Supreme People's Court

Courts in China published over 8.1 million new judgment documents on China Judgements Online from January to November in 2024, marking a 67.3 percent increase year-on-year, said the Supreme People's Court (SPC) of China, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.

The SPC has taken multiple measures in 2024 to promote judicial transparency and increase the online availability of judgment documents, said Si Yanli, deputy head of the SPC's Research Office, at a press conference held by the SPC on Thursday. The substantial increase in the number of published documents broadened the scope of trial areas and case types, making fairness and justice more visible and tangible.

Improvements were also observed in the quality of published judgment documents. Si said that the number of judgment documents newly published by the SPC and various high people's courts is fivefold compared to the same period last year. The number of judgment documents involving substantive hearing published online by courts nationwide also saw significant growth, with the number of new verdicts increasing by 99.8 percent year-on-year.

The SPC released a document about the Sixth Five-Year Plan for Reform of the People's Courts (2024-28) on Thursday. 

Si said that, the SPC will focus on improving the mechanisms for disclosing judicial information, such as judgments, court proceedings, and trial processes in accordance with the reform requirements outlined in the document.

The SPC will draft guidelines on judicial transparency, enhance mechanisms for monitoring, tracking, and analysis, and regularly publish judicial data. Additionally, the SPC will clarify the rules for providing and using judicial data externally, said Si.

Si also emphasized safeguarding national data security, personal information, and enterprise rights while promoting judicial transparency. The measures include improving anonymization rules for published judgment documents and the rules for court hearing disclosures, as well as enhancing oversight of improper uses of publicly available judicial information.