China Opens Its 2nd ‘Internet Court.’ Yes, China Has Internet Courts!

Where do you go when you encounter an internet-related issue? Well, China has an internet court dedicated to resolving internet-related disputes of the citizens.

With the internet-savvy population crossing the 800 million mark, the East Asian nation has established two internet courts and a digital litigation portal that oversees the issues related to business transactions, intellectual property, domains, online shopping, and personal information.

The commonly received cases in China’s internet courts include lending, service contracts, copyright infringement cases, domains, etc., as reported by Xinhuanet, China’s government-run news agency.

According to An Fengde who is the vice president of Beijing Higher People’s Court, the number of internet-related cases is on the rise since the past three years. In the first eight months of 2018, the court tried 37,631 cases which are 24.4% more than the ones received last year in the same period.

The first internet court opened in 2017 in Hangzhou, the e-commerce hub of the country. Now, another internet court has been opened in Beijing’s Zhongguancun Fengtai Science Park. 38 judges with 10 years trial experience are staffed in the court. Complainants can reach the court 24 hours a day via a digital litigation platform.

Proceedings of such cases including lawsuit filing, mediation, hearing, and judgment can be accessed online. The Supreme People’s Court announced rules about internet court’s jurisdiction and operation last week and also announced that the third internet court would be opened in Guangzhou this month.

How are such cases handled in your country? Tell us in the comments section and keep reading Fossbytes.

Also Read: Google Is Creating A “Censored” Search Engine For China: Report