On 7 Apr. 2025, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released its 45th batch of guiding cases, focusing on enforcement implementation to unify judicial standards and enhance enforcement efficiency.
This batch of six cases addresses challenges in enforcement. They provide courts with practical guidance, improving efficiency while balancing mandatory force with humanitarian considerations.
For example, the Guiding Case No. 252, “Zhejiang X New Materials Co., Ltd. Enforcement Cases”, demonstrates centralized enforcement and the coordination between enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings. When a debtor faces multiple enforcement cases across different regions, a higher court may designate one court for centralized enforcement, thus avoiding procedural duplication and reducing litigation costs.
In this case, when the debtor company under enforcement entered pre-restructuring due to debt issues, the court assigned all relevant cases to a court with bankruptcy jurisdiction. This approach facilitates effective coordination between enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings and protects creditors’ rights and creates opportunities for corporate restructuring.
Statistics show that Chinese courts nationwide concluded 9.1182 million enforcement cases in 2024, with enforced amounts over CNY 2 trillion (or USD 277.8 billion). However, challenges like inter-regional coordination and conflicts in multi-case enforcement continue to hinder enforcement quality and efficiency. In response, the SPC compiled these guiding cases to strengthen enforcement standardization.
Photo by Victor He on Unsplash
Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team
