From July 10th to 19th 2016, a delegation of ten judges from Berlin and Brandenburg travelled to the People’s Republic of China as part of the Sino-German judges exchange program. First, they visited Shandong province, which joined the partnership with the federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg as an additional partner province in 2016. In Qingdao, the delegation was received at the Medium People’s Court. Here, questions regarding the enforcement of judgments in both countries were at the center of the joint workshop. Following a visit to the Sino-German Eco Park, the delegation then attended an oral hearing in a contract law dispute at the Lower People’s Court of the Laoshan district. This was followed by a visit to the Maritime Court, one of ten Chinese special courts for maritime disputes.
From Qingdao the delegation travelled on to Hohhot, the capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which has been a judge exchange program partner of Berlin and Brandenburg since 2013. At the Higher People’s Court of Hohhot, the delegation met with local colleagues to discuss safeguards to protect the professional role of judges in both countries. At the Lower People’s Court of the Xincheng district in Hohhot the delegation attended a criminal law trial. At the end of their stay in the capital of the autonomous region, the delegation visited a law firm and informed itself about legal practice as a lawyer in the People’s Republic of China, before then being received at the Lower People’s Court of the Right Tumed-banner.
Further topics of the exchange in Inner Mongolia included the law of evidence, which was discussed at the Medium People’s Court in Baotou, and judicial independence and professional supervision, as well as the relationship between the judiciary and the media, which were discussed at the Medium People’s Court of the city of Ordos. At the end of the trip, the delegation was received in Beijing by the presiding judge of the 3rd Senate of the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China. At the Supreme People’s Court the delegation also informed themselves about the digitalization of the Chinese judiciary.