Recently, the “five-step reform for case trial and trial supervision management” submitted by the Chenzhou Area of China (Hunan) Pilot Free Trade Zone was included in the six batch of best practice cases from pilot free trade zones released by the Ministry of Commerce. It has become an important model in the field of building a law-based business environment in China. It’s also the only innovative achievement in the judicial field selected by Hunan province this time.

In response to the problems of inconsistent legal application, insufficient trial supervision, and long litigation cycles in the trial of enterprise-related cases in the Chenzhou area, the system integrates five key steps of legal basis retrieval, similar case retrieval, related case retrieval, evidence rule application and legal rule application, and constructs a standardized and refined trial workflow.

The entire process from filing to execution has been optimized by implementing the substantive operation of the “three-item search”, standardizing the process of evidence presentation and cross examination, and unifying the judgment scale of similar case.

Since the implementation of the reform, the quality and efficiency of trials have significantly improved.

As of the end of 2024, the average processing time for enterprise related cases in the Chenzhou area was only 28.72 days, 50.42% faster than other cases. The core indicators such as case mediation and withdrawal rate, as well as the rate of accepting judgement without further appeals, ranked among the top in the province.

The satisfaction rate of litigation services increased from 79.9% in 2022 to 92.1% in 2024.

This reform not only enhances judicial efficiency, but also optimizes the regional business environment. After the pilot reform began in 2023, the Chenzhou area has introduced 77 projects worth over 200 million yuan, and added 6,196 new business entities, with the total number reaching 12,600.

Good laws and effective governance have become the core competitiveness of the Chenzhou area for its high-quality development.

Chinese source: hunantoday