China to expand the use of online courts

China's top court said on Friday it will further promote the country's courts at all levels to handle cases via online means as an effort to reduce trouble for the public.

By the end of the year, online case filing, fee payment and document delivery should be available at all courts nationwide, Liu Guixiang, a full-time member of the judicial committee of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), said at a conference held in Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei province.

By the same time, at least 10 percent of first instance civil cases should be registered online, Liu said, adding that online evidence exchanges and hearings should be fully practiced at more than 10 provincial- or city-level courts.

In the past five years, China has pushed forward court service reform based on information technology.

More than 86 percent of courts, 3,525 in total nationwide, have established highly smart service centers open to the public as of now, while 76 percent have set up online portals for the service, according to the SPC.

All parties, including litigants and lawyers, can handle their affairs through the internet.

For some, they don't even need to physically show up at a courthouse. Instead, they can "appear in court" through computers and mobiles.

In August last year, the world's first internet-based court was inaugurated in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. The average online hearing lasted about 25 minutes.

"Compared with traditional methods of litigation and hearings, the online court greatly saves time and trouble for the public, " said Li Jianli, director of the Informatization Construction Office at the Higher People's Court of Hebei.