New Coronary Pneumonia 丨 Zheng Ruohua: Launch the "New Coronavirus Online Dispute Resolution Plan" as soon as June

Political situation

Written by: Lin Jian

2020-04-13 15:20

The new coronary pneumonia epidemic has hit all walks of life, and the government last week introduced measures to further support businesses. The Secretary for Justice Zheng Ruohua published a blog today (13th), referring to the government's plan to launch the "New Coronavirus Online Dispute Resolution Plan". If the funding is approved, it can be launched as soon as June.

Zheng Ruohua published a blog today (13th), referring to the government's plan to launch the "New Coronavirus Online Dispute Resolution Program." If the funding is approved, it can be launched as soon as June. (Profile picture / Photo by Zhang Haowei)

Zheng Ruohua pointed out that the continuous epidemic has brought shocks to all walks of life, seriously affecting or cracking down on the normal operation of the business of small and medium-sized enterprises, and it is expected that disputes will increase. The goal of the plan is to provide a quick and cost-effective way to assist these companies in resolving disputes. The service scope of the plan includes: handling disputes related to the new coronavirus; the amount of compensation in each case must be less than 500,000 yuan; one of the parties (plaintiff or respondent) must be a Hong Kong resident or company; Pay 200 yuan each as registration fee; the parties need to agree to reach a dispute resolution agreement under the plan.

The blog mentioned that the dispute resolution process will use multiple methods. The two parties will first try to negotiate and then deal with it through mediation. If the settlement agreement is still not reached, a final and binding arbitration award will be obtained through the arbitration process. . Zheng Ruohua pointed out that this is in line with the Attorney General ’s goal of "mediation first" and hopes to prevent further disputes. If the dispute is finally resolved through negotiation or mediation, it will help to establish and consolidate social harmony and allow both parties to maintain long-term good business relations. .

Zheng Ruohua also pointed out that the plan can create more job opportunities for mediators and arbitrators and improve work efficiency. The two sides can freely choose a neutral third party. If the two parties fail to reach a consensus on this, there will be a mechanism in the plan to appoint them. All neutral third parties and both parties or their lawyers can handle cases online while maintaining social distance.

Use legal technology to build a safe and reliable platform

Zheng Ruohua mentioned that if funding is successfully obtained in April, the plan is expected to be launched in June. She believes that legal technology is of great help to the development of dispute resolution services, and she expects that building a safe, reliable and credible platform to provide companies with convenient and cost-effective online dispute resolution methods will become a new trend.

In addition, Zheng Ruohua stated that under the epidemic, the Department of Justice has adopted a plan to expedite the payment of outsourcing lawyers' fees. After the outsourcing lawyers entrusted by the Department of Justice have completed part of their work, they can submit an interim report and a fee notice to the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice will pay the cost of completed work first when feasible, and the Legal Aid Department and the Duty Lawyer Scheme will adopt similar arrangements.

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