China inaugurates its 3rd, 4th circuit courts

BEIJING -- China opened a third and fourth Circuit Court of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) in eastern Jiangsu province and Central Henan province on Dec 28.

The Third Circuit Court in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, will mainly handle major administrative, civil and commercial cases that should be heard by the SPC in the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Shanghai Municipality.

The fourth court in Henan provincial capital Zhengzhou, will cover the four provinces of Henan, Shanxi, Hubei and Anhui.

According to the SPC, the two courts will help meet local demand in the two densely populated regions.

First opened in 2015, circuit court judgements, orders and decisions are equal to those of the SPC.

The first two, in southern city of Shenzhen and northeastern city of Shenyang have helped in cases that involve more than one administrative region since Jan 2015, providing easier access for the general public, said the SPC.

Also on Wednesday, a revised judicial interpretation on circuit courts was published by the SPC and enter into effect, setting out plans for a fifth and sixth circuit court in Chongqing Municipality and Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province.

Cases from Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong and Inner Mongolia Autonomous region will be handled directly by SPC headquarters.

The Fifth Circuit Court will cover Chongqing, Tibet autonomous region and provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan. The Sixth Circuit Court will handle cases in provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia Hui autonomous region and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.