China's judiciary is stepping up efforts to foster a law-based business environment as the country is seeking development transformation and upgrading.

On Saturday, China's chief justice and top procurator delivered work reports at the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), reviewing judicial efforts that have been made to improve the country's law-based business environment over the past year.

In 2024, Chinese courts acted to protect the rights of businesses and entrepreneurs by stepping up oversight of illicit cross-region and profit-driven law enforcement, said the work report of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), noting that 46 cases involving property rights were retried and corrected, and 13 out of 72 people involved in these cases were acquitted.

The report also highlighted that a number of typical corporate cases involving foreign investment have been concluded in accordance with the Foreign Investment Law, reinforcing China's position as one of the world's most attractive destinations for investment.

China has enhanced judicial protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) to support key technologies and industries. The report noted that the SPC effectively handled IPR disputes related to artificial intelligence (AI), supporting the lawful application of AI and penalizing infringement behaviors using the technology in the past year.

"The protection of intellectual property and trade secrets is crucial in safeguarding innovation, which helps drive economic growth," said Zhang Yabo, vice board chairman of Sanhua Holding Group and an NPC deputy.

China's top procuratorate has also strengthened the judicial protection of intellectual property rights to safeguard the advancement of new quality productive forces in line with local conditions. In 2024, 21,000 individuals were prosecuted for crimes related to trademark, patent, copyright or trade-secret infringement, according to the work report of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP).

The SPP has stepped up efforts to ensure a law-based environment over the past year, upholding the principle of equal protection for the lawful rights and interests of all types of business entities, while strengthening oversight over compulsory measures such as sealing, sequestering, and freezing of assets and handled 31 key cases last year, according to the SPP report.

As of February 2025, 21 of these cases had been resolved, releasing 610 million yuan (about 85 million U.S. dollars) in funds that had been sealed up, sequestered or frozen.

"Regulating law enforcement practices helps reduce unlawful interference in enterprises' property rights and operational autonomy, which is key to fostering a predictable business environment," said Wei Qingsong, a Nanjing-based lawyer and a national political advisor.

To ensure a good start to the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) period, the Chinese judiciary will continue serving the high-quality development of China's socialist market economy, according to the reports. It will continue punishing economic and financial crime, protecting the property rights and operational autonomy of all economic entities equally, and fostering a law-based credit economy.

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