China has built mediation organizations network covering urban, rural areas

BEIJING -- A network of people's mediation organizations covering both urban and rural areas as well as key sectors has largely taken shape in China, with 14.94 million disputes of various types mediated in 2022, the Ministry of Justice said Saturday.

Since 2018, the ministry and five other departments have issued guidelines and standards to promote the institutionalization and standardization of people's mediation work.

As of now, China has 3.18 million people's mediators, including 412,000 full-time mediators.

Based on people's mediation, a mediation work system has been basically formed in China, in which people's mediation, administrative mediation, industry-specific professional mediation, and judicial mediation complement each other, according to the ministry.

To help ensure effective resolution of disputes, the ministry has continuously promoted professional mediation work in areas such as healthcare, road traffic, labor disputes, and property management, and has expanded its efforts to also include the internet, intellectual property rights, finance and insurance, and consumer tourism.

Statistics show that there are 48,000 industry-specific people's mediation organizations nationwide.

A number of international commercial mediation organizations have been established in Shanghai, Guangdong and Hainan, helping create a more market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment.