중국 소액소송절차에 관한 연구

This study aims to examine the legislative history and institutional development of the small claims procedure under China’s Civil Procedure Law, to analyze practical issues arising from its operation, and to propose improvements for a more rational implementation of the procedure. In response to the rapid growth of civil disputes driven by China’s fast-paced economic development and the rise in citizens’ legal awareness, the small claims procedure was first introduced through the 2012 amendment to the Civil Procedure Law. The aim was to alleviate the judicial burden and promote efficient and cost-effective dispute resolution. Subsequently, the Supreme People's Court supplemented the provisions on small claims through judicial interpretation and established pilot programs to distinguish between complex and simple cases, applying the small claims procedure to the latter. After accumulating experience through trial implementation, the 2022 amendment to the Civil Procedure Law expanded the relevant provisions to five articles, thereby enhancing the systematization and clarity of the procedure. Despite these efforts, the utilization rate of the small claims procedure remains lower than the anticipated 30% of all first-instance civil cases. This is due to issues such as the subjectivity of the application criteria, inadequate remedies for parties, and conservative implementation by judges. Accordingly, this paper argues for the elevation of the small claims procedure into an independent chapter of the Civil Procedure Law to enhance procedural coherence and autonomy. It further proposes objectifying the application criteria, allowing limited appeals to strengthen the protection of parties’ rights, and establishing specialized judicial panels. Moreover, since the effective implementation of the system is difficult without improvements to the personnel appointment and evaluation system for judges handling small claims cases, this paper also proposes reforms to the evaluation system.