Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Mediation and Arbitration of Disputes Involving Rural Land Contracting and Management

Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China

ANNOUNCEMENT

The Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases Involving Mediation and Arbitration of Disputes over Rural Land Contractual Management was adopted at the 1601st meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on December 27, 2013, and is hereby promulgated, effective as of January 24, 2014.

Supreme People's Court

January 9, 2014

To properly adjudicate cases involving mediation and arbitration of rural land contract management disputes, this interpretation is formulated in accordance with the provisions of the Rural Land Contract Law of the People's Republic of China, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Mediation and Arbitration of Rural Land Contract Management Disputes, the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, and other laws, and in light of civil trial practice, regarding several issues concerning the application of law in the trial of cases involving mediation and arbitration of rural land contract management disputes.

Article 1: Where the rural land contract arbitration committee rejects an application on the grounds that it exceeds the statute of limitations for applying for arbitration as provided in Article 18 of the Law on Mediation and Arbitration of Rural Land Contract Management Disputes, and the party subsequently files a lawsuit over the same dispute, the people's court shall accept the case.

Article 2 If a party files a lawsuit with a people's court over the same dispute 30 days after receiving the written award made by a rural land contract arbitration committee, or after signing for the written mediation agreement made by a rural land contract arbitration committee, the people's court shall rule not to accept the case; if the case has already been accepted, the people's court shall rule to dismiss the lawsuit.

Article 3: If a party files a lawsuit with the people's court within thirty days from the date of receiving the arbitration award made by the rural land contract arbitration committee, requesting the revocation of the arbitration award, the people's court shall inform the party to file a lawsuit over the original dispute.

Article 4: When a rural land contract arbitration commission submits a property preservation application to a people's court in accordance with the law, the party applying for property preservation shall be the applicant.

A rural land contract arbitration commission shall submit the following materials:

(1) Application for Property Preservation;

(2) the notice of case acceptance issued by the rural land contract arbitration commission;

(3) The applicant's proof of identity;

(4) Specific details of the property to be preserved.

When a people's court adopts preservation measures, it may order the applicant to provide a guarantee; if the applicant fails to provide a guarantee, the court shall rule to reject the application.

Article 5 The people's court shall review the property preservation application materials submitted by the rural land contract arbitration commission. If the materials conform to the provisions of the preceding article, the people's court shall accept them; if the application materials are incomplete or do not conform to the provisions, the people's court shall inform the rural land contract arbitration commission of the contents that need to be supplemented.

If the people's court decides to accept the case, it shall serve the acceptance notice to the parties within three days and inform the rural land contract arbitration committee.

Article 6: After accepting a property preservation application, the people's court shall issue a ruling within ten days. If an extension is necessary due to special circumstances, it may be extended by five days with the approval of the president of the court.

After accepting the application, if the people's court finds the situation urgent, it must make a ruling within forty-eight hours; if the ruling adopts preservation measures, enforcement shall begin immediately.

Article 7: Property preservation measures taken during arbitration of rural land contract management disputes shall automatically convert into property preservation measures in litigation after the party applying for preservation files a lawsuit in accordance with the law, and shall apply the provisions of Article 29 of the "Supreme People's Court's Provisions on Seizure, Detention, and Freezing of Property in Civil Enforcement" regarding the time limits for seizure, detention, and freezing.

Article 8: When a rural land contract arbitration commission legally submits an application to the people's court for evidence preservation by a party, it shall provide the following materials:

(1) Application for evidence preservation;

(2) the notice of case acceptance issued by the rural land contract arbitration commission;

(3) The applicant's proof of identity;

(4) Specific details of the evidence to be preserved.

For specific procedural matters concerning evidence preservation, the provisions of Articles 5, 6, and 7 of this Interpretation regarding property preservation shall apply.

Article 9: After a rural land contract arbitration commission issues an interim ruling, if one party legally applies to the basic people's court at the domicile of the person subject to enforcement or the location of the property subject to enforcement for enforcement, the people's court shall accept and enforce it.

When applying for enforcement of an interim ruling, the following materials shall be provided:

(1) Application for enforcement;

(2) A preliminary ruling issued by a rural land contract arbitration commission;

(3) identification proof of the applicant for enforcement;

(4) the guarantee provided by the applicant for enforcement;

(5) Other documents or certificates that should be submitted.

Article 10: Where a party applies to a people's court for enforcement of a mediation document or ruling in accordance with Article 49 of the Law on Mediation and Arbitration of Rural Land Contract Disputes, and meets the conditions set forth in Article 18 of the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Enforcement Work of People's Courts (Trial Implementation), the people's court shall accept and enforce it.

Article 11: If a party files a lawsuit in a people's court due to dissatisfaction with an arbitration award made by a rural land contract arbitration committee, the period for filing the lawsuit shall be calculated from the day following the receipt of the award.

Article 12: After this interpretation takes effect, cases of first instance and second instance that have not yet been concluded by the people's court shall be governed by the provisions of this interpretation. For cases where a legally effective judgment or ruling has already been made before this interpretation takes effect, if a retrial is conducted in accordance with the law after this interpretation takes effect, the provisions of this interpretation shall not apply.