Recently, the Fourth Civil Division of the Supreme People’s Court held the first 2026 session of its “Foreign-related Adjudication Forum”. President Shan Hongjun was invited to deliver a special lecture on issues related to the Maritime Law, which is scheduled to take effect on May 1. Shen Hongyu, Head of the Fourth Civil Division, attended the lecture, which was presided over by Liu Huizhuo, Secretary of the Division’s Party branch.

President Shan Hongjun delivered a lecture titled “Changes and Constancy in the New Maritime Law: Interpreting Key Provisions of the New Legislation”. He systematically reviewed the revision process of the Maritime Law and profoundly elaborated on the historical mission that the Maritime Law carries. He stated that the new Maritime Law embodies the broadest possible consensus from all sectors. It represents the crystallization of collective wisdom and four decades of shipping and maritime judicial practice, responding to the “questions posed by China, the world, the people, and the era.” It is destined to become a significant new model in international maritime legislation.

President Shan also provided a systematic and in-depth interpretation of fourteen important institutional designs and their core principles in the new Maritime Law, including the addition of liability for oil pollution damage from ships, the optimization of the ship property rights system, and the improvement of rules governing the application of law in foreign-related relations. He offered suggestions for the supporting implementation work following the promulgation of the new Maritime Law. He emphasized the need to actively promote the publicity, dissemination, and study of the new law, accelerate the formulation of supporting implementation rules, and continuously pay attention to any regulatory gaps that may emerge during its enforcement. Timely legislative research should be conducted to drive the continuous improvement of the maritime legal system.

Judges from the Fourth Civil Division of the Supreme People’s Court, relevant departments, eleven maritime courts, and the high courts responsible for hearing appeals participated in the study session online and offline.