A person who is determined by the People's Courts of the People's Republic of China at All Levels to be "the executee who has the ability to perform but fails to fulfill the obligations determined by the effective legal documents", called the Defaulted executee (Chinese: 失信被执行人) or the court defaulters, commonly known as laolai (Chinese: 老赖) or untrustworthy (Chinese: 失信).[1] According to the relevant regulations, all persons who are included in the "list of defaulted executors" by the People's Courts are subject to restrictions on high consumption and consumption not necessary for living or business[2][3]
According to statistics from the Supreme People's Court, the number of the cases concluded by people's courts at all levels from 2008 to 2012 in which the defendant had property, more than 70 percent of the defendants had evaded, avoided or even violently resisted enforcement, and less than 30 percent of them had automatically fulfilled their obligations. It is also reported that the chronic problems caused by the "laolai" have seriously affected the harmony and stability of the society.[4] To this end, at the end of August 2013, the Supreme People's Court issued "Several Provisions on the Publication of Information on the List of Defaulted Executees".[4][5]
According to the Decision of the Supreme People's Court on Amending the Several Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on the Publication of Information on the List of Executed Persons in Default of Trust adopted at the 1582nd meeting of the Judgment Committee of the Supreme People's Court on July 1, 2013, and amended according to the 1707th meeting of the Judgment Committee of the Supreme People's Court on January 16, 2017, the Supreme People's Court on the Publication of Information on the List of Executed Persons in Default" provides that the people's courts at all levels shall include them in the list of executed persons in default and impose credit discipline on them in accordance with the law:[6]
According to the "Regulations", the executee has the above provisions of the second to sixth circumstances, the period of inclusion in the list of persons who have failed to trust is 2 years; the executee to violence, threats to obstruct, resist the implementation of the circumstances are serious or have a number of breaches of trust, can be extended by 1 to 3 years. In addition, the people's courts at all levels shall not include the executee in the list of persons whose trust is broken under one of the following circumstances, in accordance with the provisions of Article 1, paragraph 1 of this provision:[6]
In addition, if the executee is a minor, the people's courts at all levels shall not include him/her in the list of defaulted executors.[6]
According to the "Several Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on the Publication of Information on the List of Defaulted Executees", the recorded and published information on the list of defaulted executes shall include the following:[6]
On October 24, 2013, the information publication and query platform of the list of defaulted executors of the national courts (now China Execution Information Public Network) was opened to the society. The public can input the name or name of the executee to inquire the information of the defaulted executee, and the above information is announced to the public.[7] In addition, local courts can also publish information on the list of defaulted executors through bulletin boards, newspapers, radio, television, the Internet, and press conferences.[4] In recent years there have also been court advertisements for gaskets through cinema screenings of films,[8] and the information on the list of defaulted executors is published in the form of Douyin and other social media.[9] In July 2014, the Executive Bureau of the Supreme People's Court and People's Daily Online jointly launched the "Ranking of Defaulted Executees".[10]
According to the Several Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on the Publication of Information on the List of Executed Persons in Default of Trust, the executed persons in default of trust will be subject to credit discipline in government procurement, bidding and tendering, administrative approval, government support, financing and credit, market access, qualification recognition, etc.;[6] According to the Decision of the Supreme People's Court on Amending the Several Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Restricting High Consumption of Executed Persons adopted at the 1487th Session of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on May 17, 2010, and Amended in accordance with the Decision of the Supreme People's Court on Amending Certain Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Restricting the High Consumption of the Executed Person adopted at the 1657th Meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on July 6, 2015Supreme People's Court on Restricting the High Consumption of the Executed Person and Related Consumption Several Provisions on Consumption" stipulates that persons (natural persons) included in the list of defaulted executors shall not engage in the following acts of high consumption and consumption not essential to life and work:[11]
In addition to the above measures, executees included in the list of defaulted executors see their housing, bank accounts, pension, mobile payment accounts (such as Alipay, WeChat Pay, etc.) frozen and seized, and the executee is not allowed to serve as the legal representative, director, supervisor and senior management of any company nationwide, nor be allowed to enroll his or her children in private schools, and their speculation in stocks, leaving the country, taking out loans or applying for credit cards in financial institutions will also be restricted. At the same time, vehicles under the executor's name are not allowed to drive into the Expressways of the People's Republic of China, and once a vehicle under the executor's name enters or leaves an expressway toll booth, the vehicle will be suspended and transferred to the court by the highway enforcement brigade. According to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China Amendment (IX), which was implemented on November 1, 2015, people's court judgments and rulings have the ability to execute but refuse to do so, will be punished with "refusal to execute a judgment. For serious circumstances, the penalty shall be imprisonment for a term of up to three years, detention or a fine; if the circumstances are particularly serious, the penalty shall be imprisonment for a term of more than three years and up to seven years, and a fine.[13][14]
Since July 2015, Zhima Credit, a subsidiary of Ant Group, and the Supreme People's Court have realized a system connection to update the data of defaulted executors in real time. Once Alipay users are included in the list of defaulted executors, their Sesame Credit score will be deducted and their consumption and shopping behavior at Sesame Credit partner merchants will also be restricted.[15] In addition, there are also some places that cooperate with communication operators to set up exclusive colored ring for the defaulted executee, and the opening cannot be cancelled without the consent of the court. If the public calls the phone number under the name of the defaulted executee, an alert will be reported that the owner is listed as a defaulted executee.[16] In Beijing, people who are included in the list of defaulted executors are not allowed to participate in the minibus lottery.[17]
According to a press conference held by the Supreme People's Court on July 10, 2018, as of July 2018, there were 7.89 million cases of defaulted executors in mainland China under publication, involving 4.4 million defaulted executors. In terms of punishment, 12.22 million people have been restricted from purchasing air tickets, 4.58 million people have been restricted from purchasing tickets for moving trains and high-speed trains, and 280,000 people have been restricted from serving as legal representatives and executives of enterprises. Nationwide, 2.8 million defaulted executors are forced to fulfill their obligations automatically due to the pressure of credit discipline.[18]
Prominent persons included in the list of defaulted executors
On January 8, 2015, Xia Song, a resident of Changsha, Hunan Province, was unable to purchase a soft sleeper ticket and apply for a loan because the court mistakenly included him in the "national list of defaulted executors of courts".[31]