In order to accelerate the reform of Cross-Territory Filing litigation service, promote handling affairs cross-regionally and cross-level linked, and solve the problem of litigation in allopatry, the first national maritime case had been filed cross territory between Tianjin Maritime Court and Shanghai Maritime Court on August 13th.

Around 3:30 p.m., two lawyers came to the filing hall of Tianjin Maritime Court and submitted the indictment and other materials to the filing judge, claiming that their agent, Dimerco International Freight Agency (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Xi'an Branch handled the agency service for a mould company three times. And the mould company failed to pay the relevant agency fees due and requested the court to file a case. After examination, the filing judge found that the jurisdiction court should be Shanghai Maritime Court according to the freight forwarding contract signed by the two parties. The filing judge explained the relevant laws of jurisdiction to the parties, and illustrated the cross-territory filing service being implemented among national court system at the same time. With the consent of the party, the cross-territory filing was immediately carried out.

Tianjin Maritime Court examined the personal identification of plaintiff and attorney, the power of attorney, evidences and other files, and determined these files conforms with the provisions. Then take photos of the files by phone, and sent those photos to Shanghai Maritime Court via the CMCC  Micro Court Cross-Territory Filing Database. The transmit processings was shown to the plaintiff on the screen.  After the application files was received, the Cross-Territory Filing Commissioner of Shanghai Maritime Court accessed the Judge's Database and received the files. The files fulfilled the requirement of acceptance upon review. Instantly, the application information was uploaded to the Jurisdiction Administration System of Shanghai Maritime Court. The Commissioner formally accepted the case, then issued the Acceptance Notice, the Payment of Litigation Fee Notice and the Receipt. The litigation documents with electronic seal were sent back to Tianjin Maritime Court via online system. The judge of Tianjin Maritime Court served the litigation documents to the plaintiff by electronic service.

Zhang Qingjie, the agent ad litem of freight forwarding company, lawyer from Tianjin Haijin law firm said “As a lawyer in the field of maritime case，most of the lawsuits should be put on record in region other than Tianjin. Because of the long distance, it always takes several days. Today I feel the cross-territory case filing is very convenient and efficient, I praise Tianjin Maritime Court and Shanghai Maritime Court for their work sincerely. They stay true to the original self and serve the people. The cross-territory case filing not only provides convenience to the parties concerned, but also warms their hearts.”

This is the first cross-territory maritime case that has ever been accepted by a court of China since the SPC proposed in June 2019 that "we should speed up the reform of cross-territory litigation service" and the courts in Tianjin and Shanghai will further their step to improve the cross-territory filing process, strengthen personnel training, improve the level of informatization and standardization, striving to provide integrated, one-stop, comprehensive litigation services.