Recently, when Guangzhou Maritime Court (GZMC) was delivering the notification of case conclusion and enforcement to the judgement debtor—a ship manufacturing company in Zhuhai, the “certification of fulfilling obligation with initiative” was also delivered. This is the first case that was eligible for the validation of obligation fulfilling with initiative based on effective judgements.

The contract dispute was between the plaintiff Mr. Cai and the defendant—a ship manufacturing company in Zhuhai. Handled by judge Le Zhang of Zhuhai Tribunal, both sides reached settlement agreement, according to which the defendant should pay the plaintiff 325，000 CNY as settlement payment. However, when the settlement had been reached, the defendant indicated that due to the pandemic, the company was going through financial difficulties. Besides the balance in the account frozen by GZMC for property preservation, the company didn’t have extra money to pay the plaintiff. In order to help the plaintiff get the settlement amount as soon as possible, both parties agreed to transfer the case for enforcement.

The Collegial Panel of the Bureau of Enforcement considered this case being different from the other cases where the judgement debtor avoid the debts. In this case, the debtor took the initiative to pay the settlement, but failed to complete the payment due to the reason of judicial freezing of the company account, which caused the inability to independently perform the agreement. Besides, because of the pandemic, the company didn’t have extra money to pay for the settlement. The defendant took the initiative to request payment to the plaintiff through enforcement procedure, which made the defendant eligible for waiving the enforcement fee. According to “Opinions of the Supreme People's Court on Further Intensifying the Ideal of Enforcement with Goodwill and Politeness in the Enforcement Work” and “Notice by the Supreme People's Court of Issuing the Guiding Opinions for Fully Maximizing the Role of Judicial Functions to Boost the Development of Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises” published by the Supreme People’s Court, while ensuring the legal benefits of the party winning the suit, courts have the right to help the debtor to fix credits by delivering required files of certification and proof. In this way, the negative effect can be eliminated for the debtor who took proactive steps to fulfill the obligations. In this case, the defendant carried out the settlement agreement actively, so the Collegial Panel decided to issue the judgement debtor “certification of fulfilling obligation with initiative”.

The way this case was handled showed the execution of the judicial philosophy of working proactively for the people by the officers of GZMC Zhuhai Tribunal and the Bureau of Enforcement. The court responded people’s legal requests and solved the problems actively, using creative methods when it’s necessary. The court has implemented the “We Make Practical Efforts for the People” slogan by carrying out enforcement with goodwill and politeness, facilitating the development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.