New rules mulled for Internet court auctions

China's top court is considering a new judicial interpretation to better regulate online auctions of seized assets.

Over the past four years, more than 1,200 courts from 28 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have held upward of 190,000 auctions on shopping website Taobao for property worth around 120 billion yuan ($18.5 billion).

He Donning, an official from the law enforcement department of the Supreme People's Court, said on Wednesday that such auctions were becoming an important part of the judiciary's work.

"The upcoming interpretation will clarify that these auctions should be held on the Internet, not a local-area network," he said.

"It will note down the responsibilities of the courts and web operators, in a bid to keep the auction's procedures controlled and clear."

Such transparency will also ensure fairness and public oversight, He said at a seminar that was jointly held by Legal Daily and Taobao.

The popular shopping website is the largest host of online court auctions, with courts in Zhejiang province auctioned off 16,542 items on the platform last year alone, with a 90 percent success rate.

Rao Wenjun, an official of the provincial high people's court, said that online auctions had improved the effect and efficiency of the court's work.

In the past, the court took six months to deal with seized assets, but that response time had now been slashed by half, Rao said.

Chu Hongjun, vice-president of Jiangsu Provincial High People's Court, said that the online auction were also a good way to reduce judicial corruption.