V. Normalized Disclosure

Sunshine is the best preservative, and information disclosure is an important weapon to prevent and combat corruption. President Xi Jinping called on us to promote justice with transparency, uphold integrity with transparency, be more aware of proactive disclosure and acceptance of supervision, and leave no room for under-the-table operation and judicial corruption. “We should not only realize justice, but also realize it in visible ways.”“Impartiality and justice lead to clean governance, integrity creates authority”. Judicial transparency is critical for raising the public credibility of judicial organs and consolidating the authority of law. At the 24thmeeting of the standing committee of the 12thNational People's Congress held on November 5, 2016, the Supreme People's Court made the Report on Deepening Judicial Transparency and Promoting Judicial Justice. The Report said that judicial transparency had expanded from three to four platforms (judicial process, court trial, judgement document, and enforcement information), indicating considerable progress, and informatization had played an extremely important role in this process and had become the main driving force of judicial transparency.

i. Open process makes trials transparent

Concerned parties in a lawsuit are most concerned with to which stage the case has proceeded and what measures the judge has adopted. The website China Judicial Process Information Online has the “case inquiry” function, whereby the concerned parties and their agents ad litem, from the day the lawsuit was accepted, can log on the website anytime to inquire about and download information about the case with their valid ID number and password. In this way, they can stay posted with specific case information at each stage, from case registration, case distribution, opening court session, extending time limit of trial all the way to appeal. In addition to inquiry by concerned parties, the court also pushes process information through other channels like SMS and WeChat. As of the end of December 2016, courts of all levels had publicized 2.62 billion pieces of judicial process information in total and pushed 34,769,000 short messages, facilitating the concerned parties to participate in litigation.

Local courts pay close attention to process disclosure too. Following the request for judicial transparency by the Supreme People's Court, the provincial court systems have successively set up litigation service centers and integrated IT applications like electronic screen, inquiry touchscreen and litigation service counter management system, in a bid to provide full-process and one-stop informatized services for litigation participants. They basically realized automatic push of process nodes with short messages and provided convenient services such as inquiry about judicial process on touchscreen. From the day the case was accepted, concerned parties can inquire about judicial process information, and they and their agents ad litem can inquire about specific case information anytime to understand its progress. The High People's Court of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region launched the website of judicial disclosure to provide courts in the region with a wide range of convenient online applications, including reservation for case registration, case inquiry, electronic delivery, online file review, petition through letters and visits, and contact the judge. The website also has a window of “court session notice” for all courts in the region, and is linked with their judicial systems, so visitors can view on this website the court session notices issued by all regional courts. People's Court in Rongcheng, Shandong Province innovated in the carrier of information disclosure. Based on the three disclosure platforms that disclose judicial process information, judgement document and enforcement information, it introduced the “QR code” technology into judicial service. By scanning the QR code, concerned parties are able to see the serial number of the case, the department and judge in charge, their phone number, time of court session, time limit of trial, and other process nodes, so they can understand the case progress anytime and the judicial process is made more transparent. All these efforts are aimed at all-round supervision over judicial process, leaving no room for under-the-table operation and judicial corruption. Information technology is applied and innovative measures are adopted to provide more convenient, targeted and personalized judicial services for the people, effectively raise the quality and efficiency of judicial work, and enable the people to exercise the right of action more easily.

ii. Live streaming of court trial realizes “seeing is believing”

Court trial is the most important judicial activity of the court. In April 2016, the Supreme People's Court published the revised Rules of People's Courts,which expressly prescribed that the public can sit in on open court trials. However, this practice is limited by many conditions, so the effect is far from satisfactory, but such limitations are overcome by online live streaming, and the trial can be opened to a larger scope of the public.

According to the rules made by the Supreme People's Court, starting from July 1, 2016, all open court trials of the Supreme People's Court would be streamed online on principle. Regarding those with intensive public attention, major social influence and great significance for legal publicity and education, local courts can open the trial via video, audio or text and pictures on TⅤ and the Internet, so as to give a strong impetus to online streaming of court trials.

To adapt to the new situations, the Supreme People's Court launched China Court Trial Online, a website that opens court trials in China, in September 2016. Comprehensively covering courts of four levels, the website presents a multitude and a large variety of court trials on the new media platform, so the public can understand the whole process of trial quickly and easily, thus lowering the threshold to sitting in. It also makes the disclosure of court trial more efficient and reduces management cost for the court. As the unified and authoritative open court trial platform for all courts in China, China Court Trial Online, after upgrade, is the fourth platform for judicial disclosure after China Judicial Process Information Online, China Judgements Online and China Enforcement Information Online, marking a new historical stage of judicial transparency.

To make sure that live streaming of court trial is standard and orderly, the High People's Court of Jiangsu built a unified trial live streaming platform for courts in the province, which supports such platforms as official court website, Weibo, WeChat, and smartphone APP. Courts in Jiangsu also innovated in the way of live streaming based on the case. For instance, if the case involves privacy of the concerned parties, the trial is only streamed to a limited group of people via mailbox; if the case catches close attention in the society, is complicated and live streaming of it is risky, only key links will be streamed in the form of short video. Given the fact that judicial resources are in short supply because of the sharp increase of lawsuits in the period of social transition, Jiangsu courts worked with relevant companies to upload the livestreamed court trials to online mediation platforms to provide references to concerned parties.

iii. China discloses most judgement documents in the world

Judgement document is an important carrier of trial results. Publicizing judgement document is not only of great importance for promoting the rule of law, studying the law, guiding cases and unifying the award standards, but can also force the courts at all levels to substantially improve the level of trial and deepen the reform of judgement document. Therefore, unlike the disclosure of judicial process information that mainly targets the concerned parties, judgement documents, which carry the results of court trial, must be delivered to the concerned parties and be disclosed to the society on the principle that “online is the principle, offline is the exception”. In November 2013, the Supreme People's Court launched China Judgements Online, the unified platform that discloses judgement documents of all courts in China. Unless they involve state secrets, juvenile crimes, case closed through mediation, divorce or the custody of minor children, all other judgement documents issued by courts of all levels are disclosed on this website. In December 2015, the website was re-launched after revision. It added judgement documents in five ethnic languages (Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, Korean and Kazakh), and provided intelligent search service in the whole network, so as to better meet the diverse needs for judgement documents by all ethnic groups and all walks of life.

In eye-catching positions on the homepage of China Judgements Online, data like the number of judgement documents added on the current day and the total number of visits are displayed. The public can view valid judgement documents issued by courts of various levels anytime on the Internet. China Judgements Online is the largest website of judgement documents in the world, covering more than 200 countries and regions. By December 31, 2016, it had publicized more than 25.5 million judgement documents and been visited 4.72 billion times accumulatively.

The website also provides functions such as quick search association, guide tree, “click to share” and “scan barcode to read” in its efforts to provide the best user experience. On August 30, 2016, the Supreme People's Court issued the revised Rules on Publicizing Judgement Documents Online by People's Courts(FS [2016] No.19), which widened the scope of judgement documents that could be put online. In the past, judgment documents were publicized collectively by a specific organization, but now they are automatically publicized on the casehandling platform by the judge in charge with a simple click.

iv. A long way to go in disclosure of enforcement information

Enforcement is the last gate that ensures the judicial award is implemented and the rights and interests of concerned parties are guaranteed. It is the key to raising judicial credibility. The disclosure of enforcement information is an important content of judicial transparency. In 2016, China Enforcement Information Online, one of the four platforms of judicial disclosure, shouldered the arduous task of helping overcome enforcement difficulties in addition to its primary mission of transparent enforcement. To overcome the difficulties in enforcement, the Supreme People's Court stepped up efforts for enforcement disclosure. The platform that publicizes the list of persons who refuse to perform court award launched in October 2013 was renamed China Enforcement Information Online in 2016, on the homepage of which were links to “persons subject to enforcement”, “legal documents of enforcement” and “enforcement process”. The website publicizes process information of cases enforced by courts nationwide, list of persons who refuse to perform court award, information of persons subject to enforcement, judgement documents of enforcement, and other relevant information, so as to facilitate inquiry by concerned parties and accept public supervision. As of the end of December 2016, 76.24 million pieces of enforcement information had been publicized on the website accumulatively. To further strengthen the management of enforced capital and truly safeguard the legal rights and interests of concerned parties, the Supreme People's Court created a webpage that discloses notices about the receipt of enforced capital on November 21, 2016, which was linked to China Enforcement Information Online. On this new webpage, courts that carry out the enforcement publicize information about enforced capital for which they couldn't reach the concerned parties.

Local courts at different levels also combined enforcement with the establishment of social credit reference system. They publicized on local platforms information about persons subject to enforcement and about restrictions on them in travelling abroad, bidding and tendering and highvalue consumption, in an effort to advance the establishment of the credit punishment mechanism. Based on the big data ecosphere, Zhejiang province gathered nearly 1,000 items of data on 45 dimensions, such as marriage, credit, e-commerce, socializing, finance, traffic and housing, from 15 departments including public security, transport, real estate, banks and exit & entry authority. In this way, it is able to comprehensively evaluate the concerned party's characteristics, behavioral preference, asset status, and credit history, and display information about the persons subject to enforcement on multiple dimensions and in all aspects. It also creatively developed the “credit portrait” system of persons subject to enforcement, which provides important references for judge's handling of cases and judicial enforcement.

To strictly regulate the process of “end this enforcement”, the Supreme People's Court printed and distributed the Rules on Strictly Regulating the “End This Enforcement” Process(trial)on October 29,2016.The Rules stipulated that the written verdict ordering the “end this enforcement” process should be publicized online according to law. To strengthen the supervision over and management of cases to which “end this enforcement” process is applied, bjcourt.gov.cn, the judicial information website of Beijing courts, publicizes the number of cases applying that process undertaken by courts under its jurisdiction and the specific cases, including such information as serial number of the case, person(s) subject to enforcement, date of case registration, date of case closure, written verdict ordering “end this enforcement”, and reported tips.

To regulate judicial auction,the Supreme People's Court issued the Rules on Several Matters Concerning Online Judicial Auction of People's Courts(FS[2016]No.18) in 2016, which specified the principle of online judicial auction for property auction conducted by people's courts. As of October 31, 2016, more than 1,600 courts in 14 provinces and cities nationwide carried out online judicial auction.

To make bankruptcy cases, which are closely related to enforcement, open and transparent, the Supreme People's Court launched the Information Website of National Bankrupt Enterprises Recombination Cases on June 23, 2016. This platform consists of three parts-information network of national bankruptcy and recombination cases, judge's work platform of bankruptcy cases, and work platform for bankruptcy managers, the first part being an online information platform that releases various types of information about bankruptcy cases based on classification and on the principle of complete process disclosure. To ensure the smooth operation of this platform, the Supreme People's Court formulated and handed down the Rules on Information Disclosure of Bankruptcy Cases(trial)(F[2016]No.19)and the Notice on Trying Bankruptcy Cases According to Law and Promoting the Relief and Liquidation of Bankrupt Enterprises Actively and Properly(F[2016]No.169),among other documents.

Judicial transparency brings the concerned parties deeply into the process of trial and of forming the final award, and dismisses their mistrust in the court and the judge. It enhances judicial credibility, and convinces the concerned parties, deep at heart, to accept the award, give up appeal and conscientiously perform the obligations prescribed in the valid legal document. Full participation and transparency exposes the judge's every word and deed to supervision, and consequently urges them to become more competent and adjust the old work style, and remind them that in a transparent environment, so they must be cautious with what they say and do at work and exercise judicial power in accordance with law.