Di Wu
In order to effectively protect the right of a party to apply for retrial and thoroughly and effectively resolve administrative disputes, as well as leverage the administrative trial practice of the people’s courts, the Supreme People’s Court formulated the Regulations on Issues in the Handling of Administrative Applications for Retrials (the “Regulations”) in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China. The Regulations, which went into effect on April 1, 2021, is specifically highlighted below:
1. Clarification on the scope of cases accepted by the Supreme People’s Court
The Supreme People’s Court shall grant the following administrative applications for retrial if the laws and regulations applied in the original decisions and rulings are shown to be erroneous in fact: (1) cases providing general guidance in the application of law nationwide; (2) cases with a significant impact in the entire country or certain provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities under the direct jurisdiction of the State Council; (3) cases that cross provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities under the direct jurisdiction of the State Council; (4) major cases involving foreign elements or the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macau Special Administrative Region, and the Taiwan area (5) cases involving significant national interests and social and public interests; (6) cases discussed and decided by the judicial committee of a higher people’s court; and (7) other cases that the Supreme People’s Court considers should be retried.
2. Stipulation of cases that can be heard by a higher people’s court
The Supreme People’s Court may decide to have the higher people’s court that rendered the effective decision or ruling review the matter if the filed administrative retrial application is subject to any of the following circumstances: (1) the basic facts of the case were unclear, the litigation procedure was improper, or litigation claims were omitted; (2) there is a large number of retrial applicants or third parties; (3) the higher people’s court review would be more appropriate to resolve the administrative dispute; or (4) any other circumstance by which the Supreme People’s Court believes that such case can be tried by a higher people’s court.
3. Other
For a judgment or ruling that has taken legal effect in which the fact-finding and the application of law were correct, and the party requesting the retrial has not established the grounds for doing so, the Supreme People’s Court may decide on its own to reject the retrial application. If the parties are not satisfied with the decision or ruling of the people’s court, they may apply to the People’s Procuratorate to lodge their protests or seek procuratorial suggestion in accordance with law.