7 Tips on the List of Dishonest Judgment Debtors in Chinese Courts

If the judgment debtor fails to fulfill the obligations specified in an effective legal instrument, while also undertakes certain dishonest conducts, the Chinese court will include the said judgment debtor into the publicly available List of Dishonest Judgment Debtors as a credit discipline, which will prompt the said judgment debtor to voluntarily fulfill the aforesaid obligations.

In accordance with the "Several Provisions on the Information Disclosure concerning the List of Dishonest Judgment Debtors" (关于公布失信被执行人名单信息的若干规定) of China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC), we have summarized the following seven (7) tips.

1. Where the judgment debtor undertakes any of the following six categories of dishonest conducts, the Court shall include him/it into the List of Dishonest Judgment Debtors:

(1) Having the capability to fulfill the obligations determined in the effective legal instrument but refusing to do so;

(2) Obstructing or resisting the court enforcement by forged evidence, violence or threat;

(3) Evading the court enforcement by sham litigation or sham arbitration, or through concealment or transfer of property;

(4) Violating the property reporting system;

(5) Violating the Order on Restriction of Consumption; and

(6) Refusing to implement the settlement agreement during the enforcement procedure without justification.

2. Once the judgment debtor is included into the List of Dishonest Judgment Debtors, the following information of the judgment debtor will be made public by the Court:

(1) If the judgment debtor is an entity, the Court will disclose its name, unified social credit code, and the legal representative or the person in charge;

(2) If the judgment debtor is an individual, the Court will disclose his/her name, gender, age and identity card number;

(3) The obligations determined in the effective legal instrument and the fulfillment thereof by the judgment debtor;

(4) The specific circumstances of the judgment debtor’s dishonesty;

(5) The name of the Court rendering the effective legal instrument, and the number of the instrument;

(6) The name of the Court enforcing the effective legal instrument, the case number of the instrument subject to enforcement, and the time when the said case was registered.

3. Anyone can inquire, through the SPC’s List of Dishonest Judgment Debtors, whether a person or an institution is listed as a dishonest judgment debtor.

4. There are three categories of periods where the judgment debtor will be included into the List of Dishonest Judgment Debtors:

(1) Open-ended period: Where the judgment debtor is capable of fulfilling the obligations determined in the effective legal instrument but refuses to do so, the said judgment debtor will be included into the List of Dishonest Judgment Debtors all along and will not be removed from the list until a particular circumstance occurs;

(2) Two-year period: Where the judgment debtor undertakes any of the five categories (i.e., from (2) to (6)) of the aforementioned six dishonest conducts, as described in the “Tip 1”.

(3) Two-year period as basis plus one to three years if necessary: Where the judgment debtor obstructs or resists the court enforcement by violence or threat, and the circumstances of which are serious, or undertakes multiple categories of the aforementioned six dishonest conducts.

5. In the case of an open-ended period, the Court will remove the judgment debtor from the List of Dishonest Judgment Debtors until any of the following circumstances occurs:

(1) The judgment debtor has voluntarily fulfilled the obligations determined in the effective legal instrument, or the Court has completed the enforcement of the legal instrument;

(2) The judgment creditor and the judgment debtor have reached a settlement agreement during the enforcement procedure, and such agreement has been implemented;

(3) The judgment creditor applies in writing for the removal of the judgment debtor from the List of Dishonest Judgment Debtors, and the Court approves such application after review;

(4) The Court fails to locate the judgment debtor’s executable property, and therefore ends the enforcement procedure. Thereafter, the Court has inquired the judgment debtor’s property more than twice through the online inquiry and control system, but no executable property has yet been found, and the judgment creditor or others provide no valid property clues;

(5) The relevant court has initiated the adjudication supervision procedure and re-examined the effective legal instrument, therefore the enforcement court orders to suspend the enforcement against the judgment debtor;

(6) The enforcement court orders to suspend the enforcement against the judgment debtor after the judgment debtor is declared bankrupt;

(7) The enforcement court rules against enforcement of the effective legal instrument;

(8) The enforcement court orders to terminate the enforcement of the effective legal instrument.

6. Where the judgment debtor is capable of fulfilling the obligations determined in the effective legal instrument but refuses to do so, while also falls under any of the following circumstances, such judgment debtor will not be included into the List of Dishonest Judgment Debtors:

(1) The judgment debtor has provided the Court with sufficient enforcement guarantees;

(2) The Court has sequestered, seized or frozen the judgment debtor’s property, which is sufficient to pay off his/her debts;

(3) The condition for the judgment debtor to fulfill his/her obligations has not yet been met.

7. Where the dishonest judgment debtor voluntarily fulfills the obligations determined in the effective legal instrument or actively rectifies the dishonesty, the Court may decide to remove the judgment debtor from the List in advance.

If you would like to discuss with us about the post, or share your views and suggestions, please contact Ms. Meng Yu (meng.yu@chinajusticeobserver.com ).

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Contributors: Guodong Du 杜国栋 , Meng Yu 余萌

Enforcement

Dishonest Judgment Debtors in China