Online Mediation Rules of the People’s Courts

(Adopted at the 1,859th Session of the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People’s Court on December 27, 2021, and effective as of January 1, 2022)

The Rules are enacted in accordance with the Civil Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Administrative Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China and other laws, in light of actual practices of the people’s courts, for the purpose of facilitating timely dispute resolution by the parties concerned, regulating online mediation activities carried out through the mediation platform of the people’s courts, and improving the efficiency of diversified dispute resolution.
Article 1 The Rules apply to online mediation carried out on the mediation platform of the people’s courts prior to case filing or during the litigation process.
Article 2 Online mediation includes all or part of the mediation activities such as online application, appointment and entrustment, audio and video mediation, preparation of mediation agreement, application for judicial confirmation of mediation agreement, preparation of mediation papers, etc. carried out by the people’s courts, the parties concerned, mediation organization or mediator through the mediation platform of the people’s courts.
Article 3 Online mediation may be carried out in disputes which can be mediated or reconciled according to laws, such as civil disputes, administrative disputes, enforcement disputes, criminal private prosecution disputes and incidental civil actions in criminal proceedings in which the accused or the offender has not held in custody.
For online mediation of administrative cases, criminal private prosecution cases and incidental civil actions in criminal proceedings, where the laws and judicial interpretations stipulate otherwise, such provisions shall prevail.
Article 4 When adopting online mediation, the people’s courts shall obtain the consent of the parties concerned and take into account the specific circumstances, technical conditions and other factors of the cases.
Article 5 Judges of the people’s courts, full-time or part-time mediators, specially-invited mediation organizations and specially-invited mediators, as well as other organizations or individuals invited by the people’s courts, may carry out online mediation.
The basic information, scope of dispute acceptance, areas of expertise, charging or not of an online mediation organization and mediator, and the information of the people’s court that makes the invitation shall be made public on the mediation platform of the people’s court for the convenience of the parties to make choices.
Article 6 People’s courts may invite eligible foreigners to join the mediation platform of the people’s courts to participate in the mediation of civil and commercial disputes in which one or both parties concerned are foreigners, stateless persons, foreign enterprises or organizations.
Eligible Hong Kong and Macao residents may join the mediation platform of the people’s courts to participate in the mediation of civil and commercial disputes in which one or both parties concerned are residents, legal persons or unincorporated organizations from Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or Macao Special Administrative Region, or Hong Kong or Macao-funded enterprises in the Mainland.
Eligible Taiwan residents may join the mediation platform of the people’s courts to participate in the mediation of civil and commercial disputes in which one or both parties concerned are residents, legal persons or unincorporated organizations from Taiwan or Taiwan-funded enterprises in the Mainland.
Article 7 Before filing a case or during a lawsuit, the case-filing or adjudicating personnel of the people’s courts, if they believe that online mediation is suitable for the dispute, may fully explain the advantages of online mediation in oral, written, online or other forms, inform the parties of the main forms, rights and obligations, legal consequences, operating methods, etc. of online mediation, and guide the parties to give priority to online mediation to resolve their dispute.
Article 8 Where the parties concerned agree on online mediation, they shall fill in their identity information, brief description of the dispute, effective contact phone number and electronic address for receiving litigation documents on the mediation platform of the people’s court, and upload electronic litigation application materials. A party concerned shall avoid duplicate submission if it has submitted application materials for electronic case-filing on the electronic litigation platform.
Where it is indeed difficult for the party concerned to fill out or submit electronic case-filing application materials, the people’s court may assist the party concerned in digitalizing and uploading the paper materials to the mediation platform of the people’s courts.
Article 9 Where parties concerned apply for online mediation before case filing, the people’s court concerned shall return the application and handle it respectively in any of the following circumstances:
(I) Where the dispute is not within the scope of case acceptance, the people’s court shall inform alternative means of dispute settlement available to the parties concerned;
(II) Where the people’s court that has established an inviting relationship with the online mediation organization or mediator selected by the parties has no jurisdiction over the dispute, the people’s court shall inform the parties to select a mediation organization or mediator invited by the people’s court with jurisdiction over the dispute to mediate the dispute;
(III) Where online mediation is inappropriate for the dispute, the people’s court shall inform the parties to go to the litigation service hall of the people’s court to handle mediation or case filing procedures on site.
Article 10 Where one of the parties concerned agrees to conduct online mediation before case filing, the people’s court shall designate a mediation organization or mediator after seeking its opinion.
Where both parties concerned agree to conduct online mediation, they may jointly select a mediation organization or mediator from the online mediation organizations and mediators confirmed by the court having jurisdiction over the case. Where the parties concerned agree that the people’s court shall designate a mediation organization or mediator, or are unable to jointly select a mediation organization or mediator within two business days after agreeing to conduct online mediation, the people’s court shall designate a mediation organization or mediator.
The people’s court shall designate a mediation organization or mediator within three business days after receiving the application for online mediation from the parties concerned.