Good progress made in mainland-Hong Kong judicial assistance in civil, commercial matters

BEIJING -- A report issued by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Friday noted that good progress has been made in judicial assistance for civil and commercial matters between the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).

An initial interregional judicial assistance system with Chinese characteristics has been put in place thanks to active explorations from concerned bodies of the SPC and the Hong Kong SAR in the years following Hong Kong's return to the motherland, according to the report.

A total of eight arrangements for judicial assistance in civil and commercial matters were signed between the mainland and the Hong Kong SAR, with six already in effect.

An arrangement for the mutual serving of judicial documents in civil and commercial proceedings between the mainland and Hong Kong courts and an arrangement for mutual assistance in the collection of evidence in civil and commercial matters have greatly reduced procedural obstacles in the handling of trans-regional civil and commercial cases, said Si Yanli, deputy head of the SPC's Research Office, at a Friday press conference.

Cases involving the serving of judicial documents, entrusted by one of the two sides to the other, have risen in number from 359 in 1999 to 2,382 in 2020, with the total topping 29,000, according to the report.

Si said further efforts will be made to improve the judicial assistance system between the mainland and the Hong Kong SAR, such as exploring the possibility of signing documents in areas like mutual assistance for bankruptcy cases.