On April 25^th, Haikou Maritime Court held a meeting to promote the work of dispatched people’s tribunals and litigation-source governance. Qiu Jun, Secretary of the Leading Party Members’ Group and President of the Court, attended the meeting and made work plans. Present at the meeting included court leaders, chief judges of dispatched tribunals, judges, and judge assistants, as well as the heads of all the relevant departments. The meeting was presided over by Zhong Aiping, a standing member of the Adjudication Committee of the Court.

The meeting conveyed in detail the guiding principles of the provincial courts’ meeting on the work of dispatched people’s tribunals held on March 26^th, reported the performance assessment results of the Court’s dispatched tribunals in 2023, and pinpointed and analyzed the existing problems and weak points. Court leaders also made comments on the work reports submitted by all the dispatched tribunals on the work of tribunals, litigation-source governance, and their efforts in improving the quality and efficiency of trial, as well as case filing and enforcement, and gave specific guidance and requirements for the future work.

At the end of the meeting, President Qiu Jun gave instructions from five perspectives on how to implement the guiding principles of the provincial courts’ meeting on the work of dispatched people’s tribunals and how to substantially promote the work of tribunals and litigation-source governance:

1. Strengthen political consciousness and deepen understanding and thinking

 We must fully understand the significance of the work of dispatched people’s tribunals in the new era and closely follow the requirements given in the Plan of the Supreme People’s Court on Building and Demonstrating Fengqiao-style Dispatched People’s Tribunals, the Implementation Opinions of the High People’s Court of Hainan Province on Promoting High-Quality Development of the Work of Dispatched People’s Tribunals in the New Era, and the Work Evaluation Methods for Dispatched People’s Tribunals of Hainan Province. We must strengthen our political consciousness, deepen our understanding of the significance of the work of dispatched people’s tribunals, and take it an important political task in the immediate future and for some time to come to improve the work of dispatched people’s tribunals in the new era. To give full play to the significant role of these grassroot tribunals, we must concentrate on the building of Fengqiao-style dispatched people’s tribunals and follow the new era main tasks put forward by the Supreme People’s Court to continuously improve the quality and efficiency of the work of tribunals.   

2. Strengthen the guiding role of Party building and enhance tribunal governance

We must always use the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law to arm ourselves intellectually, promote Party building in all stages of the work of the dispatched people’s tribunals, and practice the judicial concept that promotes preemptive prevention of conflicts and ensures both justice and efficiency. Court leaders and tribunal heads must play a dual role in both Party building and trial, study political theories and enhance professional skills to ensure improvement in both Party building and trial and correct political orientation of the judicial work. The Party-Related Affairs Department should strengthen political advancement and Party building, and further enhance the standards and procedures of the Party branches of the tribunals. The Political Department should enhance team building for the tribunals by practicing strict yet generous governance, and rewarding the good and punishing the lazy, so as to raise the spirit of the tribunal staff in doing their work.

3. Adopt a problem-oriented approach and promote coordinated advancement of the work of tribunals

We must tighten regular management. Court leaders and tribunal heads must perform their supervision and coordination duties in the management of cases, peoples and affairs, make continuous efforts to enhance the conduct, discipline and integrity of tribunals, and focus on enhancement in multiple aspects, including their main duties, adjudicative concepts, adjudicative competence, case closure rate, quality and efficiency of trial, and performance assessment of people’s tribunals, helping to improve the quality and efficiency of trial and enhance the credibility and soft power of the tribunals. We must create a stronger synergy. Tribunal staff must consciously enhance their ability to engage with the people, strengthen communication and coordination with the local Party committees and governments, and take the initiative to promote and complete the tribunal work under the leadership of court leaders and tribunal heads. We must make continuous rectification and improvement to address the problems and weak links in the work of tribunals, do research and take solid and effective measures to promote rectification and enhancement, and fully carry out the performance assessment for people’s tribunals, the trial quality and efficiency assessment, and the Court’s annual performance assessment to encourage competition and prevent the cropping up of another problem while one has just been solved.

4. Strengthen communication and coordination and form a stronger synergy

We must uphold the principle of coordinated development of the Court, remove barriers, and perform our respective functions while collaborating with each other. All the business lines, the Case Filing Division, Admiralty Division, Maritime Commerce Division and Enforcement Department should strengthen line management and business guidance to help tribunals to shore up their weak links and improve their capability in case handling and business operations. The General Office should help the tribunals upgrade their infrastructure, improve litigation service guides and supporting facilities, and ensure sufficient personnel and financial support. All the tribunals should closely rely on the local Party committees and governments and take the initiative to seek local financial support, so as to improve their software and hardware facilities and promote IT applications of the tribunals.

5. Strengthen publicity to showcase the achievements of tribunals

The dispatched tribunals should strengthen investigation and research based on reality and the types and characteristics of the cases within their jurisdiction, and summarize the useful experience, good practices and typical cases during their practice, such as case handling, administrating justice for the people, litigation-source governance, and support for the Free Trade Port, with a view to creating distinctive brands of their own. The Research Office should enhance external publicity to further expand the positive influence of the maritime court in improving public awareness of laws and delivering quality cases, taking chance of the building of Fengqiao-style people’s tribunals, releasing the ten typical cases of maritime trial, and speaking through the Court’s official media and mainstream media.

 The meeting also made arrangements for the next stage of work based on the current trial quality and efficiency performance and the practical issues in case filing and enforcement.