MEDIA FOCUS: She Xianglin, who was wrongly convicted of murduring his wife and imprisoned for 11 years, meets the press after he was acquitted on April 13, 2005 (XINHUA)

Right to sue

In 1982, the NPC Standing Committee promulgated China's first Civil Procedure Law and put it into a trial implementation. "The law was in fact a product of planned economy," said Tang Weijian, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China.

In 1991, the NPC enacted the current Civil Procedure Law. Small revisions were made to the law in 2007, mainly focusing on problems in enforcement and retrial procedures.

Last October, the NPC Standing Committee again started the amendment process of the law.

After repeated research and expert discussion, the NPC Standing Committee's Legislative Affairs Commission had drafted an amendment proposal, said Wang Shengming, Deputy Director of the commission, in March.

"The key is to strengthen the protection of the right to sue," Tang said. "Today, it's more difficult to prosecute because of increasingly high procedural demands."

He attributed the phenomenon to many reasons. "Some people are incapable of filing lawsuits. On the other hand, courts sometimes refuse to accept certain lawsuits, mostly class-action litigations."

Concerning the right to appeal, Tang advises the establishment of a system allowing people to appeal to procuratorates instead of courts. "If the procuratorate considers a court ruling wrong and decides to lodge a protest, the court must retry the case. Prosecutors can oversee the retrial and rectify unjust factors as much as possible to ensure the court makes the correct ruling," he said.

The collection of evidence is another problem to be addressed. "The current Civil Procedure Law stipulates a party shall have the responsibility to provide evidence in support of its own propositions, but it is often difficult for litigants to gather enough evidence," Tang said.

He proposes the enactment of an independent civil evidence law as a possible solution to the problem.

Ability to sue

On October 1, 1990, the Administrative Procedure Law took effect, allowing people to sue for government departments' improper performance of their duties. After 21 years, the NPC Standing Committee decided to amend it.

In the following 21 years, the law ignited burning questions. For example, the law stipulates a citizen, a legal person or an organization has the right to file a lawsuit against a concrete administrative action by an administrative organ or its personnel that has infringed upon his or her or its lawful rights and interests. But it says courts shall not accept actions initiated by citizens, legal persons or other organizations concerning administrative rules and regulations, or decisions and orders with general binding force that are formulated and promulgated by administrative organs.

Ma Huaide, Vice President of China University of Political Science and Law, said the research for amending the Administrative Procedure Law has proceeded for several years. Many experts suggest the inclusion of those abstract administrative actions in the scope of valid lawsuits.

"As more administrative decisions are implemented through abstract administrative actions, such as raising prices and restricting traffic, it's urgent to include those abstract behaviors in the law to effectively supervise and limit such behavior," Ma said.

The current Administrative Procedure Law also stipulates administrative proceedings cannot be mediated.

Ma said the prohibition was adopted due to two considerations. First, administrative power is a kind of public power, which administrative authorities cannot dispose of and concede as they wish. Second, if allowed to mediate, courts or administrative organs may force the plaintiffs to accept unfavorable mediation results.

"But, it's impossible to forbid mediation in practice. In fact, all courts are doing mediation, just only avoiding the term," Ma said. "It's time to consider permitting mediation."

Besides, there is also a problem of suing. Considering the problem, the Supreme People's Court has proposed a method of allowing plaintiffs to petition to higher-level courts when their prosecutions are dismissed. The higher-level courts would require lower-level courts to handle the lawsuits.

"In practice, the method has proved to be ineffective," Ma said. He proposes to allow procuratorates to interfere in such cases more actively through demanding courts to accept these lawsuits with procuratorial proposals or initiating class-action litigations.