From the 12th until the 21st of September a delegation of ten judges from the provinces Henan and Jiangsu visited Baden-Württemberg. The delegation included representatives of the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China and members of the Higher and Middle People’s Court of the two provinces Henan and Jiangsu and was part of an ongoing exchange between the judiciary of these provinces and Baden-Württemberg. Core of the visit, were discussions and workshops with German colleagues on several legal issues.
The visit started with a welcome by the Robert Bosch Foundation and the president of the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart. An introduction to Baden-Württemberg and its judiciary system was given at the Ministry of Justice and European Affairs in Stuttgart. Later in the week the delegation was welcomed by the mayor of Ravensburg, the mayor of Hechingen and the mayor of Freudenstadt. On the 13th of September the first workshop took place in the Administrative Court of Stuttgart, where the discussion focused on the possibility to file class actions in administrative law cases in Germany and China. At the District Court of Leonberg the delegation spoke with judges, judicial officers and court bailiffs on the enforcement of judgements. A debate on mediation and settlement in court, took place at the Regional Court of Hechingen. A workshop on insolvency law was given at the District Court of Heilbronn. Further exchange took place at the District Court of Ravensburg; where the Delegation took great interest in the Electronic Land Registry. Finally the delegation ended its journey by visiting a court session at Regional Court in Heilbronn. The many presentations and discussions on a wide spectrum of legal matters offered the delegation a broad perspective on the German legal landscape and gave their German counterparts insight in the Chinese legal system and its current developments.