A plaintiff may lose a lawsuit at Beijing's courts for lack of evidence beginning October 1 when new rules of evidence were put into trial implementation.

Under a new framework on rules of evidence mapped out by the Beijing Higher People's Court, a time limit is set for gathering evidence, and all evidence is to be disclosed in open court so as to avoid unfair surprise to either the defense or plaintiff during trial.

Before the new rules, there was no such time limit, some people had no idea about producing evidence, and the witness in general only provided written evidence without appearing in court.

Now the witness is required to appear in court without lawful reason, and all evidence should be presented in public and cross-examined in court before a verdict can be given.

The new rules are seen as a significant reform on rules of evidence for Beijing's courts as well as an important measure taken by the people's courts to set up a modern judicial mechanism that is open, fair and democratic.

Officials from the Beijing Higher People's Court say that the new rules not only regulate behavior of the accusers and the defendants but also that of judges.

They believe the new rules also will help improve Beijing's judicial work.

(People's Daily 10/03/2001)