'Unique online address' for each citizen

China’s first court specializing in Internet cases plans to propose a national online ID system for filing legal e-mail and confirming identity of litigants, according to the court.

Located in China’s e-commerce hub of Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, the Hangzhou Internet Court has settled 3,064 lawsuits since it was inaugurated in August, 2017.

Shao Jingteng, vice president of the court, said on average, a judge at the e-court handles 100 cases a month with each online court session lasting 25 minutes and each trial proceeding taking 48 days.

Hangzhou is home to many online companies, including e-commerce giant Alibaba.

As Chinese are increasingly using online shopping and payment services, the court has become as efficient judicial guarantee for maintaining cyber security, resolving online disputes and promoting the integration of the Internet with society and the economy.

Concerning problems found in online court proceedings, Shao said the court has suggested that, in additional to the current physical address, public security departments add a unique online address to each ID card so that e-documents can be sent to litigants.

If the suggestion is adopted, each Chinese citizen would have a unique online address.