The mainland could turn to Hong Kong's Small Claims Tribunal as a model for dealing with small economic disputes, a Bank of Communications director said yesterday.
Most of the mainland's economic disputes involved less than 5,000 yuan (HK$5,485), new Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference delegate Jiang Chaoliang said.
'[These cases] add immense pressure to already deeply strained judicial resources, resulting in disproportionately high litigation costs, sometimes even higher than the disputed amount,' Mr Jiang said in his proposal to the conference.
He said that without cheaper and simpler litigation processes to settle these small claims, the cases would 'increase unnecessary expenses for litigants and society'.
The concentration of these cases in large and medium-sized cities also created a huge court backlog and failed to lead to timely resolution.
This, he said, could threaten the building of Hu Jintao's vision for a 'harmonious society'.
