Guangzhou a forerunner of judicial reforms

Metropolis pioneers innovations in local regulations, creating many firsts in legal system nationwide

Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, launched a campaign called the "rule-of-law show" in late October, singling out 10 eminent middle-aged and young jurists and another 10 eminent legal professionals through public appraisal.

The event drew attention nationwide with the organizer receiving 15.38 million votes.

The event not only showcased the major achievements the city has made in the rule of law since China began its reform and opening-up in 1978, but also encouraged jurists and legal professionals to do better and pool legal professionals of a high caliber for the city.

"The rule-of-law show", which made its debut in 2018, and the selection of outstanding legal professionals are both firsts of their kinds in China, helping to enhance legal awareness among the public.

Guangzhou is a vanguard in the rule of law in China. It has trail-blazed rule-of-law practices ranging from legislation, administration, judicature, supervision, police service and public security to the promotion of law, setting up many examples of "Guangzhou experiences" for other cities to follow.

Legislation

As a provincial capital, Guangzhou was authorized to make regional regulations in 1986. The city became a pioneer over the past three decades, establishing a system and mechanism for making local regulations scientifically and democratically.

The city has issued 79 local regulations that are still in effect. Its regulation on law-based administration is the first on the Chinese mainland. Also, its regulation on categorization of household garbage made headlines in China's most influential media. Regulations on donations and public libraries have been used as models by many other cities and provinces in China.

The success stories of Guangzhou's legislation are attributable to the participation of local people by means including online broadcasts as well as through scientific approaches by virtue of Internet Plus and big data, experts said. Both endeavors are firsts in China.

One example is the online broadcast in 2017 of the regulation of parking lot construction and management. The standing committee of Guangzhou people's congress, the local legislature, telecast the on-the-spot debates live and opened online dialogue for four days, gaining 15.08 million clicks and 2.12 million votes from the public. The website received 369 million visits, official statistics indicate.

To ensure the high quality of legislation, Guangzhou has set up the nation's first smart legislation management system. Its operation and monitoring take place entirely online for the process of legislation, which includes: smart search and text comparisons of laws and regulations, real-time release of legislation news, smart statistics and analysis of regional regulations as well as seeking public opinions.

Guangzhou also hinges heavily on internet portals and social media platforms for public feedback before those regulations closely concerned with citizens are planned.

Law-based administration

Guangzhou attaches great importance to rule-of-law administration. It is the first city on the Chinese mainland to hammer out regulations on law-based administration.

Revealed in 2017, the regulations stipulate the process for administrative policymaking, norms for administrative law enforcement, supervision and mechanisms for law-based administration.

The regulation won the Chinese Law-based Government Award in 2018 for exploring a concrete path for a law-based government, experts said.

Guangzhou a forerunner of judicial reforms

As one of the first batch of pilot cities to carry out the system of publicity, videoing of administrative law enforcement, as well as the reviewing system in case of major administrative enforcement, Guangzhou has rolled out detailed measures. These have gained the affirmation of the central government for their duplicability and applicability.

Among them, the city's pioneering approach of publicizing administrative law enforcement data, which lets the public access data related to the city's administrative law enforcement at all levels in the previous year, has gained many online "likes". It also aroused extensive attention in Chinese media and was adopted by the State Council for nationwide promotion.

Some media outlets deemed the measure an innovative reform while others called it a top 10 innovation for the improvement of the business environment.

The city has pioneered guidelines for the demarcation of administrative law enforcement from judicial law enforcement. It was also a forerunner of rolling out guidelines for transferring administrative law enforcement cases to judicial organs to prevent the government from abuses of power.

These efforts have paid off. The city has been rated one of the top five law-based governments nationally for six consecutive years and it has been crowned a model city of law-based governance.

Judicial system

In October 2017, Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court launched China's first professional collegiate bench for efficient trials of transnational "Belt and Road" civil and commercial disputes. Cases are marked with a QR code for filing and trial management system access.

In March 2018, the first base of the Supreme People's Court for judicial reform and innovation research and practice was unveiled at Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court. In September of that year, China's third internet court - Guangzhou Internet Court - was launched.

The effort of the city's procurator to protect juveniles is exemplary. In May, the organ launched an online database detailing those who have done harm to juveniles to help avoid potential risks to children. About 600 pieces of information have been uploaded to the system, which have been accessed by about 20,000 people so far.

Meanwhile, the police in Guangzhou has helped to turn the city into one of the safest worldwide with their trailblazing attempts.

The city has China's first police service call platform "110", a vanguard social security system, and a professional task force to tackle telecom and internet crimes. The city's public security organs have set up legal affairs departments to review criminal cases, while making the review and administrative reconsideration open and transparent.

Guangzhou is also the first city in China that has pledged to make public law services more convenient and available. It has mapped out a three-year plan for developing the smart administration of justice.

The city has set up a network of 2,897 public law service outlets at different levels citywide.

Guangzhou took the lead in operating such public law service programs as smart notarization, smart correction and smart mediation online in 2018. It has launched a city-level 24-hour smart public service hall, the nation's first mobile phone instant notarization platform, and the nation's first 5G city-level public law service center and standard research base this year.