China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Thursday unveiled a reform outline for courts, highlighting judicial protection of property rights as part of wider efforts to improve the rule of law in the country's business environment.

The five-year outline features tasks for people's courts nationwide spanning from 2024 to 2028, and is the sixth of its kind.

According to the outline, the property rights of all forms of ownership should be placed under equal and long-term protection. Furthermore, acts that infringe on the property rights and legitimate interests of any form of ownership should be equally accounted for, criminalized and punished in accordance with the law.

It calls for efforts to improve the handling mechanisms and adjudication rules for cases that see criminal, administrative and civil elements intertwine, and further clarify the boundaries between criminal and non-criminal conduct commonly seen in cases involving enterprises.

The outline urges efforts to establish a mechanism for effectively preventing, lawfully identifying and correcting enterprise-related cases that involve unjust or erroneous charges or sentences.

The preservation procedures should also be strictly regulated in accordance with the law, with efforts to explore innovative preservation methods as well as mechanisms for lifting preservation measures, according to the document.

These measures aim to ensure comprehensive, law-based, and equal protection of property rights and ensure that all forms of ownership in the economy enjoy equal access to production factors, equal participation in market competition, and equal legal protection, said Si Yanli, a senior SPC official, at a press conference.

The official said they are expected to effectively enhance entrepreneurs' sense of personal and property security, allowing them to focus on entrepreneurship, invest confidently, and operate with peace of mind.

The measures are also expected to help regulate business operations, ensure fair market competition, and improve the mechanisms for the rescue and exit of business entities, as well as the judicial protection mechanism for a law-based business environment.

More than 200 specific tasks for people's courts covering nine major areas were listed in the outline.

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