Judicial Openness Does Not Mean Mandatory Release of All Judicial Information Online, Says SPC

On December 22, 2023, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) issued the Circular on Soliciting Reference Cases for the People’s Court Case Database, and responded to public concerns about the case database, the court judgment document website (www.court.gov.cn), and openness of judgment documents.

Responding to relevant questions from reporters, SPC stated, “After the case database is completed, it will surely be made open to the public, including experts, scholars, lawyers, concerned parties, etc. Judicial openness does not mean the mandatory release of all judicial information on the Internet. Both the Civil Procedure Law and the Administrative Procedure Law have stipulated that the public can access effective judgment documents, but they do not require that effective documents be centrally disclosed on the same online platform. In the next step, we will adopt a combination of online disclosure and offline query. People’s courts at all levels will continue to regularly release their judgment documents on www.court.gov.cn, and we will strengthen supervision and make face-to-face caution meetings with relevant commercial agencies that make improper use of judgment document data.”