On February 25, 2015, the official website of China's Supreme People's Court's posted the 4th Five Year Reform Plan. In addition to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s leadership, the other basic principles it cites are: independence of judicial power; neutrality; procedurality; and finality (all distinguished from "Western style" judicial independence).
The highlights of the proposed reforms are:
It sets specific deadlines for reforms or structures for reforms to be put in place (some by end 2015, others by end 2016, 2017, 2018);
Requires greater transparency in a broad range of areas, ranging from the assignment of judges to the handling of property seized or confiscated by the courts;
Focus on measures to cut back on local protectionism, such as cross jurisdictional courts, focusing in particular on major administrative cases, environmental cases, bankruptcy cases, food safety cases and others, by changing jurisdictional provisions in administrative cases, environmental cases, and others);
Sets out details on what the Court means about hearing centered procedure, and imposes a goal of end 2016 to establish a hearing centered system, as having evidence presented and reviewed at the hearing, both parties being given a chance to be heard, requiring witnesses and experts appear at hearings; assumption of innocence, exclusion of illegally obtained evidence (and establish systems for determining and excluding such evidence);
In the area of criminal justice, provides better protection to defendants and their counsel, such as prohibiting criminal defendants from being forced to wear prison clothing, shackles, etc., idea that the prosecution and defense have equal status in the criminal process, better judicial review of individuals whose freedom is restricted;
In civil cases, evidence must be reviewed at trial and major disputed evidence must be highlighted in the judgment or ruling and whether the court is relying upon it;
Reforms internal court procedures and roles, particularly that of the court president, members of the judicial committee, and heads of division, requiring documentation of communications with the judge or judges handling the cases, as well as focusing the judicial committee on legal questions;
Changes the relationship between the higher and lower courts so that they operate independently;
Prevents judicial corruption in a variety of ways, such as improving the judicial auctioning process, confiscation of property, and much more transparency;
Calls for establishing a system of integrating Party disciplinary systems (in anti-corruption cases) with court punishment systems;
Calls for establishing a more professional personnel system for judges and a judicial selection system;
Setting up a system for preventing interference in court cases by requiring notes, etc. from leaders to be retained in the file and made available to parties and their counsel;
Improving the military courts.
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