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)