? On December 24, 2021, the 32nd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress voted to adopt a decision on amending the "Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China". The Civil Procedure Law will come into effect on January 1, 2022. This revision is mainly a special revision for the pilot reform of the separation of traditional and simplified civil litigation procedures in the People's Court. 7 new articles have been added, 26 articles have been revised, the relevant procedural rules and litigation-mediation docking mechanism have been improved, and the online litigation mode, etc. This article analyzes the impact of the revision of the Civil Procedure Law on commercial banks from the perspectives of reform of small claims litigation procedures, improvement of online litigation rules, expansion of the scope of sole trial, and optimization of judicial confirmation procedures, and proposes relevant countermeasures.
Reform of small claims litigation procedures
The revised "Civil Procedure Law" stipulates relevant procedures for small claims litigation. Except for six types of prohibited application situations, other facts are clear and rights and obligations are clear. , the dispute is not serious, and small claims litigation procedures can be applied to cases where the subject amount is less than 50% of the average annual salary of employees in the previous year. In addition, if certain conditions are met, the parties may also agree to apply the small claims procedure. The legislation encourages small claims lawsuits to be "concluded in one court session and the judgment pronounced in court" to reduce the burden of back-and-forth litigation for the parties.
? Online litigation rules are improved
The revised Civil Procedure Law clarifies the legal effect of online litigation and improves online litigation rules such as electronic service. Civil litigation activities are conducted online through information network platforms and have the same legal effect as offline litigation activities. The application of the online mode has enhanced the convenience and speed of litigation, and can also better protect the legitimate rights and interests of the parties during the normal epidemic prevention and control period.
Expansion of the scope of single-person trials
? The revised "Civil Procedure Law" has expanded the scope of application of the single-person system. First-instance ordinary procedure cases and second-instance cases can be applied if legal conditions are met. The single-appointment system solves the long-standing criticism of the so-called independence in form and reality in the practical community, and at the same time provides a more diverse model for judges to hear different civil cases.
Optimization of judicial confirmation procedures
? The revised Civil Procedure Law reasonably expands the scope of application of judicial confirmation procedures, which extends to mediation agreements reached through mediation by legally established mediation organizations . In addition, the rules for judicial confirmation of case jurisdiction have been optimized. In other words, all types of legal and standardized mediation agreements can be subject to corresponding judicial confirmation and then enter the execution procedure.
Countermeasures of commercial banks
In view of this, commercial banks should scientifically study and judge the impact and changes brought by this revision of the "Civil Procedure Law" on bank legal practices. In the Internet era, civil When the litigation system is transformed and upgraded, we should make good use of relevant litigation opportunities that are beneficial to banks and take active measures to better safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of banks.
? Promote the independent hearing of cases involving the delivery of announcements. Because the defendant's whereabouts are unknown or he deliberately avoids participating in the litigation, in practice, many cases involving commercial banks are announcement service cases. Due to the original legal provisions, only ordinary procedures can be applied. Commercial banks should seize the powerful opportunity of the revision of the "Civil Procedure Law" and strive to convert cases that were originally announced under the ordinary first-instance procedure at the grassroots level into single-appointment cases with clear basic facts, clear rights and obligations, and uncomplicated cases. At the same time, they should use the "Civil Procedure Law" The notice service period of the "Procedural Law" has been shortened from 60 days to 30 days, which is a substantial benefit, effectively shortening the trial process and speeding up the disposal progress.
? Promote online litigation and rights protection for individual human cases. According to the latest standards of jurisdiction, the number of cases handled by grassroots courts will be even heavier than in the past, and the difficulty in filing individual cases faced by commercial banks, such as credit card cases and online credit products, will also become more prominent. In addition, it is also necessary to overcome the adverse impact of the epidemic prevention and control period on litigation work. Accordingly, commercial banks should actively handle litigation cases through online methods such as online filing applications and participation in online court hearings, further increase the number and proportion of online litigation, and ensure the orderly advancement of rights protection work.
Judging from the Shanghai court system, a full-process online case handling system focusing on the simultaneous formation of electronic files with the case, online court hearings, reform of the electronic file system, and the application of intelligent auxiliary case handling systems has been basically formed. Implementation work is also constantly being improved and advanced. Accordingly, on the one hand, commercial banks can choose to conduct all or part of the procedures online based on individual cases to further enhance litigation convenience and achieve high-quality, efficient and low-cost dispute resolution. On the other hand, the evidence can be further fixed and improved to improve online litigation through evidence retrieval from a third-party evidence deposit system, on-site verification of "manual review in Weijie Loan business work" and creditor's written confirmation in the post-loan collection process. Winning rate. In addition, Article 16 of the Civil Procedure Law stipulates that online litigation can only be conducted with the consent of the parties, but it does not clearly stipulate that the consent of both parties is required. On the one hand, commercial banks can agree in advance contracts to use online litigation procedures for future disputes; on the other hand, they can also unilaterally apply for online litigation when future disputes cannot reach an agreement.
? Promote small claims proceedings in a timely manner. After the revision of the Civil Procedure Law, the trial period for small claims litigation cases is 2 months, with a maximum of 3 months, which is simple and efficient. On the one hand, commercial banks use the procedural autonomy granted by law to apply small claims litigation procedures in advance or during the event for businesses such as litigants appearing in court to respond to lawsuits, bank card overdrafts, bank card installments, and personal online loans with relatively small amounts. On the other hand, if the case is found to be relatively complicated or unfavorable to the commercial bank, the procedure can also be converted through the court's ex officio conversion and the parties' objections.
? Promote diversified resolution of financial disputes. As the Civil Procedure Law expands and improves the jurisdictional rules for people's mediation applications for judicial confirmation, commercial banks have more options when dealing with disputes arising from financial products and services with customers. As long as a mediation organization is established in accordance with the law and the agreement reached through mediation by the mediation organization falls within the scope of judicial confirmation, it is no longer limited to the original "gold adjustment and silver adjustment". In addition, the parties to the mediation agreement also have more jurisdictional options. They can apply for judicial confirmation to the people's court of the domicile of the parties, the location of the subject matter, and the location of the mediation organization. Commercial banks can make choices based on the principle of optimality.
? Strengthen communication and coordination with the court. In practice, a large number of first-instance cases will be handled by grassroots courts, and commercial banks must work hard to create value in litigation work. On the one hand, we actively respond to new types of financial dispute cases that are difficult and complex and have universal legal application guidance, strengthen communication and coordination with the courts, and avoid adverse case effects. On the other hand, in view of the clear facts and simple legal relationships of bank-type main lawsuit cases, commercial banks should strengthen cooperation with the courts and establish a speedy adjudication model for financial cases by participating in the docking of the judicial system and the application of blockchain technology.