Hainan advances FTP development through high-quality rule of law

Hainan province in South China has established a comprehensive legal service network encompassing physical facilities, hotlines, and online platforms, and covering both urban and rural areas.

Wang Lei, director of the Justice Department of Hainan, highlighted the province's intensified efforts in recent years on advancing reforms in the rule of law. The province has steadily promoted comprehensive law-based governance, enhanced judicial administration, and strengthened comprehensive administrative law enforcement. Key priorities include publicizing the Law on the Hainan Free Trade Port and accelerating the pace to advance foreign-related rule of law to support high-quality development of the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP).

Progress in promoting overall law-based governance

The rule of law is a fundamental feature of the Hainan FTP's development. In recent years, the judicial administrative organs across the province have dedicated great efforts to advancing comprehensive rule of law and building law-based governments, taking the lead in building a first-class business environment and engaging heads of administrative organs in court proceedings.

Hainan's Justice Department has established a legality review office and a collaborative review mechanism featuring "preliminary departmental reviews, cooperative assessments, full-time oversight, and expert involvement". The department has proposed convening meetings with the Commission for Overall Law-based Governance of the Communist Party of China Hainan Provincial Committee to outline the key tasks and specific arrangements for the province's law-based governance. Additionally, the department has optimized evaluation indicators for the development of the rule of law.

Legislative coordination with the provincial government and the provincial people's congress has been enhanced to fully exercise the FTP's legislative authority to enact 53 FTP-specific regulations. Hainan has also received approval from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the State Council to adjust the implementation of relevant provisions of five national laws and 13 administrative regulations in the province, leading the nation in legal adaptations for local and international needs.

Legal outreach also plays a significant role in Hainan's efforts to promote the rule of law. The province has launched various legal outreach campaigns focusing on island-wide special customs operations and optimizing the business environment, aiming to establish a legal publicity and education system aligned with FTP development.

Administrative law enforcement reforms include completing the "one team managing law enforcement" reform in cities and counties and establishing a four-tier coordination system at provincial, city, county, and township levels, significantly reducing inefficiencies and redundancy.

Furthermore, the reform of one single reconsideration organ for one administrative level has been implemented. Since 2024, the number of administrative reconsideration cases accepted in the province has surpassed the number of first-instance administrative litigation cases accepted by courts, solidifying administrative reconsideration as the primary channel for resolving administrative disputes.

The Justice Department of Hainan has also launched special campaigns to regulate enterprise-related law enforcement, and promoted the issuance of the Administrative Inspection Regulations on Enterprises in Hainan Province (Trial), rectifying irregularities in enterprise-related law enforcement, and providing legal safeguards for reducing institutional transaction costs and stimulating the vitality of market entities.

In an innovative move, the Justice Department conducted joint legal inspections with the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Provincial High People's Court, and the Provincial People's Procuratorate, and launched a special inspection on "Strengthening Rule of Law Development and Enhancing the Quality of Administrative Law Enforcement" to address prominent issues.

Highlights in advancing foreign-related rule of law

As China's gateway to global trade, the Hainan FTP prioritizes attracting international partnerships and investments through a robust foreign-related legal services framework. The Fenghuang Notary Office, which was established together with the Fenghuang Notary Research Institute in February 2019 as Sanya's first cooperative notary institution, focuses on international development to create a "Hainan Brand" for the global market.

The office has set up an "International Friends Home," offering guidance to over 4,000 foreign visitors on investment, property, daily life, and residence issues. As of now, the office has handled 6,440 foreign-related notary cases, with notarized documents sent to over 100 countries and regions. It has established partnerships with 310 domestic and international entities, supported by an expert team of nearly 200 members.

To upgrade foreign-related legal services, the Justice Department of Hainan has established a dedicated coordination office, supported the hosting of two sessions of the Hainan FTP Legal Week to build a service brand, and collaborated with China University of Political Science and Law on building a cooperative base for the cultivation of foreign-related legal talents.

Efforts have also been intensified in building a team of foreign-related lawyers. The province has formed a provincial pool of 122 foreign-related lawyers, established partnerships with international law firms and those from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), and encouraged lawyers from the Hong Kong and Macao SARs to serve as legal consultants at local firms across the province.

Arbitration, as an internationally recognized method for resolving commercial disputes, plays a vital role in supporting the Hainan FTP in attracting international investment and enhancing its global competitiveness. The Justice Department of Hainan has facilitated the issuance of the Rules on the Development of International Commercial Arbitration in the Hainan FTP and held 18 promotional conferences in relation to these new arbitration rules. Notably, Hainan hosted China's first ad hoc arbitration case, a significant milestone.

Hainan has been positioning itself as a high-quality international commercial arbitration center and a premier destination for resolving international commercial disputes. The province has taken a series of initiatives, including the introduction of the Commercial Mediation Regulations of the Hainan FTP, and supported the internationalization of the Hainan International Arbitration Court, which was included in the Ministry of Justice's program for cultivating world-class arbitration institutions with Chinese characteristics. Moreover, the Hainan Provincial Arbitration Association was established, issuing industry norms to enhance the quality of case handling.

Outcomes of promoting social stability

The Justice Department of Hainan has upheld the practice of "Fengqiao Experience" in the new era, a successful model of grassroots dispute resolution that emphasizes the fundamental role of people's mediation in preventing and resolving disputes. Diversified dispute resolution mechanisms have been improved to ensure that conflicts are resolved locally. People's mediation committees at all levels across the province have accepted 21,053 cases and resolved 19,527 of them, achieving a remarkable success rate of 93 percent.

Notably, the department has promoted the issuance of the Regulations on Diversified Dispute Resolution of Hainan Province, achieving full coverage of full-time people's mediators across the province. The province has initiated a pilot program for the implementation of the judicial assistant system, with 124 judicial assistants recruited so far. Twenty-four prison officers and 42 newly-hired lawyers were selected to work alongside these judicial assistants at judicial offices in cities and counties.

The Justice Department of Hainan has launched the "One village (community) legal consultant plus N legally-savvy villagers" campaign. The campaign has paired 808 village (community) legal consultants with 14,661 legally-savvy villagers, achieving full coverage of legal consulting service in all administrative villages.

Furthermore, the department has launched special campaigns on dispute resolution, risk prevention, social stability and workplace safety, with regular investigations on dispute resolution to support the building of a Peaceful Hainan.

In addition, the Several Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Legal Service Industry in Hainan FTP were issued by provincial authorities. Public legal service platforms within Hainan have served over 760,200 individuals in the past year, a 9.15 percent year-on-year increase, with public satisfaction rate reaching 99.27 percent.