Guangzhou Internet Court opens its first online court session

The Guangzhou Internet Court opened its first session since its establishment on Oct 25, handling an online shopping contract dispute.

The court, situated at Pazhou Internet Industrial Cluster District, is 20 kilometers away from the plaintiff and over 1,200 kilometers from the defendant in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

The parties and the judges were connected through a video call and the entire session -- presenting the evidence, questioning and debating -- was carried out online.

According to the court more than 55,000 users have registered on the online litigation platform since Sept 28 and the court has received 1,163 filing applications, valued at more than 26 million yuan ($3.74 million). Most of the disputes alleged violations of the right to network dissemination of information under Internet service contracts

The plaintiff, defendant and judges connect to each other by video during the first court session of the Guangzhou Internet Court on Oct 25. [Photo/court.gov.cn]