China launches maritime trial website

The China Maritime Trial website was officially launched on Monday.

It includes both Chinese and English versions and will serve as a dynamic information-sharing platform for maritime adjudication.

Led by the Supreme People's Court, the website was built by the Guangzhou Maritime Court and covers the maritime adjudication business of 11 maritime courts, their appellate higher people's courts and the SPC.

The website provides intelligent support for maritime judges in case handling and online litigation services such as filings, court hearings and judgements execution for Chinese and foreign parties.

It will also release authoritative maritime judicial information to the public, experts and scholars, and is an important showcase for China's maritime justice to the international community.

Zhou Qiang, president of SPC, said all maritime courts should effectively build and improve the network to further enhance maritime judicial capacity and fully leverage maritime judicature in protecting the marine environment, economic development and safeguarding national maritime rights and interests.

Maritime courts should capitalize on the platform and big data analysis to strengthen maritime adjudication management. Judges should rely on this platform to learn from each other, constantly improve professional abilities and broaden the international vision, he said.

Courts should also closely follow the needs of trial practice and constantly optimize the functions of the website to meet them. The security management of the website should be enhanced to ensure the safety of network operation and data, Zhou said.