Rules of Civil Evidence of the Supreme People's Court - Period for Adducing Evidence

(The following terms are selected from the Rules of Civil Evidence of the Supreme People's Court, translated by Robert Zhang and Steve Li, international arbitration lawyers registered in Shanghai, China, and published by Kindle Unlimited.)

III.     Period for Adducing Evidence and Evidence Exchange

Article 49    The defendant shall submit a written statement of defense stating his opinions on the plaintiff's claim and the facts and reasons on which it is based before the expiration of the defense period.

Article 50    The people's court shall serve a notice of evidence adduction on each of the parties in the preparatory stage before the hearing.

The notice of evidence adduction shall contain the principles and requirements for the burden of proof, the circumstances under which the party may request collecting evidence through investigations by the people's court, the period for adducing evidence specified by the people's court depending on the circumstances of the case, the legal consequences of failure to adduce evidence beyond the period, and other necessary information.

Article 51    The period for adducing evidence may be agreed upon by the parties through negotiations and approved by the people's court.

Where the people's court specifies a period for adducing evidence, the period specified shall not be less than 15 days (inclusive) if the case is subject to the ordinary procedure of first instance or 10 days (inclusive) if the parties request to provide new evidence in the second instance. The period for adducing evidence shall not exceed 15 days (exclusive) if the case is subject to the summary procedure or 7 days (exclusive) if the case is a small claims case.

Where a party provides rebuttal evidence or makes corrections to the defects in the source, form, or other aspects of his previously provided evidence after the expiration of the period for adducing evidence, the people's court may specify a further period for adducing evidence where appropriate, which shall not be limited by the period stipulated in the preceding paragraph.

Article 52    Where a party fails to provide evidence within the period for adducing evidence for any reason other than the party's fault, it shall be deemed that "it is infeasible for a party to provide evidence within the period" as stipulated in the second paragraph of Article 65 of the Civil Procedure Law (Note: Article 65 has been renumbered as Article 68 in the latest version dated January 1, 2022).

Under the circumstances stated in the preceding paragraph, the people's court shall make a determination comprehensively considering the party's ability to adduce evidence, the reasons for failing to provide evidence within the period for adducing evidence, and other relevant factors. Where necessary, the people's court may seek the opinions of the other party.

Article 53    Where the nature of the legal relationship or the validity of a civil act claimed by a party is inconsistent with the determination made by the people's court based on the facts of the case in the proceedings, the people's court shall proceed with the trial focusing on the legal relationship or the validity of the civil act as a matter in issue, unless the nature of the legal relationship has no impact on the rationale and results of the judgment, or the relevant issues have been fully debated by the parties.

Where a party requests to alter his claims in response to the court hearing under the circumstances stated in the preceding paragraph, the people's court shall approve his request and may specify a new period for adducing evidence in light of the specific circumstances of the case.

Article 54    Where a party requests an extension of the period for adducing evidence, he shall submit a written petition to the people's court before the expiration of the period for adducing evidence.

Where the reasons for the petition are tenable, the people's court shall approve the petition and extend the period for adducing evidence appropriately, and shall notify the other litigants. The extended period for adducing evidence shall be applicable to other litigants.

Where the reasons for the petition are untenable, the people's court shall not approve the petition and shall notify the petitioner of the same.

Article 55    The period for adducing evidence shall be specified as follows:

(1)  Where a party challenges the jurisdiction in accordance with Article 127 of the Civil Procedure Law (Note: Article 127 has been renumbered as Article 130 in the latest version dated January 1, 2022), the period for adducing evidence shall be suspended, and shall continue to be counted from the date on which the order to dismiss the challenge takes effect;

(2)  In the case of joinder of an additional party, participation of a third party with an independent claim, or participation of a third party without an independent claim upon notification by the people's court, the people's court shall specify a period for adducing evidence for the new litigants in accordance with the provisions of Article 51 of these Rules, and the specified period for adducing evidence shall be applicable to other litigants;

(3)  In a case remanded for retrial, the people's court of first instance may specify an appropriate period for adducing evidence in light of the specific circumstances of the case and the reasons for remanding for retrial;

(4)  In case of addition or alteration of claims or a counterclaim, the people's court shall re-specify a period for adducing evidence in light of the specific circumstances of the case; or

(5)  Where the notice of evidence adduction is served by publication, the period for adducing evidence shall be counted from the day following the expiration of the publication period.

Article 56    Where the people's court makes pre-hearing preparation by arranging evidence exchange in accordance with the provisions of Item (4) of Article 133 of the Civil Procedure Law (Note: Article 133 has been renumbered as Article 136 in the latest version dated January 1, 2022), the period for adducing evidence shall expire on the date of evidence exchange.

The time for evidence exchange may be agreed upon by the parties through negotiation and approved by the people's court, or specified by the people's court. Where the people's court approves a party's petition for an extension of the period for adducing evidence, the date of evidence exchange shall be postponed accordingly.

Article 57    Evidence exchange shall be conducted under the auspices of the judge.

In the process of evidence exchange, the judge shall record the facts and evidence challenged by neither party, and record the facts and evidence challenged by either party based on the types of the facts to be proved, stating the reasons for challenge. Through evidence exchange, the main issues in dispute between the two parties shall be determined.

Article 58    Where a party requests to submit rebuttal evidence after receiving the evidence from the other party, the people's court shall arrange evidence exchange for a second time.

Article 59    Where the people's court imposes a fine on a party for his provision of evidence beyond the time limit, the amount of the fine shall be determined considering the degree of negligence of the party in providing evidence beyond the time limit, the circumstances leading to the delay of the proceedings, the amount of the subject matter of the case, and other relevant factors.