Tongwang Attention丨The Supreme People's Court issued the "Decision on Amending the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases of Compensation for Personal Injury" (with Q&A)
Time:
2022-04-27
Author:
Source:
The Supreme People's Court
Visits:
25
In order to thoroughly implement the major decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee on establishing and improving the integrated urban-rural development system and policy system, as well as the requirement of "reforming the personal injury compensation system and unifying the compensation standards for urban and rural residents," the 1864th meeting of the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People's Court deliberated and approved the "Decision of the Supreme People's Court on Amending the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases of Compensation for Personal Injury" (hereinafter referred to as the "Decision") on February 15, 2022, and will be implemented on May 1, 2022. The background and main content of the "Decision" are as follows:
I. Background of the Formulation of the "Decision"
In order to unify the relevant legal application issues in personal injury compensation dispute cases, the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases of Compensation for Personal Injury (hereinafter referred to as the Interpretation of Compensation for Personal Injury), promulgated by our court in December 2003, stipulates that disability compensation and death compensation shall be calculated according to the per capita disposable income of urban residents or the per capita net income of rural residents, and living expenses of dependents shall be calculated according to the per capita consumption expenditure of urban residents and the per capita annual living consumption expenditure of rural residents. This provision was formulated based on the basic national conditions of China's economic and social development at that time, and against the background of the urban-rural household registration system and the dual urban-rural structure.
With the advancement of China's household registration system reform and the continuous development of the economy and society, the gap between urban and rural areas has gradually narrowed, and the issue of personal injury compensation standards is facing new situations and new forms. On July 24, 2014, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Further Promoting the Reform of the Household Registration System", which put forward specific policies and measures for further promoting the reform of the household registration system, including the opinion of "establishing a unified urban-rural household registration system" and "abolishing the distinction between agricultural and non-agricultural household registration and the types of blue-printed household registration derived therefrom, and uniformly registering them as resident household registration" in Article 3 "Innovating Population Management". On February 9, 2017, the Ministry of Public Security held a special video training meeting on the reform of the national household registration system, which pointed out that the policy framework for the reform of the household registration system has been basically completed, a unified urban-rural household registration system has been fully established, and all localities have abolished the distinction between agricultural and non-agricultural household registration.
On April 15, 2019, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council promulgated the "Opinions on Establishing and Improving the Integrated Urban-Rural Development System and Policy System", which clearly put forward the requirement of "reforming the personal injury compensation system and unifying the compensation standards for urban and rural residents". In order to implement the requirements of the Party Central Committee, the Supreme People's Court issued the "Notice on Authorizing the Pilot Program for Unifying Urban and Rural Resident Compensation Standards for Personal Injury Compensation" on September 2, 2019, authorizing the Higher People's Courts to carry out pilot work on unifying urban and rural resident compensation standards for personal injury compensation dispute cases within their jurisdictions.
In order to further promote the work of unifying compensation standards for urban and rural residents, the Supreme People's Court launched the revision of the Interpretation of Compensation for Personal Injury on the basis of summarizing the experience of pilot work. This "Decision" was formulated after in-depth investigation and demonstration, and after soliciting opinions from the whole society, and on the basis of repeated research and demonstration. Amending the Interpretation of Compensation for Personal Injury and unifying the compensation standards for urban and rural residents is an important measure for the people's courts to conscientiously implement the major decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core on establishing and improving the integrated urban-rural development system and policy system, as well as the requirement of "reforming the personal injury compensation system and unifying the compensation standards for urban and rural residents".
II. Main Contents of the "Decision"
The amendment to the Interpretation of Compensation for Personal Injury is to implement the requirements of the Party Central Committee on "reforming the personal injury compensation system and unifying the compensation standards for urban and rural residents", focusing on the issue of urban-rural unification of compensation standards. The amendment involves six articles of the Interpretation of Compensation for Personal Injury, namely Articles 12, 15, 17, 18, 22, and 24, and modifies the disability compensation, death compensation, and living expenses of dependents from the original urban-rural differentiated compensation standards to unified calculation using urban resident standards. The main content is: to modify the disability compensation and death compensation from the original calculation according to the per capita disposable income of urban residents or the per capita net income of rural residents to calculation according to the per capita disposable income standard of urban residents; to modify the living expenses of dependents from the original calculation according to the per capita consumption expenditure of urban residents or the per capita annual living consumption expenditure of rural residents to calculation according to the per capita consumption expenditure standard of urban residents. Disability compensation, death compensation, and living expenses of dependents are no longer calculated separately for urban and rural residents, but are uniformly calculated according to the urban resident indicators of each province, autonomous region, municipality directly under the Central Government, as well as special economic zones and cities under separate state planning, as announced by the government statistics department. This is mainly based on the following considerations:
First, unified adoption of urban resident standards is a summary of the experience of pilot work. The Supreme People's Court issued the "Notice on Authorizing the Pilot Program for Unifying Urban and Rural Resident Compensation Standards for Personal Injury Compensation" on September 2, 2019, authorizing the Higher People's Courts to carry out pilot work on unifying urban and rural resident compensation standards for personal injury compensation dispute cases within their jurisdictions. During the pilot process, local courts carried out work according to the actual situation in their jurisdictions, and adopted different approaches, mainly including unifying to urban resident standards and unifying to all resident standards. Overall, the all-resident standard is higher than the rural resident standard, but lower than the urban resident standard. According to the statistics for the first half of 2021, 26 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps adopted the practice of unifying to urban resident standards in the pilot work. In August 2021, the Supreme People's Court issued the "Notice on Further Promoting the Pilot Work of Unifying Urban and Rural Resident Compensation Standards for Personal Injury Compensation", requiring local courts to expand the scope of the pilot program and unify the compensation standards to urban resident standards. According to the reports from various localities, the pilot work is running smoothly and the overall effect is good.
Second, unified adoption of urban resident standards can more fully protect the interests of victims. Especially for rural residents, the amount of compensation will be significantly increased. During the pilot process, some localities also used the all-resident standard for calculation. However, considering that if the all-resident standard is uniformly adopted, it may reduce the existing compensation amount for urban resident victims. Adopting the urban resident standard can take into account the overall situation of urban resident victims and rural resident victims, and better protect the legitimate rights and interests of the people.
Third, unified adoption of urban resident standards is in line with the current trend of urbanization in China. According to the Seventh National Census Bulletin, the proportion of the population currently living in cities and towns accounts for 63.89% of the total population. Compared with the Sixth National Census in 2010, the proportion of the urban population has increased by 14.21 percentage points. With the further advancement of urbanization in China, it is foreseeable that the proportion of the urban population will further increase in the future. Unifying to the urban resident standard is in line with the trend of urbanization in China.
The Decision of the Supreme People's Court on Amending the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases of Compensation for Personal Injury was adopted at the 1864th meeting of the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People's Court on February 15, 2022, and is hereby promulgated and shall be implemented as of May 1, 2022.
Supreme People's Court
April 24, 2022
Interpretation of Laws [2022] No. 14
Supreme People's Court
Decision on Amending the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases of Compensation for Personal Injury
(Adopted at the 1864th meeting of the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People's Court on February 15, 2022, and shall be implemented as of May 1, 2022)
The 1864th meeting of the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People's Court decided to make the following amendments to the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases of Compensation for Personal Injury:
I. Article 12 is amended as follows: "Disability compensation shall be calculated based on the victim's loss of ability to work or disability level, according to the standard of per capita disposable income of urban residents in the place where the court is located in the previous year, and shall be calculated for 20 years from the date of the disability. However, for those over 60 years of age, the number of years shall be reduced by one year for each additional year of age; for those over 75 years of age, it shall be calculated as five years.
"If the victim is disabled due to injury but the actual income has not decreased, or the disability level is relatively minor but causes occupational impediments that seriously affect his or her employment, the disability compensation may be adjusted accordingly."
II. Article 15 is amended as follows: "Death compensation shall be calculated based on the standard of per capita disposable income of urban residents in the place where the court is located in the previous year, and shall be calculated for 20 years. However, for those over 60 years of age, the number of years shall be reduced by one year for each additional year of age; for those over 75 years of age, it shall be calculated as five years."
III. Article 17 is amended as follows: "Living expenses for dependents shall be calculated based on the extent to which the supporter has lost the ability to work, according to the standard of per capita consumption expenditure of urban residents in the place where the court is located in the previous year. If the dependent is a minor, the calculation shall be made until the age of 18; if the dependent has no ability to work and has no other source of income, the calculation shall be made for 20 years. However, for those over 60 years of age, the number of years shall be reduced by one year for each additional year of age; for those over 75 years of age, it shall be calculated as five years.
"A dependent refers to a minor who the victim is legally obligated to support or an adult close relative who has lost the ability to work and has no other source of income. If the dependent has other supporters, the compensation obligor shall only compensate for the portion that the victim is legally obligated to bear. If there are several dependents, the total annual compensation shall not exceed the per capita consumption expenditure of urban residents in the previous year."
IV. Article 18 is amended as follows: "If the compensation claimant proves that the per capita disposable income of urban residents in his or her place of domicile or habitual residence is higher than the standard of the place where the court is located, the disability compensation or death compensation may be calculated according to the relevant standard of his or her place of domicile or habitual residence.
"The relevant calculation standard for living expenses of dependents shall be determined in accordance with the principles of the preceding paragraph."
V. Article 22 is amended as follows: "The 'per capita disposable income of urban residents', 'per capita consumption expenditure of urban residents', and 'average wage of employees' mentioned in this Interpretation shall be determined in accordance with the relevant statistical data of the previous year published by the government statistical departments of each province, autonomous region, municipality directly under the Central Government, and special economic zone and city under separate state planning.
"'The previous year' refers to the previous statistical year at the end of the first-instance court debate."
VI. Article 24 is amended as follows: "This Interpretation shall come into force on May 1, 2022. This Interpretation shall apply to cases of personal injury compensation caused by torts occurring after the implementation.
"If the judicial interpretations previously issued by this court are inconsistent with this Interpretation, this Interpretation shall prevail."
This decision shall come into force on May 1, 2022.
According to this decision, the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases of Compensation for Personal Injury shall be revised accordingly and re-promulgated.
Supreme People's Court
On the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases of Compensation for Personal Injury
Explanation of Several Issues
(Adopted at the 1299th Meeting of the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People's Court on December 4, 2003; Revised in accordance with the Decision of the Supreme People's Court on Amending Twenty-Seven Civil Judicial Interpretations Such as the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Trade Union Law of the People's Republic of China in Civil Trial Work adopted at the 1823rd Meeting of the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People's Court on December 23, 2020; Revised in accordance with the Decision of the Supreme People's Court on Amending the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases of Compensation for Personal Injury adopted at the 1864th Meeting of the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People's Court on February 15, 2022, the revision of which shall come into force on May 1, 2022)
In order to correctly try cases of compensation for personal injury and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the parties in accordance with the law, this Interpretation is formulated in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws, and in combination with judicial practice.
Article 1 Where the right holder of compensation brings a lawsuit requesting the compensation obligor to compensate for material and mental damages due to infringement on life, body, and health, the people's court shall accept it.
The "compensation right holder" mentioned in this article refers to the victim who directly suffers personal injury due to tort or other causes of harm, as well as the close relatives of the deceased victim.
The "compensation obligor" mentioned in this article refers to a natural person, legal person, or non-legal person organization that should bear civil liability in accordance with the law due to its own or others' tortious acts and other causes of harm.
Article 2 If the compensation right holder sues some joint tortfeasors, the people's court shall add other joint tortfeasors as joint defendants. If the compensation right holder abandons the litigation claim against some joint tortfeasors in the lawsuit, other joint tortfeasors shall not bear joint and several liability for the compensation share that the defendant who is abandoned the litigation claim should bear. If the scope of liability is difficult to determine, it shall be presumed that each joint tortfeasor bears equal liability.
The people's court shall inform the compensation right holder of the legal consequences of abandoning the litigation claim, and state the situation of abandoning the litigation claim in the legal documents.
Article 3 If a worker of an employer who should participate in the overall planning of work-related injury insurance suffers personal injury due to a work-related injury accident, and the worker or his/her close relatives file a lawsuit with the people's court requesting the employer to bear civil compensation liability, they shall be informed to handle it in accordance with the provisions of the Regulations on Work-Related Injury Insurance.
If a worker suffers personal injury due to the infringement of a third party other than the employer, and the compensation right holder requests the third party to bear civil compensation liability, the people's court shall support it.
Article 4 If a helper who provides gratuitous labor causes damage to others in the course of helping, the helped person shall bear the liability for compensation. If the helped person seeks recovery from the helper who has intentional or gross negligence after bearing the liability for compensation, the people's court shall support it. If the helped person expressly refuses to help, he/she shall not bear the liability for compensation.
Article 5 If a helper who provides gratuitous labor suffers personal injury due to helping activities, he/she shall bear corresponding liability according to the respective faults of the helper and the helped person; if the helped person expressly refuses to help, the helped person shall not bear the liability for compensation, but may give appropriate compensation within the scope of benefit.
If a helper suffers personal injury due to the act of a third party in the course of helping activities, he/she has the right to request the third party to bear the liability for compensation, and also has the right to request the helped person to give appropriate compensation. After the helped person compensates, he/she may seek recovery from the third party.
Article Six Medical expenses shall be determined based on the payment receipts for medical expenses and hospitalization expenses issued by the medical institution, in combination with relevant evidence such as medical records and diagnosis certificates. If the person obligated to compensate objects to the necessity and rationality of the treatment, they shall bear the corresponding burden of proof.
The amount of compensation for medical expenses shall be determined according to the actual amount incurred before the conclusion of the first-instance court debate. The compensation claimant may file a separate lawsuit for the necessary rehabilitation expenses for organ function recovery training, appropriate cosmetic surgery expenses, and other follow-up treatment expenses after they actually occur. However, expenses that are certain to occur according to medical certificates or assessment conclusions can be compensated together with the medical expenses that have already occurred.
Article Seven Lost work income shall be determined based on the injured party's lost work time and income status.
Lost work time shall be determined based on the certificate issued by the medical institution where the injured party receives treatment. If the injured party's disability causes continuous lost work, the lost work time can be calculated up to the day before the disability assessment.
If the injured party has a fixed income, the lost work income shall be calculated based on the actual reduction in income. If the injured party does not have a fixed income, it shall be calculated based on their average income for the most recent three years; if the injured party cannot provide evidence of their average income status for the most recent three years, it may be calculated with reference to the average salary of employees in the same or similar industry in the location of the court for the previous year.
Article Eight Nursing expenses shall be determined based on the income status of the nursing staff and the number of nursing staff and the duration of nursing.
If the nursing staff has income, it shall be calculated with reference to the provisions for lost work income; if the nursing staff has no income or hires a caregiver, it shall be calculated with reference to the labor remuneration standard for local caregivers engaged in the same level of care. In principle, there shall be one caregiver, but if the medical institution or assessment institution has a clear opinion, the number of caregivers can be determined with reference to it.
The nursing period shall be calculated until the injured party recovers the ability to take care of themselves. If the injured party cannot recover the ability to take care of themselves due to disability, a reasonable nursing period can be determined based on factors such as their age and health status, but the maximum shall not exceed twenty years.
The nursing required after the injured party's disability assessment shall be determined according to their degree of nursing dependence and in combination with the provision of assistive devices for the disabled.
Article Nine Transportation expenses shall be calculated based on the actual expenses incurred by the injured party and their necessary escorts for medical treatment or transfer to another hospital. Transportation expenses shall be based on formal receipts; the relevant receipts shall be consistent with the medical treatment location, time, number of people, and number of times.
Article Ten Hospital meal subsidies may be determined with reference to the standard of meal subsidies for general staff of local state agencies on business trips.
If the injured party does need to go to another place for treatment and cannot be hospitalized due to objective reasons, the reasonable portion of the accommodation and meal expenses actually incurred by the injured party and their escorts shall be compensated.
Article Eleven Nutritional expenses shall be determined with reference to the opinions of medical institutions based on the injured party's disability.
Article Twelve Disability compensation shall be calculated based on the degree of loss of working ability or disability level of the injured party, according to the standard of per capita disposable income of urban residents in the location of the court in the previous year, calculated for twenty years from the date of disability assessment. However, for those over sixty years of age, the age decreases by one year for each additional year; for those over seventy-five years of age, it is calculated as five years.
If the injured party is disabled but their actual income has not decreased, or the disability level is light but causes occupational impairment that seriously affects their employment, the disability compensation may be adjusted accordingly.
Article Thirteen Disability assistive device expenses shall be calculated according to the reasonable expense standard of ordinary applicable devices. If there are special needs for the injury, the corresponding reasonable expense standard can be determined with reference to the opinions of the assistive device fitting institution.
The replacement cycle and compensation period of assistive devices shall be determined with reference to the opinions of the fitting institution.
Article Fourteenth Funeral expenses shall be calculated based on the average monthly salary standard of employees in the location of the court in the previous year, calculated as six months' total.
Article Fifteenth Death compensation shall be calculated according to the standard of per capita disposable income of urban residents in the location of the court in the previous year, calculated for twenty years. However, for those over sixty years of age, the age decreases by one year for each additional year; for those over seventy-five years of age, it is calculated as five years.
Article Sixteenth Living expenses for dependents shall be included in disability compensation or death compensation.
Article Seventeenth Living expenses for dependents shall be calculated based on the degree of loss of working ability of the supporter, according to the standard of per capita consumption expenditure of urban residents in the location of the court in the previous year. For dependents who are minors, it shall be calculated until the age of eighteen; for dependents who have no working ability and no other source of income, it shall be calculated for twenty years. However, for those over sixty years of age, the age decreases by one year for each additional year; for those over seventy-five years of age, it is calculated as five years.
Dependents refer to minor children or adult close relatives who have lost their ability to work and have no other source of income, who the injured party is legally obligated to support. If the dependents have other supporters, the person obligated to compensate shall only compensate for the portion that the injured party is legally obligated to bear. If there are several dependents, the total annual compensation shall not exceed the per capita consumption expenditure of urban residents in the previous year.
Article Eighteenth If the compensation claimant provides evidence that the per capita disposable income of urban residents in their place of residence or habitual residence is higher than the standard in the location of the court, the disability compensation or death compensation may be calculated according to the relevant standards in their place of residence or habitual residence.
The relevant calculation standards for living expenses for dependents shall be determined in accordance with the principles of the preceding paragraph.
Article Nineteenth If the compensation claimant files a lawsuit with the people's court requesting continued payment of nursing expenses, assistive device expenses, or disability compensation beyond the determined nursing period, assistive device expense payment period, or disability compensation payment period, the people's court shall accept it. If the compensation claimant does need to continue nursing, obtain assistive devices, or has no working ability and source of income, the people's court shall order the person obligated to compensate to continue paying the relevant expenses for five to ten years.
Article Twentieth If the person obligated to pay compensation requests to pay disability compensation and assistive device fees in periodic payments, they shall provide corresponding guarantees. The people's court may determine to pay the relevant expenses in periodic payments based on the compensation obligor's ability to pay and the provision of guarantees. However, expenses incurred before the end of the first-instance court debate, death compensation, and compensation for mental distress shall be paid in a lump sum.
Article 21 The people's court shall specify the payment time, method, and payment standard for each period in the legal documents. If relevant statistical data changes during the execution period, the payment amount shall be adjusted accordingly in a timely manner.
Periodic payments shall be made according to the actual life expectancy of the compensation claimant and shall not be restricted by the relevant compensation period in this Interpretation.
Article 22 The terms 'per capita disposable income of urban residents,' 'per capita consumption expenditure of urban residents,' and 'average wage of employees' in this Interpretation shall be determined according to the relevant statistical data of the previous year published by the government statistics departments of each province, autonomous region, municipality directly under the Central Government, special economic zone, and city under separate state planning.
'Previous year' refers to the previous statistical year at the end of the first-instance court debate.
Article 23 Compensation for mental distress shall be determined by applying the 'Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Determination of Liability for Compensation for Mental Distress in Civil Torts'.
Article 24 This Interpretation shall come into effect on May 1, 2022. This Interpretation shall apply to personal injury compensation cases caused by torts occurring after the implementation.
In case of inconsistencies between the judicial interpretations previously issued by this court and this Interpretation, this Interpretation shall prevail.
The following is the content of the Q&A with reporters
In order to thoroughly implement the major decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee on establishing and improving the system and mechanism and policy system for integrated urban-rural development, and the requirements of 'reforming the personal injury compensation system and unifying the compensation standards for urban and rural residents', on February 15, 2022, the 1864th meeting of the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People's Court deliberated and approved the 'Decision of the Supreme People's Court on Amending the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases of Personal Injury Compensation' (hereinafter referred to as the 'Decision'), which will be implemented on May 1, 2022. The person in charge of the First Civil Division of the Supreme People's Court answered questions from reporters on the 'Decision'.
Q: It is understood that the Supreme People's Court issued a notice in 2019 authorizing various regions to carry out pilot work on unifying the compensation standards for urban and rural residents in personal injury compensation cases. Please introduce the progress of the pilot work.
A: On September 2, 2019, our court issued the 'Notice on Authorizing the Launch of Pilot Programs for Unifying Urban and Rural Compensation Standards for Personal Injury Compensation' (hereinafter referred to as the 'Notice'), authorizing the Higher People's Courts to carry out pilot programs for unifying urban and rural resident compensation standards in personal injury compensation dispute cases within their jurisdictions.
After the 'Notice' was issued, the Higher People's Courts attached great importance to it, actively deployed it, and steadily promoted it. Various regions have adopted different approaches based on the actual conditions of their jurisdictions in terms of the scope of pilot areas, the types of pilot cases, and the compensation calculation standards. According to our statistics in the first half of 2021, based on the division of pilot areas, there are two approaches: conducting pilot programs in the entire jurisdiction and conducting pilot programs in some areas within the jurisdiction; based on the division of pilot case types, some provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government have carried out pilot work in all civil dispute cases involving personal injury compensation, while others have carried out pilot work in some types of cases such as motor vehicle traffic accident liability disputes; in terms of compensation standards, there are mainly two approaches: adopting urban resident standards and adopting all resident standards, and some provinces and cities have also explored and adopted other standards. Among them, 26 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have adopted the approach of unifying to urban resident standards in pilot work.
The pilot work is generally running smoothly and has achieved good results. Due to the unified compensation standards, many disputing parties can resolve disputes through self-negotiation, and the number of cases entering litigation procedures has decreased. For example, in 2019, the number of motor vehicle traffic accident liability dispute cases accepted by Hebei Province courts decreased by 21.26% year-on-year. The difficulty of case trial has been reduced, the case trial time has been shortened, the appeal rate has decreased, and the burden of litigation on the parties has also been reduced. It should be said that more than two years of pilot work have accumulated relatively rich practical experience and laid a good working foundation for the revision of judicial interpretation and the further unification of law application.
Q: Please talk about the important significance and role of this revision of the 'Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases of Personal Injury Compensation' (hereinafter referred to as the 'Interpretation of Personal Injury Compensation') in unifying the compensation standards for urban and rural residents.
A: First, revising the 'Interpretation of Personal Injury Compensation' and unifying the compensation standards for urban and rural residents is an important measure for the people's courts to implement the major decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee. Establishing and improving the system and mechanism and policy system for integrated urban-rural development is a major decision and deployment made at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. On April 15, 2019, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council promulgated the 'Opinions on Establishing and Improving the System and Mechanism and Policy System for Integrated Urban-Rural Development', which clearly proposed the requirement of 'reforming the personal injury compensation system and unifying the compensation standards for urban and rural residents'. The Supreme People's Court adheres to the people-centered development thought, deeply understands the great significance of reforming the personal injury compensation system and unifying the compensation standards for urban and rural residents, gives full play to the role of trial functions, and implements the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee.
Second, revising the 'Interpretation of Personal Injury Compensation' and unifying the compensation standards for urban and rural residents is an important aspect of the people's courts providing judicial services and guarantees for comprehensively promoting the rural revitalization strategy. Establishing and improving the system and mechanism and policy system for integrated urban-rural development is the institutional guarantee for the rural revitalization strategy, and unifying the compensation standards for urban and rural residents is an important part of establishing and improving the system and mechanism and policy system for integrated urban-rural development. In personal injury compensation cases, uniformly adopting urban resident standards to calculate disability compensation, death compensation, and living expenses for dependents enables rural residents to better share the dividends of reform, promote integrated urban-rural development, and continuously enhance the sense of security and gain of the people, especially rural residents.
Third, revising the 'Interpretation of Personal Injury Compensation' and unifying the compensation standards for urban and rural residents can more fully protect the interests of victims. Unifying the adoption of urban resident standards changes the previous situation where the amount of compensation was significantly different for residents with different urban and rural household registration statuses. For example, if a rural resident victim in Beijing dies, the maximum death compensation (including living expenses for dependents) that can be obtained is approximately 1.02 million yuan if calculated according to the 2020 rural resident indicators published by the statistics department. However, after the 'Interpretation of Personal Injury Compensation' is revised, residents living in rural areas are also calculated according to urban resident indicators, and the maximum death compensation (including living expenses for dependents) that can be obtained is approximately 2.34 million yuan, which can more fully protect the interests of victims, especially rural resident victims.
Fourth, revising the "Interpretation on Compensation for Personal Injury" and unifying the compensation standards for urban and rural residents can greatly reduce the burden of litigation on the parties and optimize the allocation of judicial resources. In the past, in personal injury compensation disputes, courts usually had to determine whether to use urban or rural resident standards to calculate the amount of compensation based on factors such as the victim's place of residence and habitual residence. The compensation claimant had to bear a heavy burden of proof to prove that the urban resident standard should apply, and the court also needed to invest a lot of energy in reviewing relevant evidence. After the unification of compensation standards for urban and rural residents, the difficulty of proof for the parties has been greatly reduced, and the burden of litigation on the parties has been alleviated.
(Source: The Supreme People's Court)
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