CHINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Wenxuan Lu, Kangda Law Firm
Solicitation of opinions on the issuance of the Minutes of the Financial Trial Work Conference The Supreme People’s Court solicited opinions from the financial sector on the formulation of the Min- utes of the Financial Trial Work Conference through financial regulatory bodies and several large financial institutions. The Minutes of the Financial Trial Work Conference provide guidance on common and com- plex focal issues in financial cases by the Supreme People’s Court. Under China’s judicial system, this document is of a legal nature and will directly guide judicial decisions. The insurance chapter of the min- utes will profoundly inform insurance judicial adjudi- cation rules. Jurisdiction Establishment of specialised financial courts In recent years, in order to create a favourable finan- cial legal environment, enhance China’s international influence on the financial judiciary, and establish a fair, efficient and authoritative financial trial system, China established three specialised financial courts – the Shanghai Financial Court in 2018, the Beijing Financial Court in 2021 and the Chengdu-Chongqing Financial Court in 2022. These financial courts centrally handle financial civil and commercial cases, financial admin- istrative cases and financial enforcement cases that should be accepted by the Intermediate People’s Courts in their respective jurisdictions. Raising the standards for trials in Intermediate and High People’s Courts Over the past few years, China has raised the stand- ards for first-instance civil cases in the Intermediate and High People’s Courts. In 2019, China increased the threshold for the subject matter jurisdiction of first- instance cases in the High People’s Courts to over CNY5 billion, and in 2021 China raised the thresh- old for the subject matter jurisdiction of first-instance cases in the Intermediate People’s Courts to over CNY500 million (or over CNY100 million if one and only one party’s domicile is not within the provincial administrative region of the accepting court). These adjustments aim to: • further implement the relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Law regarding hierarchical jurisdic- tion;
In recent years, China’s insurance law has undergone significant transformation and reform. In terms of leg- islation, the fundamental law governing the insurance industry – the Insurance Law – is undergoing its fifth revision and continues to solicit opinions from vari- ous sectors of society. Additionally, the Minutes of the Financial Trial Work Conference, which directly guide judicial decisions in insurance, are also open for public consultation and are expected to be released soon. In terms of supervision, the central government has enacted significant reforms by dissolving the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) and establishing the National Financial Reg- ulatory Administration (NFRA), which marks a new chapter in China’s insurance regulatory framework. The NFRA has undertaken responsibilities from the People’s Bank of China (Central Bank) concerning the protection of financial consumers, introducing a series of policies to further enhance consumer rights protec- tion. These changes have influenced judicial decisions on insurance contract disputes, especially those con- cerning personal insurance contracts. In terms of jurisdiction, the specialised financial courts established in recent years have brought together judicial teams to concentrate on insurance trials. They have published typical cases concerning insurance contract disputes, which have had a significant impact on insurance trials nationwide. Legislative Developments Solicitation of opinions on the revision of the Insurance Law Recently, China continued to solicit opinions from all sectors across the country on the revision of the Insur- ance Law. The Insurance Law of China was enacted in 1995 and has been revised four times, in 2002, 2009, 2014 and 2015 – the upcoming revision will be the fifth. The goal of this revision is to address the promi- nent issues that have arisen during its implementation over the years. As the fundamental law in the insur- ance legal area, the fifth revision of the Insurance Law will have a profound impact on the resolution of insur- ance disputes.
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