Top court to expand blacklist of those who dodge fines

A blacklist of people who refuse to honor court-ordered payments and who have failed to comply with rulings has met with great success and will be broadened this year, according to China's top court.

The blacklist, published in November, reveals details about 31,000 people who have ignored court judgments.

It is published on the Supreme People's Court's website.

The site has been accessed 3 million times, and the blacklist currently posts the names of approximately 75,500 people.

Of these, about one-third were from Fujian province, according to data provided by the court. Behind this statistic is the fact that as an entrepreneurial hub, the province has more commercial dealings than most and its court system is fine-tuned to deal with financial cases.

About 20 percent of those appearing on the blacklist have honored the judgments against them or have sought mediation after their identities were published, the court said, and their names have since been removed from the site.

The top court has shared the blacklist with many other institutions, including 10 banks, the Ministry of Public Security and the China Railway Corp.

"The blacklist names those who ignored court verdicts and has made it more difficult for them to operate in the commercial world," said Liu Guixiang, director of the implementation department at the top court.

Penalizing those who default on their financial obligations had been difficult in the past, "but the problem has been alleviated under the blacklist," said Liu, noting that commercial institutions will not give new loans to those on the list.

Song Haiping, director of the implementation department of the High People's Court in Henan province, welcomes the blacklist, she told China Daily.

She explained that provincial courts select defaulters who should be able to honor their debts, especially targeting those who refuse to pay migrant workers.

"We not only disclose their information, but we also invite the media to expose them," she said.

Sun Yimin, director of the implementation department of the High People's Court in Fujian province, echoed Song, noting that those working in the province's courts have been trained in how to upload defaulters' information.

Generally speaking, defaulters' information will be deleted if they pay off or otherwise honor verdicts, though it might not happen immediately, Sun said.

Lyu Yanbin, associate professor of the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said verdicts must be upheld.

"Implementation is the last step to ensure justice. If someone doesn't honor a judgment, the verdict is just a waste of paper."