In order to give you a more detailed picture of the proceedings and a more intuitive understanding of the proceedings, below details the litigation period and the hearing duration as well as how the trial time limit is calculated. Please read the following content.
41.1. Definition of Litigation Period
Litigation period, popular speaking, is the time limit that must be observed for participation in litigation. If the subjective causes of the parties lead to exceed the litigation period, the resulting legal consequences can only be borne by themselves.
The litigation period is divided into statutory period and specified period. The statutory period is prescribed by law and cannot be changed. Only when a lawsuit is completed within the period prescribed by law can it be legally effective. Civil Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China makes a lot of provisions on the statutory period, such as the jurisdiction objection period, the appeal period, the application for retrial period and so on. The specified period is designated by the court in accordance with the specific circumstances of the case, and may be changed, but in general, if there are no special circumstances, the specified period cannot be arbitrarily changed. For example, in the proceedings involving compensation, the court limits the parties to five days to supplement evidence, but if the hospital inspection documents can only be obtained six days later, which requires the court to extend the deadline for two days to submit the evidence, then the court generally will allow it. This is an extension of the specified period. However, if you fail the first trial and prepare an appeal, then ask the court for a two day extension because you are finding evidence and writing an appeal, and missed the appeal period, then this is not allowed by the court, because the appeal period is a statutory period, and cannot be changed.
41.2. Notification of Period Calculation
41.2.1. Calculation at the period expiration. The period shall be calculated in accordance with hour, day, month and year. The hour and day at which the period begins shall not be counted. For example, the party shall have the right to appeal within fifteen days after receiving the written judgment of the first trail where the fifteen days is calculated from the second day of receiving a written judgment, where the day receiving the written judgment is not included. If the period is calculated in accordance with month and year, the date of the period expiration is the corresponding day of the expiry month or year. If there is no corresponding day of the period expiration, the last day of the expiry month shall be the expiry date. For example, the court issued a notice on 31 January announcing that the legal document would come into effect if the note was published for a period of three months. The expiry date here should be April 31, but there is no April 31, therefore, the expiry date is April 30.
41.2.2. Special case of the last day of the period expiration. If the last day of the period expiration is a holiday, the expiry date shall be the first day after the holiday. The term “holiday” here refers to holidays stipulated by the state, such as Saturday, Sunday, Spring Festival, Labor Day, National Day and so on, not including professional holidays or certain folk festivals such as Women’s Day and Teacher’s Day.
41.2.3.Elimination of the period. The period does not include the time in transit, and the delivery of the litigation documents before the period expiration date. For example, if the party received the judgment of the first trail on September 16 and the appeal petition was mailed before October 8, the party can be treated as not missing the appeal period. Since if calculated from the second day of receiving of the judgment, the 15-day appeal period should expire on October 1, but National Day is a statutory holiday and the first working day after National Day is October 8, so October 8 is the statutory expiry date. As long as the judgement is mailed before this date, it shall be deemed to appeal during the appeal period, though the court may receive it a few days later.
41.2.4.Extension of the period. Some parties may be delayed not due to their subjective reasons but the occurrence of objective reasons that cannot be avoided or overcome such as an earthquake, flood or the occurrence of serious illness or car accident involving one of the parties. In the event of such a situation, the parties may, within 10 days after the removal of the obstacle, submit to the court an extension application, and the court will decide whether or not to grant it.
In addition, please pay attention to the date and time on the summons in the proceedings. If the situation cannot be avoided or overcome, the date and time may be changed upon verification by the court. If you don’t appear in court in a timely fashion for the reasons of misreading the time of the court or ill preparation of the litigation materials, the court may make a withdrawal of treatment or judgment by default in accordance with the provisions of the relevant laws.
41.3. The Hearing Duration of the Case
41.3.1. The ordinary procedure case. The case in which the court applies the ordinary procedure shall be concluded within six months from the date of filing the case. If extension is needed because of unusual circumstances, the duration may be extended for six months after the approval of the president of the court; further extension needs the approval of the superior court. The case on appeal of the court hearing shall be concluded within three months from the date of filing the case of the second trail. If extension is needed because of unusual circumstances, the duration may be extended with the approval of the president of the court. The appeal case against the ruling will have a final judgment made within 30 days from the date of the second trail.
41.3.2. The summary procedure case. The case in which the court applies the summary procedure shall be concluded within three months from the date of filing the case.
41.3.3. The special procedure case. The case in which the court applies the special procedure shall be concluded within 30 days from the date of filing the case or 30 days after the expiration of the announcement. If extension is needed because of unusual circumstances, the duration may be extended with the approval of the president of the court, with the excepttion of the case concerning voter qualifications.
41.3.4. The trial supervision case. The case of retrial by the trial supervision procedure shall be counted in accordance with the first trial procedure or the second trial procedure, and the trial period shall be calculated from the next day after the decision of retrial.
41.3.5. The foreign civil cases. The period of the court trial of foreign-related civil cases shall not be limited to the trail period of the ordinary procedure case.
41.4. Calculation of the Trial Period
The trail period of the case shall be calculated from the next day of filing the case until the date of closure. The following periods are not included in the trial limit:
The period of hearing the disputes between the parties and the disputes between the courts; the period of the civil case announcement and identification; the period of civil and enforcement cases by the relevant professional institutions for audit, evaluation and asset cleanup; the period of suspension of proceedings (trial) or enforcement to recovery proceedings (trial) or enforcement; before the expiration of the trial, if the parties apply for mediation of the case, the mediation period shall be 30 days from the day of application; the period of auction and sales of the seized, frozen, or detained property; the period during which the parties reach a settlement agreement or submit enforcement guarantees, and the court decides to postpone the enforcement of the trail; certiorari period of appealing or applying for the retrial case; the suspension period informed by the superior court; the period of consulting, coordinating or reporting to the superior court or unit for a review; other periods that cannot be included in the trial limit.
