Harsher restrictions on China's defaulters take effect

More than 20 percent of people who had defaulted on court fines fulfilled court judgments after punitive measures were introduced, according to the Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Friday.

Defaulters have faced travel, financial and employment restrictions after an online database that debuted last October has enabled the public to check their names, according to an SPC statement released after a national meeting on court orders held in southeast China's Fujian Province.

The court is cooperating with the police, banking and business regulators, civil aviation, the China Railway Corporation, and the Credit Reference Center under the People's Bank of China to impose harsher restrictions on defaulters to make them fulfill court judgments.

Defaulters will be banned from flying and traveling in upper-class sleeper train compartments as well as from taking positions as legal representatives, board members, board of supervisors members and senior executives of a company.

SPC figures showed that 203,000 defaulters were submitted to the list by courts across the country by July 23, and the online database has been visited more than 10 million times since it was launched on Oct. 24.

The database is currently shared with more than 20 financial institutions, including state-owned banks, so they can punish parties in lawsuits who fail to pay damages by freezing bank account funds or declining loan or credit card requests.

The SPC is considering more punitive measures on defaulters by imposing restraints on administrative approval. The court also plans to release a judicial interpretation to define "high consumption" activities to be denied to defaulters, according to the statement.

Defaulting on court fines has become rampant in China and about 70 percent of debtors do not fulfill court judgements by the deadline, according to the SPC.