China to streamline legal proceedings

BEIJING -?China will streamline legal proceedings by sorting between complex and simple legal cases, according to a circular issued by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Tuesday.

The SPC called for elaborate processes on complicated cases, and emphasized simplified procedures for simple or self-evident cases for optimal allocation of judicial resources.

The circular listed several measures to improve efficiency, including simplified paperwork, pretrial conferences for out-of -court settlement and online servicing of legal instruments.

The circular also advocated smart case handling, for example, holding hearings via remote video.

Chinese courts at all levels have accepted 14.3 million cases this year, more than 80 percent of which were simple lawsuits filed at grass-roots courts.