BEIJING (AFP) - China's first "cybercourt" was launched
on Friday (Aug 18) to settle online disputes, as the legal system
attempts to keep up with the explosion of mobile payment and
e-commerce.
Residents of the eastern city of Hangzhou - home to
e-commerce giant Alibaba - can now register their Internet-related
civil complaints online and wait to log on to to their trial via
video chat.
The cybercourt will "offer regular people an efficient,
low-cost solution to these new kinds of disputes that take place on
the Internet", Du Qian, the cybercourt Chief Justice, told the
official Supreme People's Court news agency.
"Not only will this make lawsuits as convenient as
online shopping, but it will also give online shopping the same
degree of judicial protection as consumption at bricks-and-mortar
stores."
The court will handle cases such as online trade
disputes, copyright lawsuits and product liability claims for
online purchases.
China is home to the world's largest number of Internet
users - 731 million at the end of last year - and e-commerce is a
vital part of the government's efforts to turn China into an
economy driven by consumer demand.
Consumers spent US$17.8 billion (S$24.3 billion) during
Alibaba's biggest online shopping promotion on Nov 11 last year,
more than twice the five-day desktop sales from Thanksgiving to
Cyber Monday in the US last year.
ST