February 2023
Karl Zhang and Teresa Huang
On January 19, 2023, the Supreme People’s Court issued the Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues concerning the Handling of Cases Applying for Enforcement Supervision (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”), which came into effect on February 1, 2023. The main contents of the Opinion are as follows:
1. Scope of Enforcement Supervision
If a litigant or an interested party is not satisfied with a ruling on enforcement reconsideration made by a people’s court in accordance with Article 232 of the Civil Procedure Law, and applies to the people’s court at the next higher level for enforcement supervision, the people’s court shall file the case, except as otherwise provided by any law, judicial interpretation or the Opinions. If the applicant for enforcement believes that a people’s court should take enforcement measures but fails to do so, and applies to the enforcement court to take enforcement measures, the people’s court shall promptly review and deal with the case, and generally shall not file a case of enforcement objection.
If a litigant is not satisfied with a ruling on enforcement and applies to the people’s court for reconsideration or enforcement supervision, in any of the five circumstances as stipulated in the Civil Procedure Law or relevant judicial interpretations, such as a person who is not a party to the case raising an objection to the enforcement of the subject matter and being not satisfied with the ruling on the objection, or a people’s court having ruled to deny enforcement of an arbitral award, the people’s court shall explain the legal provisions or statutory remedies to the person in an appropriate manner, and generally shall not accept the case as an enforcement reconsideration or enforcement supervision case. If an applicant applies to the people’s court for enforcement supervision over a ruling on enforcement reconsideration made by a people’s court regarding a ruling on reconsideration, or applies to the people’s court for another enforcement supervision after a people’s procuratorate has decided not to put forward a prosecutorial suggestion on the applicant’s original application, such enforcement application shall not be accepted.
2. Time Limit for Enforcement Supervision Application
If an applicant is not satisfied with a ruling on enforcement reconsideration and applies to the people’s court for enforcement supervision, with reference to Article 212 of the Civil Procedure Law, the application shall be made within six months after the date on which the ruling on enforcement reconsideration becomes legally effective. If an applicant applies to the people’s court for enforcement supervision because the time limit for filing an objection to the enforcement or for applying for reconsideration has expired, the application shall be filed within six months from the date of expiration of the time limit for filing an objection to the enforcement or for applying for reconsideration. If an applicant applies to the people’s court for enforcement supervision after the aforesaid period, the people’s court shall not accept the application, and if the application has been accepted, the people’s court shall rule to terminate the examination.
If an applicant is not satisfied with a ruling on enforcement reconsideration made by a high people’s court, the applicant shall apply to the high people’s court of the original trial for enforcement supervision; however, the Supreme People’s Court shall accept an application for enforcement supervision in the following cases: (1) the applicant has no objection to the basic facts and examination procedures determined by the ruling on enforcement reconsideration, but considers that there is an error(s) in the application of law; (2) the ruling on enforcement reconsideration has been discussed and decided by the judicial committee of a high people’s court.
3. Ways and Forms of Concluding Such Cases
In addition to the ways of concluding cases as stipulated in Article 26 of the Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues concerning the Filing and Conclusion of Enforcement Cases, an enforcement supervision case may be concluded by any of the following ways: (1) rescinding the ruling on enforcement objection and the ruling on enforcement reconsideration and remanding the case to the court who made the ruling on enforcement objection for re-examination; or rescinding the ruling on enforcement reconsideration and remanding the case to the court who made the ruling on enforcement reconsideration for re-examination; or (2) dealing with the case as the application for enforcement supervision having been withdrawn; (3) terminating the examination. If a people’s court examines an enforcement supervision case, it shall generally make a ruling on enforcement, but if it does not support the application, it may issue a notice of rejection according to the specific circumstances of the case.
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