On December 3, 2022, the 2022 Annual Meeting of Engineering Law Research Society of Jiangsu Provincial Law Society and Engineering Dispute Governance and Expert Witness (Auxiliary) System, sponsored by Engineering Law Research Society of Jiangsu Provincial Law Society, co-organized by Jiangning District Judicial Bureau of Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province and Jiangsu Huiji Law Firm and co-organized by Southeast University Law School, was held in the conference room of Jiangning District Judicial Bureau. Forum was held in the conference room of Jiangning District Judicial Bureau. The theme of this seminar was Engineering Dispute Governance and Expert Witness (Auxiliary) System, with more than 320 participants online and offline.
Professor Ye Jinqiang, Vice President of Jiangsu Law Society, Dean of Nanjing University Law School and Doctoral Supervisor, attended the seminar and delivered a speech on behalf of Jiangsu Law Society. Gao Jianxin, Director of the Proposal Committee of Jiangsu Provincial Committee of CPPCC, Li Peng, Vice Mayor of Jiangning District People's Government and Director of Jiangning District Public Security Bureau of Nanjing, Mao Huixi, Secretary of Party Committee of Southeast University Law School, Gu Yanning, Deputy Director of Nanjing Arbitration Office, Professor Ji Gefei of China University of Political Science and Law, Professor Chen Bing, Vice Dean of Nankai University Law School, Associate Professor Cao Jianjun of Central University of Finance and Economics, Associate Professor Yin Shouge of Shanxi University, School of Civil Engineering of Southeast University Prof. Chen Zhongfan, Prof. Dai Guoliang, Prof. Xu Zhaodong, Prof. Huang Dongsheng from Nanjing Forestry University, Associate Prof. Feng Yuqing (PhD supervisor) from Southeast University School of Law, Prof. Chen Guanghua from Hehai University School of Law, Prof. Sun Jian from Nanjing University of Technology School of Civil Engineering, as well as from Jiangsu Provincial High People's Court, Jiangsu Provincial People's Procuratorate, Nanjing Municipal Intermediate People's Court, Nanjing Arbitration Commission, Gulou District People's Court, Jiangning District Judicial Bureau, several engineering companies and law firms from inside and outside the province, experts and scholars, judges and prosecutors, engineering and technology managers attended the conference.
Opening ceremony 【Leader's speech
The opening ceremony of the conference was presided over by Vice President of Engineering Law Research Association of Jiangsu Law Society and Professor Ye Shuli of Southeast University Law School. Professor Ye Jinqiang, Vice President of Jiangsu Law Society, Dean of Nanjing University Law School and Doctoral Supervisor, Gao Jianxin, Director of Jiangsu Provincial Committee of CPPCC Proposals, Li Peng, Vice Mayor of Nanjing Jiangning District People's Government and Director of District Public Security Bureau, and Yu Lixhen, Professor of Southeast University Law School, jointly delivered speeches for the opening ceremony.
Director Gao Jianxin congratulated the convening of the annual meeting and expressed his warm welcome to the guests. Combining with the current trend of real estate industry, Director Gao Jianxin said that the theme of the annual meeting of Engineering Law Society is closely related to the urgent and special problems in the field of engineering, and its content is very professional and special, and the Engineering Law Society should establish a dispute resolution mechanism led by the government and linking all parties for the disputes in the field of engineering, so as to help the high-quality development of economy and society.
Prof. Ye Jinqiang said that the governance of engineering disputes needs to build a multi-dispute resolution mechanism, and the system of expert assistants is an indispensable part of the dispute resolution mechanism. Firstly, the research of engineering jurisprudence should focus on the hot and difficult issues in the judicial service to guarantee the high-quality development of Jiangsu, and carry out the work solidly around the economy and society to provide intellectual support for opening up a new era of rule of law Jiangsu; secondly, engineering jurisprudence should strengthen theoretical connection with practicality and focus on problem orientation in the research process; finally, as the research of engineering law is a field in which multiple departments participate together, engineering law society should serve industry and establish the bridge of communication between multiple subjects. Actively promote the cooperation between academic and practical circles, put forward ideas and constructive opinions to promote the healthy and orderly development of the industry, and provide intellectual support and guarantee for the high-quality development of the construction industry in the new era.
On behalf of the People's Government of Jiangning District, Mr. Li Peng firstly extended a warm welcome to all the guests attending today's forum and annual meeting on Engineering Dispute Governance and Expert Witness (Auxiliary) System. He pointed out that the achievements and honors of Jiangning District's rule of law construction could not be achieved without the struggle and efforts of legal workers in Jiangning District and the support of experts and scholars. He also hoped that the annual meeting would take the opportunity to actively promote the integration of legal service industry and fully burst the vitality of the construction industry in Jiangning District.
On behalf of Jiangsu Law Society Engineering Law Research Association, President Yu Lishen welcomed the leaders and guests and expressed his gratitude to the organizers, contractors and online and offline participants for their full support. As a platform for communicating legal exchange from all walks of life, Jiangsu Law Society Engineering Law Research Association keeps exploring legal knowledge and legal practice in the field of engineering law. For the legal needs of technical identification and expert witness in practice, this annual meeting especially set the conference theme centering on expertise and expert witness system. Finally, President Yu proposed that knowing the new, knowing the difficult and knowing the action as the purpose of Jiangsu Law Society Engineering Law Research Association, hoping that the guests could exchange new knowledge, explore difficult problems and actively respond to the realistic needs of rule of law in this conference.
Phase I: Invited guest speakers
The keynote speech of the invited guests was presided over by Yu Hong, Vice President of Engineering Law Research Society of Jiangsu Law Society and former President of Civil Division 6 of Jiangsu High People's Court. Prof. Chen Bing, Vice Dean of Nankai University Law School, Prof. Ji Gefei of China University of Political Science and Law, Prof. Chen Zhongfan of Southeast University School of Civil Engineering and Su Kegang, Deputy Director of Jiangning District Judicial Bureau of Nanjing City participated in the speeches.
Prof. Chen Bing, Associate Dean of Nankai University Law School, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, delivered an online keynote speech on Data Rule of Law Protection and Realization of New Infrastructure Construction. Professor Chen introduced the positive feedback of new infrastructure and data rule of law, the key points of data rule of law to guarantee new infrastructure, and the realization path of data rule of law to promote new infrastructure. He believes that the operation of new infrastructure needs the support of data governance, and the completion and development of new infrastructure can consolidate the value and realize the function of data law. In the process of data rule of law to guarantee the new infrastructure, the competition brought by data ownership and data green governance are issues worth further exploration.
Professor Ji Gefei, professor and doctoral supervisor of China University of Political Science and Law, delivered an online keynote speech on Theory and Practice of Expert Witnesses in Civil Litigation. Professor Ji introduced the topic from two aspects: real-time data and the procedure and evidence admissibility of expert witnesses. She sorted out the actual case amounts, trial court levels, types of cases involving expert supporters and geographical distribution, and found that the controversy mainly focused on the qualification of expert supporters and the criteria for judging the credibility of their testimony. Professor Ji starts from whether the parties are allowed to debate on the qualification of expert supporters in the courtroom during the trial process, and draws out his own views on the procedure of expert supporters' testimony and the admissibility of evidence.
Prof. Chen Zhongfan, PhD supervisor and professor of School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, spoke on the topic of Research on Expert Witness System in Construction Engineering. Professor Chen said, as a person with special knowledge or experience in science, technology and other professions, an expert witness, upon the request of the parties and with the permission of the court, can appear in court to assist the parties in explaining or expressing professional opinions and comments on the specialized issues involved in the facts of the case in dispute, which can make up for the lack of professional knowledge of the parties and their litigants as well as the judges, and improve the efficiency of the review. The review is more efficient. In particular, Prof. Chen pointed out that in practice, it is important to consider carefully the necessity of appointing expert support persons to appear in court, to carefully select the right experts and to carefully develop a courtroom strategy.
Mr. Su Kegang, deputy director of Nanjing Jiangning District Judicial Bureau, spoke on the topic of Analysis of the legal application of social insurance fees and other fees in the construction field. Mr. Su started with the case of supporting or denying the claim of social insurance premiums by the builder, and analyzed the conditions of legal application of social insurance premiums and other fees in the construction field from the perspectives of the ultimate responsible subject, the subject of payment, and the agreed and legal obligations of the construction unit. The main body of social insurance premiums and other fees in construction industry should be enterprises, and individuals should not be the main body of payment.
Second stage Theme seminar (I): Engineering problems and dispute forms and legal governance
Theme seminar (I) was hosted by Sha Yongchun, vice president of Engineering Law Research Association of Jiangsu Law Society.
Sun Ninglian, vice president of Engineering Law Research Association of Jiangsu Law Society, delivered a speech on the topic of Dispute evaluation is the trend to solve construction contract disputes. Mr. Sun shared his views on the contract basis and specific agreement of dispute evaluation, the first case of dispute evaluation in China Trade Arbitration, and the advantages of dispute evaluation in resolving engineering disputes. He suggested that dispute evaluation can avoid the decision-making risk of the owner in resolving engineering disputes, and the process of resolving disputes in a professional and efficient manner, which is conducive to the smooth performance of the contract, thus avoiding the high cost of arbitration or litigation, etc.
Judge Liu Fan from Civil Court IV of Nanjing Intermediate People's Court spoke on the topic of Research on the development trend of construction contract disputes in Nanjing. She believed that it is of far-reaching social significance to give the right of subrogation to the contractor in the construction contract, which is a special protection of the interests of the actual contractor, i.e. the interests of migrant workers, in the civil legislation. However, there are certain limits to the special protection of the interests of the actual builder, and the actual builder should exercise the subrogation right under the conditions stipulated by the law and judicial interpretation, and the legal consequences of its exercise of subrogation right should be limited to the scope stipulated by the law and judicial interpretation.
Prof. Xu Zhaodong, PhD supervisor of the School of Civil Engineering of Southeast University, gave a speech on China-Pakistan Joint Laboratory of Smart Disaster Prevention for Major Infrastructure 'One Belt, One Road'. Professor Xu mainly shared the comprehensive introduction, academic overview and research direction and orientation of the joint laboratory, and advocated the Engineering Law Research Association of Jiangsu Law Society to carry out in-depth cooperation with the Belt and Road Laboratory on the legal related issues of international major projects.
Mr. Zhang Tao, Deputy Director of the Sixth Procuratorate Department of Tongzhou District People's Procuratorate of Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, made a speech on Analysis of the way to calculate the amount of winning bids for collusive bidding crimes - thoughts based on typical cases. Director Zhang started from the basic overview of the crime of collusive bidding, sorted out the basic overview of the crime amount, and analyzed how the amount of the winning bid should be calculated in the actual case handling process by taking the typical case of collusive bidding as a sample. Director Zhang said that the amount of the winning project is not calculated cumulatively in accordance with the principle of crime and punishment, and can actually protect the legal interests.
Mr. Jing Song, Executive Vice President of Nanjing Hongya Construction Group Co., Ltd. spoke on the topic of urban renewal and the guarantee of comfortable living. Mr. Jing pointed out that urban renewal is an effective way to improve people's living quality and their sense of livability by redeveloping, improving and protecting the city. This requires the enterprise to build comfortable habitat, tree high-quality projects, let people live happily as the goal, and further clarify the concept of constructing according to the law, creating safe, civilized and safe sites, practicing the concept of green construction, and building qualified and high-quality projects.
Chen Guanghua, vice president of Engineering Law Research Society of Jiangsu Law Society, vice dean and professor of Law School of Haihai University, commented. Professor Chen said that the dispute evaluation decision letter proposed by Vice President Sun Ninglian has improved the efficiency of dispute resolution in today's public and private law, and is legally valid as a contract reached between the parties. He also said that Judge Liu Fan's speech sorted out the changes of the civil code, and Judge Liu Fan's view on the responsibility of individual labor service users in the field of construction works has implications for how judges hear lawyers.
Gao Yiquan, deputy general manager and senior engineer of Jiangsu Xingli Engineering Management Co., Ltd, commented mainly on dispute review. He affirmed the significance of dispute review from two aspects: the timeliness of dispute resolution and the reduction of dispute resolution cost. He also gave his suggestions on how to refer to and promote dispute review in the theoretical system with specific cases abroad.
Li Chengjun, Executive Vice President of Jiangsu Tianmao Construction Co., Ltd, affirmed the value of the topic Legal Protection for Urban Renewal. He believed that the legal protection should be carried out before, during and after the construction project, and the construction enterprises should set up the legal risk control system with the goal of prevention beforehand, focusing on the introduction of talents, safety construction, project quality and the settlement cost of the contract and other aspects of risk control management.
Liu Bo, senior legal manager of Suzhou Golden Mantis Construction & Decoration Co., Ltd, commented that the theme of this conference hit the real pain points in the engineering field. The contents of the speeches of the above five speakers show that the knowledge involved in the field of engineering law is very complicated. Firstly, there are many laws and regulations, judicial interpretations and standards involved; secondly, there are many conflicts and contradictions between various jurisprudence from various parties. Finally, Manager Liu Bo thanked the experts from Engineering Law Society for their suggestions and advice, which pointed out the direction for market players to solve construction disputes.
The third stage Theme seminar (II): Disputes in engineering field - judicial appraisal and expert witness system
The thematic seminar (II) was hosted by Gu Yanning, Vice President of Engineering Law Research Society of Jiangsu Law Society and Deputy Director of Nanjing Arbitration Office.
Zhang Zhijuan, director of Jiangsu Huiji Law Firm, spoke on the topic of Judicial Application and Development of Expert Witness System. Director Zhang introduced the evolution of the expert witness system in the two major legal systems, introduced the implementation of the expert witness system in China, and finally summarized the key points in the application of the expert witness system from three cases handled by himself and expressed his views on the development of the expert witness system.
Mr. Jiang Baitang, Executive Director of Nanjing East to South Engineering Co., Ltd. spoke on the topic of Engineering Quality Management and Dispute Handling. He introduced the industry development of Nanjing East to South Engineering Co., Ltd. and then introduced how to carry out project quality management and project dispute handling with actual cases. He proposed that the management of people is the first element, always hang the alarm bell in your heart, and the control of project quality should be divided into before, during and after, to achieve the whole process of tracking supervision. He emphasized that enterprises should pay attention to the clear agreement of arbitration and litigation clauses in the contract, which is crucial to resolve disputes.
Cao Jianjun, associate professor of Central University of Finance and Economics, spoke on the topic of Implementation and improvement of expert-assisted person system in construction engineering litigation. He started from five aspects: current situation of the system, system function, subject qualification, proof rules and system improvement. He pointed out that expert assistants have a series of functions, such as enhancing the ability of parties to cross-examine. Professor Cao elaborated his views on whether the court can review and decide that expert assistants are not specifically qualified and the rules of proof for expert assistants, and gave his suggestions on improving the system of expert assistants.
Pan Xi, vice president of Nanjing Xuanwu District People's Court, spoke on the topic of the positioning of expert auxiliaries in civil litigation and their development. He said that the participation of expert assistants in civil litigation is conducive to fully protecting the litigation rights of the parties and helping judges to make accurate judgments on specialized issues involved in the case. The current law of China has formulated the opinions expressed by expert supporters in court as party statements, which has brought about theoretical controversies while determining the legal positioning and evidentiary effect of expert supporters, and it is necessary to further clarify the legal nature of expert supporters and their opinions, improve the procedures of expert supporters in court, and give fuller play to the role of expert supporters in civil litigation. It is necessary to further clarify the legal nature of expert supporters and their opinions, improve the procedures of expert supporters in court, more fully play the role of expert supporters in civil litigation, and form an expert support system with Chinese characteristics.
Yin Shouge, associate professor of Shanxi University School of Law, spoke on the fee system of judicial appraisal cases of 'doubts and doubts'. He shared his views on the floating range of fees for doubtful forensic cases and the criteria for identifying doubtful forensic cases. He pointed out that there are a series of problems in the doubtful reassessment cases, such as the wide gap between the high and low fees and the unscientific regulations of the main body, which should be solved jointly from various aspects such as procedures, main bodies and relief mechanisms.
Professor Sun Jian from School of Civil Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology briefly commented on the speeches of the five speakers. Associate Professor Cao Jianjun theoretically sorted out and developed the system of expert auxiliaries, Vice President Pan Xi put forward his views on the positioning of the system of expert auxiliaries, Director Zhang Zhijuan proved the significance of the system of expert auxiliaries with his personal experience, and Associate Professor Yin Shouge discussed the system of expert auxiliaries from the perspective of judicial appraisal. Professor Sun Jian pointed out that the issues of authority and responsibility and the validity of opinions in the expert-assisted person system need the attention of the society, and the expert-assisted person system should play an increasingly important role in solving engineering disputes.
Feng Yuqing, associate professor and doctoral supervisor of Southeast University Law School, delivered a commentary. He believes that the concept of expert auxiliary in civil litigation law has reached a consensus in substance, that is, expert auxiliary belongs to the broad sense of human witness, and its core quality lies in the strong subjectivity. After entering the judicial process, the expert assistants should solve the problem of subjectivity of testimony as far as possible before their testimony is admissible. He proposed that the expert support person is mainly involved in the litigation as an auxiliary party, but in the long run, the court should play a more active role in making the neutrality of the expert support person better reflected.
Yan Zhongjun, director of Jiangsu Yonglun Law Firm, commented. He thought that Director Zhang Zhijuan shared from his own experience in handling cases, which has a high significance for colleagues in the lawyer community. The speeches of Mr. Cao Jianjun and Vice President Pan Xi were from the perspective of the theory and practice of expert supporters, aiming at the practical problems of expert supporters to analyze and put forward relevant suggestions. The three stages of quality control proposed by director Jiang Baitang also had high reference significance for lawyers to represent quality dispute cases. Finally he affirmed Mr. Yin Shouge's analysis of the problem of large range of fees for cases around the world, and he pointed out that this also infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of the parties to a certain extent, which is worthy of in-depth discussion.
Zhu Yongchao, Vice President of Permanent Forum College of China Construction Engineering Law Forum, commented. He shared his insights about the expert support person system in his many years of arbitration practice work. He believed that it is necessary to judge whether the expert supporters are professionally qualified from a historical perspective, and he suggested that in the future revision of the expert supporters system, a neutral third-party opinion should be issued through experts commissioned by arbitration institutions.
Closing Ceremony
The closing ceremony of the conference was presided over by Yu Liling, executive director of Engineering Law Research Society of Jiangsu Law Society and head of case one of Nanjing Arbitration Commission Office.
Huang Zhe, Secretary General of Engineering Law Research Society of Jiangsu Law Society and Professor of Southeast University Law School, made a summary of the conference. Prof. Huang Zhe summarized the speeches of the guests and raised many issues such as the application of the principle of situational change in construction contracts. Finally, Prof. Huang Zhe declared the conference a complete success and expressed his heartfelt thanks to all the guests for their support to the forum of Engineering Dispute Governance and Expert (Auxiliary) System and the 2022 Annual Conference of Engineering Law Research Society of Jiangsu Law Society.