1.  The Chinese government cracks down on medical institution crime. On 21 December, 11 government and Party bodies, including the:

• National Health and Family Planning Commission;
• Supreme People’s Court;
• Ministry of Public Security;
• Ministry of Justice; and
• Supreme People’s Procuratorate,

initiated 1 year movement to crack down on crime relating to medical institutions. The plan, reported here and  linked here , calls for the punishment of offenses related to medical institutions.  It also announces the framework for related reforms:

• restructuring state-owned medical institutions;
• resolving medical disputes with mediation;
• improving rural health; and
• improving security in medical institutions.

Although the Supreme People’s Court co-issued this document, it is not a judicial opinion.  It is a policy document.

2.  The Court posted structural reform issues for on-line discussion, although it is unclear what the response has been.  On 18 December, the Court posted two court structural reform issues raised by the Third Plenum Decision on the “Everyone Discuss Judicial Reform” Website (linked here) and asked for comments:

• local courts and procuratorates–promote uniform administration of  personnel, finance, and property at provincial level and below;
•  the four levels of the courts–clarify their role and position.

Questions raised by the Court concerning the “uniform administration of the local courts”:

• what does this mean;
• what are its implications,
• will it mean further bureaucratization of the courts and procuracy,
• what flexibility should there be,
• what will it mean for local protectionism.

Questions raised by the Court concerning “clarify the role and position of the functions of the four levels of the courts” concern the implications for:

•  judicial interpretations,
• appeals systems;
• internal organization of the courts.

The “Everybody Discuss Judicial Reform” website is a joint project of the national court website, justice website (Supreme People’s Procuratorate), and the China Law Society.  It is a forum for eliciting discussion on important issues for which the institutions must already have framework plans.