Court branch opens near Disneyland

Photo taken on May 6, 2016 shows a general view of the Shanghai Disney Resort in Shanghai. The Shanghai Disneyland, Disney's first theme park in the Chinese mainland, is set to open on June 16. [Photo/Xinhua]

To effectively prepare for possible crimes and lawsuits connected with the highly anticipated Shanghai Disney Resort, the city's Pudong New Area People's Court established a mediation and litigation center near the park on Wednesday.

"As a considerable number of visitors will be from other parts of the country, or even from overseas, and will stay for only a couple of days in Shanghai, we set up the center to fast-track court procedures and will provide visitors with one-stop service," said Fu Yuming, vice-president of the court.

The resort made a trial run on May 7, with its official opening scheduled for June 16. Shanghai Shendi Group, Disney's Chinese partner, has forecast that the mainland theme park will draw 10 million visitors annually.

"With such a colossal number of visitors to the Disney Resort, we estimate that disputes in ticketing, catering, accommodation, tour contracts and consumption may rise," Fu said. "And we also need to guard against criminal activities that endanger public security and personal and property safety."

Disputes have arisen since the resort's trial run began, Fu said, but he declined to give a number.

Court services, including mediation, case registration, submission of evidence, getting in touch with a judge, resolution of sentencing objections and judicial aid, will be all available at the center, the court said.

"If someone comes to the center to report a problem, we'll try our best to carry out mediation on the spot," Fu said. "We hope more disputes can be resolved by pre-litigation mediation, and we will try to be fair and to maintain the rights and interests of the parties involved no matter whether they are Chinese or foreigners."

Information about lawsuits and reported crimes will be updated frequently and shared with the police, market watchdogs and consumer rights protection councils to encourage businesses to show integrity and honesty, the court said.

The center was inspired by an earlier tribunal the Pudong court established during the World Expo in 2010, said Chen Weifeng, a publicity officer at the court.

The tribunal, which existed for a year, both during and after the expo, received 185 cases altogether. More than 90 percent of those were resolved by mediation before trial.