Supreme Law： Resolutely prevent economic disputes from being treated as crimes
CCTV News:Today, the Supreme People’s Court held a press conference to issue the Opinions on Giving Full Play to the Judicial Function and Strengthening the Judicial Protection of Property Rights, which put forward clear requirements for the relevant judicial execution from three aspects: the basic principles of strengthening the judicial protection of property rights, judicial policies and mechanism construction.
Today, the Supreme People’s Court also issued the Implementation Opinions on Properly Handling Historical Property Rights Cases in accordance with the Law. The Implementation Opinions require adhering to the principles of seeking truth from facts, equal protection, correcting mistakes according to law and combining correction with prevention, providing equal judicial protection for all types of property rights subjects, unblocking the filing channels of property rights complaint cases, and standardizing the application of retrial procedures.
Equal protection of economic property rights of all forms of ownership
The "Opinions" require that the litigation status and legal application of all kinds of property rights subjects be treated equally, pay attention to equal protection of non-public property rights, and equally protect the litigation rights and substantive rights of Chinese and foreign parties.
Punish all kinds of crimes against property rights according to law, and equally protect economic property rights of all forms of ownership.
Yan Maokun, Director of the Supreme People’s Court Research Office:It is emphasized that crimes against state-owned and collective assets should be punished according to law, and criminal law protection for non-public property should be strengthened, and crimes against the property rights of non-public enterprises and investors, managers and employees in the non-public economy should be punished according to law.
The "Opinions" require an objective view of the irregularities in business operations, and acquit those who have insufficient conviction basis according to law.
Yan Maokun, Director of the Supreme People’s Court Research Office:It is emphasized that we should treat it objectively from the perspective of history and development, strictly follow the principles of a legally prescribed punishment for a crime, never suspecting a crime, and handling related cases fairly according to law. All kinds of economic activities, except those explicitly prohibited by laws and administrative regulations, shall not be treated as crimes; Those who violate laws and regulations but do not constitute a crime, or whose crimes and non-crimes are unclear, shall be declared innocent according to law.
Resolutely prevent economic disputes from being treated as crimes
The Opinions call for a strict distinction between economic disputes and criminal offences, and resolutely prevent economic disputes from being treated as crimes. Emphasis is placed on giving full consideration to the characteristics of the non-public economy, strictly grasping the criteria for identifying criminal offences, and resolutely preventing economic disputes from being identified as criminal offences. For all kinds of economic disputes, regardless of the actual losses, we must always adhere to handling cases according to law and fair trials.
Use coercive measures and seizure and freezing measures with caution according to law.
In the past, in some places, there were some irregular problems in sealing up, distraining and freezing measures, such as mistakes, exceeding the standard, sealing up, distraining and freezing the property of outsiders, resulting in property damage and loss, and some enterprises that still have the ability to produce and operate could not produce and operate normally. The "Opinions" clearly stated that compulsory measures and seizure, seizure and freezing measures should be used with caution in accordance with the law to minimize the adverse impact on the normal production and operation activities of enterprises.
Yan Maokun, Director of the Supreme People’s Court Research Office:If it is required that in criminal trial, the defendant who has been arrested meets the conditions of obtaining a guarantor pending trial and monitoring his residence, the compulsory measures shall be changed; In criminal, civil and administrative trials, if it is really necessary to take measures of seizure, seizure and freezing, except for enterprises that need to be ordered to close down according to law, necessary working capital and current accounts may be reserved for enterprises as appropriate.
Strictly regulate the disposal of property involved.
The "Opinions" require strict regulation of the disposal of the property involved, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises and personnel involved in the case according to law.
Yan Maokun, Director of the Supreme People’s Court Research Office:It is required to strictly distinguish between illegal income and legal property, strictly distinguish between personal property and corporate property, and strictly distinguish between personal property and family members’ property. In accordance with the requirements of openness, fairness, standardization and efficiency, strictly implement and constantly improve the system of custody and disposal of property involved.
Fair trial of administrative agreement cases according to law
The "Opinions" require fair trial of administrative agreement cases according to law, and promote the construction of a government ruled by law and government integrity.
Yan Maokun, Director of the Supreme People’s Court Research Office:It is emphasized that for disputes caused by investment promotion, cooperation between government and social capital, we should carefully examine the reasons why the agreement cannot be fulfilled and the liability for breach of contract.If the government violates its commitments, especially for reasons such as the change of government and the replacement of leaders, it will resolutely support the reasonable demands of the administrative counterpart according to law.
Fair trial of cases of property expropriation and requisition according to law
The Opinions emphasize that cases of property expropriation and requisition should be tried fairly according to law and the legitimate rights and interests of administrative counterparts should be safeguarded. It is required to reasonably grasp the scope of public interests applicable to expropriation and requisition, and resolutely prevent the expansion of public interests. Follow the principle of timely and reasonable compensation, and fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of the expropriated.
The "Opinions" call for punishing intellectual property crimes according to law and strengthening judicial protection of intellectual property rights. Deal with historical property rights complaint cases according to law, and resolutely implement the requirement that mistakes must be corrected. It is required to establish a special working mechanism and pay close attention to screening and correcting a number of complaints about property rights disputes that have been strongly reflected by the society. If the facts are unclear, the evidence is insufficient, and the applicable law is wrong after examination, the party concerned shall be corrected and compensated in time according to law.
Properly handle historical property rights cases according to law.
The "Implementation Opinions on Properly Handling Historical Property Rights Cases in accordance with the Law" requires adhering to the principles of seeking truth from facts, equal protection, correcting errors according to law and combining correction with prevention, providing equal judicial protection for all types of property rights subjects, unblocking the filing channels of property rights appeal cases, and standardizing the application of retrial procedures.
The "Implementation Opinions" clearly put forward that the people’s courts should promptly review and carefully screen the effective judgments on property disputes involving major property disposal and illegal crimes committed by private enterprises and investors since the reform and opening up, and if the parties or outsiders lodge complaints; If there are mistakes, they should be resolutely corrected according to law. Focus on the screening, correction and publicity of major typical cases.
Screening and retrial of property rights complaint cases caused by government actions according to law
The "Implementation Opinions" stipulates that when screening and retrial property rights cases, the people’s court shall retry and revise the legal rights and interests of the investors for all kinds of contracts signed with the investors according to law in activities such as attracting investment, cooperation between the government and social capital, etc. because of the change of government and the replacement of leaders, or because of legal reasons, the government promises and contract agreements are changed, and the property losses suffered by the investors are not compensated according to law.
Teng Wei, Vice President of the Supreme People’s Court Trial Supervision Court:In the process of expropriation and requisition of land, houses and other property, the people’s court shall review the wrong judgment that the government failed to give fair and reasonable compensation to the expropriated person in accordance with the scope, form and standard of compensation, and initiate a retrial.In the retrial review and trial, we should pay attention to the use of administrative reconciliation coordination mechanism and civil mediation to properly resolve property disputes.
Carefully grasp the screening and correct the judicial policy
The "Implementation Opinions" also emphasizes the need to carefully grasp the judicial policy of screening and correcting, accurately identify the nature of economic disputes and economic crimes, and resolutely correct the wrong effective judgments that treat economic disputes as crimes.
Accurately grasp the legal boundary between crime and non-crime
The "Implementation Opinions" emphasizes that the boundary between economic disputes and economic crimes, especially contract disputes and contract fraud, the boundary between legitimate financing and illegal fund-raising of enterprises, the boundary between economic disputes involved in the merger and reorganization of state-owned enterprises by private enterprises and malicious occupation of state-owned assets should be strictly distinguished, and the legal boundary between crime and non-crime should be accurately grasped.
Teng Wei, Vice President of the Supreme People’s Court Trial Supervision Court:For economic activities in production, management, financing, etc., those that were not explicitly prohibited by laws and administrative regulations at that time and were punished as crimes, or those that were illegal but did not constitute crimes should be corrected according to law.
Resolutely correct the wrong judgment caused by criminal law enforcement intervening in civil disputes.
The "Implementation Opinions" stipulates that if the parties are forced to express their will by criminal means, which leads to the mistakes in the effective civil judgment, they must be resolutely corrected. Investors in private enterprises involved in crimes shall be guaranteed to exercise their property rights and other civil rights in accordance with the law during the period when the parties are subjected to compulsory measures or serving their sentences.
Teng Wei, Vice President of the Supreme People’s Court Trial Supervision Court:The people’s court shall investigate and verify the private enterprise investors’ exercise of civil litigation rights seriously affected by the restriction of personal freedom, and after the restriction of personal freedom is lifted, they provide new evidence for the facts of the civil case, which may overturn the effective judgment. Those who meet the conditions for retrial shall start retrial according to law.
In addition, the "Implementation Opinions" also provides for issues that are strongly reflected by the society, such as the trial of cases, the disposal of property involved in execution procedures, and state compensation. (CCTV reporter Zhang Sai)