A special express mail service for delivering legal documents will be introduced to Beijing's courts to improve court efficiency.
The Beijing High People's Court Thursday called on courts at all levels in Beijing to use "judicial express mail service" to deliver their litigation documents, including indictments, court verdicts and subpoenas.
To improve the efficiency of judicial procedures, Beijing court system and the Beijing Postal Bureau signed an agreement to launch the special judicial mail service within the city, according to Feng Xinsheng, director of the Beijing Postal Bureau.
In accordance with the Civil Procedure Law, Beijing's courts and postal bureaux have created a formula for the delivery and receiving of legal documents.
The receipts for judicial express mail can be used as proof that the legal documents were received, which increases the transparency and justice of the judicial procedure, Feng said.
At present, legal documents are delivered by court officials, which sometimes causes delays and is costly, in both money and manpower, sources said.
With the assistance of the Beijing Xiqu Postal Office, the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court launched a pilot judicial express mail service in November last year, and greatly improved its working efficiency, Ma Aidi, president of the court, said Thursday.
From January 1 to December 20, this year, the court sent 10,320 pieces of judicial express mail, costing only 200,000 yuan (US$24,000), much less than previous costs using traditional measures to deliver court documents, Ma said.
He added the new method greatly improved the court's work efficiency. More than 9,630 judicial document have been successfully delivered, making the delivery rate as high as 93.4 percent.
Reasons for the return of judicial mail include the wrong address, no indicated person, a company closed or moved, long vacant residence and litigants being abroad.
Post offices providing the judicial express mail service established a special group to deal with the legal service, according to Feng. Every judicial mail is required by law to be delivered at least three times before declaring failure.
(China Daily December 28, 2001)
