China's judiciary is moving to standardize the collation,
presentation and appraisal of evidence in all court cases in order
to put an end to anomalies between different laws and
judgments.
Vice President Shen Deyong of the Supreme People's Court
yesterday outlined the proposed new evidence code at the ongoing
two-day Canada-China Seminar on Litigation Evidence Issues, jointly
organized by the Supreme People's Court of China and the Supreme
Court of Canada.
He added that it would be the first independent evidence code in
China.
The Criminal Procedure Law, Civil Procedure Law, Administrative
Procedural Law, Administrative Penalty Law, Law on Penalties
Against Public Offences, Taxes Collection Management Law and
several judicial interpretations made by the Supreme People's Court
and the Supreme People's Procuratorate all have provisions that
relate to the collation, presentation and appraisal of
evidence.
"But the provisions in the different pieces of legislation
overlap or are uncoordinated, resulting in loopholes and questions
such as the permissibility of written testimony. And there are no
specific regulations on the use and appraisal of electronic
evidence," Shen said.
Shen said the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress had yet to decide
when the code would be adopted into the overall legislation
plan.
With the development of new evidence appraisal methods, such as
handwriting, footprint and voice verification and DNA
identification, judges would have a greater range of evidence to
help in their judgments.
Chief judge and president of the Supreme People's Court Xiao Yang and Canadian counterpart Beverley
McLachlin attended the seminar.
First developed by Premier Wen Jiabao during his visit to Canada in 2003,
a five-year Sino-Canadian judicial cooperation project was launched
in November last year.
(China Daily May 31, 2006)