevention and control thereof, unless otherwise agreed by parties, it is advisable to take the adverse influence of COVID-19 on various regions, sectors and cases into comprehensive consideration and accurately determine causality and causative potency between COVID-19 or measures for prevention and control thereof and failure to fulfill obligation and exempt delinquent party from liability in part or in full according to law . where the party claims partial or full exemption from liability based on rule of force majeure, he or she shall bear the burden of proof for failure to fulfill civil obligation as a direct result of force majeure. Where the party fails to fulfill contract or causes increase in loss involving liability imputation, he or she shall assume relevant liability according to law. If COVID-19 or measures for prevention and control thereof only lead to difficulty in performance of contract, the parties thereto may renegotiate, if the contract is likely to be fulfilled, the people’s court shall intensify mediation to guide relevant parties to continue performance of contract, under such circumstance, if the party requests to terminate contract on the pretext of difficulty in performance of contract, the people’s court shall not uphold it. where keeping on performance of contract is obviously unfair to one party, which requests for change in contract performance period, method of performance, amount of payment, the people’ court shall determine whether to uphold it based on the practical condition of the case. where the contract purpose can not be achieved due to COVID-19 or measures for prevention and control thereof, the party requests for contract termination, the people’s court shall uphold it.
Opinion emphasizes that the relevant provisions in Labor Law and Labor Contract Law shall be accurately applied, where employer claims to sever labor relation with the laborer only because he or she is a confirmed COVID-19 patient or a suspected COVID-19 patient, asymptomatic carrier of COVID-19, quarantined person according to law or he or she is from COVID-19 stricken region, the people’ court shall not uphold it.
Opinion requires that people’s courts at all levels shall enhance guidance and supervision of judicial work of civil case related to COVID-19 and bring professional judges conference and judicial committee into full play, the issue on application of law for major, hard and complex cases shall be subjected to judicial committee for deliberation and resolution in time. The people’s court at a higher level shall strengthen guidance to people’s court at a lower level to ensure unified judicial standard.
In addition, Opinion also defines application of punitive damages, suspension of prescription, extension of prescription, intensification of judicial aid, flexible adoption of preservation measures etc. (Reported by Sun Hang)
Guiding Opinion on Several Issues Regarding Proper Hearing of Civil Case related to COVID-19 according to Law Released by the Supreme People’s Court (1)
In order to implement the spirit of the work conference on deployment to accelerate prevention and control of COVID-19 and economic and social development according to general planning issued by the Central Committee of the CPC, properly hear civil cases related to COVID-19, safeguard legitimate rights and interests of the people, preserve social and economic order, maintain social equality and justice, the guiding opinions are presented according to relevant provisions of law and judicial interpretation as well as experience in judicial practice.
1.To bring judicial service and safeguard into full play, people’s courts at all levels, based on the general planning to promote prevention and control of COVID-19 and social development , shall adequately realize the major influence of COVID-19 on economy and society and give full play to the judiciary to regulate social relation, take an active part in governance at litigation source, put particular emphasis on Alternative Dispute Resolution and give priority to mediation, encourage litigants to achieve reconciliation and carry out negotiation, share risks, weather the hard times so as to nip the conflict into bud to solve conflict at grass roots and properly apply law, balance various interests of parties, protect legitimate rights of parties, serve economic and social development, achieve unity of legal effect and social effect.
2. To accurately apply rule of force majeure according to law. People ‘s court shall accurately apply specific provisions of force majeure in hearing of civil cases related to COVID-19 and strictly determine applicable condition. The civil dispute arising out of COVID-19 or measures for prevention and control of COVID-19 and satisfying legal requirement of force majeure shall be properly handled according to article 180 of the General Provision of the Civil Law of the PRC and article 117 and article 118 of the Contract Law of the PRC or other applicable provisions of the laws or administrative regulations, where party claims partial or full exemption from liability based on rule of force majeure, he or she shall bear burden of proof for partial or full failure to fulfill obligation as a direct result of force majeure.
3.To properly hear contract dispute case according to law. Regarding the contract dispute case as a direct result of COVID-19 or the measures for prevention and control thereof, unless otherwise agreed by parties, it is advisable to take the adverse influence of COVID-19 on various regions, sectors and cases into comprehensive consideration and accurately determine causality and causative potency between COVID-19 or measures for prevention and control thereof and failure to fulfill obligation when it comes to applicable law, the following rules shall be observed:
1) Where COVID-19 or measures for prevention and control thereof directly bring about failure to perform contract, the provisions of force majeure shall be applied according to law so as to deliver a verdict of partial or full exemption from liability based on the extent of the influence of COVID-19 or measures for prevention and control thereof, where party fails to fulfill contract or causes increase in loss involving liability imputation, he or she shall assume relevant reliability according to law; where failure to fulfill contractual obligation arising from COVID-19 or measures for prevention and control thereof and the party claiming that he or she is done his or her duty to give notice in time shall bear the burden of proof accordingly.
2) Where it is difficult to fulfill contractual obligation due to COVID-19 or measures for prevention and control thereof and the parties thereto may renegotiate, where the contract is likely to be fulfilled, the people’s court shall intensify mediation and guide parties concerned to keep on performance of contract, where party requests people’s court to terminate contract under the pretext of difficulty in performance of contract, the people’s court shall not uphold it, where keeping on performance of contract is obviously unfair to one party, which requests for change in contract performance period, method of performance, amount of payment, the people’ court shall determine whether to uphold it based on the practical condition of the case, after change of contract according to law, where the party still claims partial or full exemption from liability, the people’s court shall not uphold it, where failure to fulfill contract purpose due to COVID-19 or measures for prevention and control thereof and the party requests for contract termination, the people’s court shall uphold it.
3) Where the party receives subsidy, enjoys tax credit or gets a grant from others, obtains debt relief due to COVID-19 or measures for prevention and control thereof, the people’s court may take the above mentioned evidence as reference factors for ascertaining whether the contract can be further performed.
4)To handle labor dispute case according to law and intensify coordination with government and relevant departments and encourage employer to offer flexible way of employment according to law and regulation in the period of prevention and control of COVID-19. During hearing of labor dispute case related to COVID-19, the article 26 of Labor Law of PRC and article 40 of Labor Contract Law of PRC shall be adequately applied. Where employer claims to sever labor relation with the laborer only because he or she is a confirmed COVID-19 patient or a suspected COVID-19 patient, asymptomatic carrier of COVID-19, quarantined person according to law or he or she is from COVID-19 stricken region, the people’ court shall not uphold it. Regarding the handling of relevant labor dispute case, the policies and documents on proper handling of labor relation in the period of prevention and control of COVID-19 made by competent administrative departments under the State Council and provincial people’s governments shall be accurately understood and applied accordingly.
5. To apply punitive damages according to law; where there is circumstance stipulated in article 55 of the Law of the PRC on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Consumers or in sub-article 8 of article 148 of Food Safety Law of the PRC or in sub-article 3 of article 144 of the Law on Drug Administration of the PRC or in article 15 of Regulation on Several Issues about Applicable Law for Hearing of Dispute Case over Food and Drug by the Supreme People’s Court in operation and production of anti-epidemic products including mask, goggle, protection suit, disinfectant together with food and drug and consumer claims punitive damages according to law, the people’s court shall uphold it.
6. To suspend prescription of action according to law; where right holder who is unable to exercise right to claim due to COVID-19 or measures for prevention and control thereof claims suspension of prescription according to provision of item 1 of sub-article 1 of article 194 in General Provision of Civil Law of the PRC, the people’s court shall uphold it.
7. To extend limitation of actions according to law, where the limitation period of actions defined by law or by people’s court has expired due to COVID-19 or measures for prevention and control thereof and the party applies for extension of the limitation period based on the provision of article 83 of Civil Procedure Law of the PRC, the people’s court shall take the COVID-19 situation and evidence presented by the party into comprehensive consideration so as to determine whether to permit the application and protect the litigious right of the party according to law. Where the limitation period of actions is expired in the quarantine period of the party on the grounds that he or she is a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patient, asymptomatic carrier and close contact and the party applies for extension of the limitation period of actions, the people’s court shall approve it.
8. To intensify judicial aid, where the party applies for exemption, reduction or deferment of litigation costs to be paid due to economic difficulty in COVID-19 period, the people’s court shall investigate it and make a decision according to law and give judicial aid to the participant in need of judicial aid in proceedings based on his or her application in time.
9. To adopt flexible preservation measures. The flexible attachment of property in litigation or guarantee of property preservation shall be adopted for enterprises including medium, small and micro enterprises and individual business in trouble under the adverse influence of COVID-19 so as to lighten the burden on enterprise and boost enterprise to resume operation and production.
10. To ensure unified application of law. People’s courts at all levels shall enhance guidance and supervision of judicial work of civil case related to COVID-19 and bring professional judges conference and judicial committee into full play, the issue on application of law for major, hard and complex cases shall be subjected to judicial committee for deliberation and resolution in time. The people’s court at a higher level shall strengthen guidance to people’s court at a lower level to ensure unified judicial standard.
Source: Official website of the Supreme People’s Court