CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Yue Dai, Zhenghao Li and Xiaokun Yuan, King & Wood Mallesons
The inspection procedure In practice, the inspection procedure plays an important role in determining the existence of product defect and causation. A party may apply to a court for an inspection to determine whether a product is defective or the cause of the injury. The inspection will be conducted by inspection institutions with appropriate qualifications or by judicial inspection institutions, which are either appointed based on an agreement between the parties or designated by the court. If necessary, the court may also decide to appoint an inspec - tion institution on its own motion. As mentioned in 2.8 Rules for Expert Evidence in Product Liability Cases , the plaintiff or the defendant may also apply to introduce an expert to give an opinion on the inspection opinion. 2.10 Courts in Which Product Liability There are no special courts or procedures for product liability cases. However, if a prod - uct liability dispute is relatively simple and the amount in dispute is relatively small, a simplified procedure or small claims procedure may apply. These two types of procedures are more flexible and are concluded more quickly than the nor - mal procedure for civil litigation. In addition, the judgment or ruling of the first instance court in a small claims procedure is final and not subject to appeal. District Jurisdiction In a contractual dispute the parties may, by writ - ten agreement (subject to the statutory rules on hierarchical jurisdiction and exclusive jurisdic - tion), select the court at the place of: • the domicile of the defendant; • the signing or performance of the contract; • the domicile of the plaintiff; Claims Are Brought Courts and Procedures
• the location of the subject matter; or • any other place with an actual connection to the dispute. In the absence of a prior agreement of the par - ties, the court at the place of the domicile of the defendant or where the contract is performed will have jurisdiction over the case. Product liability claims based on tort are under the jurisdiction of the court at the place where the tortious act occurred or the domicile of the defendant. In addition, courts in places where the disputed products are manufactured or sold also have jurisdiction over such claims. Accord - ingly, the infringed party may file the lawsuit to any of the competent courts. Specifically, the place where the tort occurred includes the place where the tortious conduct was committed and the place where the conse - quences of the tortious conduct occurred. If the manufacturer and seller are domiciled in China, the Chinese courts will, without a doubt, have jurisdiction over the proceedings. If the manu - facturing and selling take place outside China, the manufacturer and seller may still fall under the jurisdiction of the Chinese courts if the dam - Depending on the amount in dispute, a civil dis - pute may be heard by courts at different levels including district courts, intermediate courts or high courts. The precise threshold for each level of court to hear a case varies by region. In practice, since the underlying amount in product liability cases is relatively small, these cases are usually heard by the district courts. age occurs within China. Hierarchical Jurisdiction
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