• Document Number：No. 243 [2011] of the Supreme People's Court
• Area of Law： Civil Litigation Foreign Affairs
• Level of Authority： Judicial Interpretation
• Date issued：08-07-2011
• Effective Date：08-07-2011
• Status： Effective
• Issuing Authority： Supreme People's Court

Notice of the Supreme People's Court on Further Regulating Investigation and Evidence Collection Involving Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan by People's Courts
(August 7, 2011, No. 243 [2011] of the Supreme People's Court)
The higher people's courts of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the Military Court of the People's Liberation Army, and the Production and Construction Corps Branch of the Higher People's Court of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region:
In recent years, the scope and areas of judicial assistance (mutual assistance) between the Mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan Area have been continuously expanding, with the mode and content continuously deepening and the number of cases increasingly growing. At the same time, it has become more frequent for the people's courts to ask the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan Area to offer assistance in investigation and evidence collection during the trial of cases, especially those involving Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. In accordance with the Arrangement of the Supreme People's Court for Mutual Entrustment in Civil and Commercial Matters for the Service of Judicial Documents and Evidence Obtainment between the Courts of the Mainland and the Macao Special Administrative Region, the courts of the Mainland and courts of the Macao Special Administrative Region may, on each other's behalf, conduct investigation and evidence collection regarding civil and commercial cases. And in accordance with the Agreement between Both Sides of the Taiwan Strait on Jointly Fighting Crime and Mutual Judicial Assistance and the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on the People's Courts' Handling of Cases of Mutual Judicial Assistance in Terms of Serving Legal Documents, Investigation and Evidence Collection between Both Sides of the Taiwan Strait, the Supreme People's Court and the competent departments of the Taiwan Area may, on each other's behalf, conduct investigation and evidence collection regarding civil and commercial cases, criminal cases and administrative cases. And although no institutional arrangement regarding investigation and evidence collection has been established between the courts of the Mainland and the courts of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the circumstances where both sides assist each other in investigation and evidence collection when handling individual cases already exist in practice. To ensure that the investigation and evidence collection involving Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan by people's courts be conducted in a standardized and orderly manner, we hereby notify you of relevant matters as follows:
I. Where a people's court needs to collect evidence from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region or Taiwan Area during the trial of a case, the people's court shall entrust a competent department in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region or Taiwan Area to assist it in investigation and evidence collection on the basis of the limits of authority and the procedures as prescribed in relevant judicial interpretations and regulatory documents. Except for certain special circumstances which need to be reported to the Supreme People's Court in a level-by-level manner and approved by relevant departments of the Central Government, a people's court shall not dispatch any of its personnel to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region or Taiwan Area for investigation and evidence collection.
II. A people's court shall not dispatch any of its personnel to accompany any group from public security organs or prosecutorial organs to go to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region or Taiwan Area for investigation and evidence collection.
III. All higher people's courts shall conscientiously assume their obligations to guide all people's courts within their respective jurisdictions so as to enable them to effectively conduct investigation and evidence collection involving Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. For applications made by relevant courts to dispatch its personnel to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region or Taiwan Area for investigation and evidence collection, all higher people's courts shall make strict checks. Any application in violation of relevant regulations and the spirit of this Notice shall be returned.
IV. Where a people's court dispatches any of its personnel to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region or Taiwan Area for investigation and evidence collection without reporting to the Supreme People's Court and without the approval of the relevant departments of the Central Government, the liability of the relevant courts and personnel shall be strictly investigated and a notice of criticism shall be circulated. In addition, the examination and approval of applications to visit Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan made by the court concerned shall be, in light of the actual circumstances, suspended for a prescribed period of time.
All higher people's courts shall, after receipt of this Notice, timely convey the relevant spirit of the Notice to all people's courts within their respective jurisdictions. All higher people's courts shall report any problems encountered during the implementation of this Notice to the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Judicial Affairs Office of the Supreme People's Court in a timely and level-by-level manner.