Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management 
ISSN: 2766-824X | Vol. 15, No. 2, 2024 

 

37 

Study on the Utilization of Electronic Files in the 
Context of Intelligent Courts 

Yanhong Lin 1, Nian Liu 2 and Jiayi Zhao 1 

1 Anhui University of Finance and Economics, Bengbu, 233030, China 

2 Bengbu University, Bengbu, 233030, China 

 

Abstract: With the online litigation, intelligent justice in all parts of China's courts to fully promote the wisdom of the court 
is in an important stage of rapid development, the traditional paper file archiving has not been able to effectively adapt to the 

information age judicial reform to explore the practical needs of the courts around the world to explore the application of 

electronic files. The popularization and application of electronic file, not only the authenticity of the case file, the effectiveness 

of the new requirements, but also for the right to read the file and other rights of the exercise of the right to bring new challenges. 

Combined with an analysis of the current state of practice and problems in the use of electronic files, it promotes the formation 

of countermeasures and recommendations for solving problems related to the generation, management, transfer and access of 

electronic files. 

Keywords: Smart Courts, Electronic File, File Management, Litigation efficiency 

 

1. Introduction 

1.1. Background and Significance of the Study 

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the construction 

of smart courts has entered a brand-new stage, and in the face 

of the new development needs of smart courts in the new 

period, the simultaneous generation and in-depth application 

of electronic files with cases has also ushered in brand-new 

challenges. Combined with the current construction status 

and practical problems of the national court electronic file, 

how to further respond to and implement the Supreme Court's 

guidance on the simultaneous generation and in-depth 

application of electronic file with the case, better use of 

information technology to serve the people, judges and police 

officers, judicial management, and to promote online 

handling of the whole business as well as the whole process 

of judicial openness is the key direction for the development 

of the construction and development of the synchronous 

generation of electronic file with the case and the in-depth 

application of electronic file. The key direction of the 

construction and development of the synchronized generation 

of electronic files with cases and in-depth application. 

1.2. Research Status and Literature Review 

At the theoretical level, the SPC has successively issued a 

series of normative documents to guide the generation, 

management and application of electronic litigation materials. 

The Interim Measures for the Management of Electronic 

Litigation Files in the People's Courts was issued in 

December 2013; the Guiding Opinions on Comprehensively 

Promoting the Synchronized Generation and In-depth 

Application of Electronic Dossiers Along with the Cases in 

the People's Courts was issued in July 2016; the January 2018 

issuance of the Notice on Further Accelerating the Work of 

Synchronous Generation and In-depth Application of 

Electronic Files with Cases; the Provisions of the Supreme 

People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Hearing of 

Cases in Internet Courts, which came into effect in September 

2018; and the Rules for Online Litigation in People's Courts, 

which came into effect in August 2021. 

At the practical level, by the end of 2020, 3,256 courts 

nationwide had constructed e-file-related systems, technically 

realizing the construction of core functions such as compiling 

e-file catalogs, online reading of files, assisting in the 

generation of legal documents, and e-file filing, accounting 

for more than 93% of the total number of courts nationwide. 

In 2018-2020, the national courts' e-file for newly received 

cases The coverage rate is 84.71%, 89.06% and 90.64% 

respectively, realizing the steady progress and continuous 

growth of the people's courts' e-file coverage. 

Comprehensively referring to the domestic literature, there 

are mainly the following opinions: 

(1) The implementation of a single-set system for 

electronic files, the realization of a seamless connection 

between the case-handling system and the document 

management system and the in-depth application of 

information technology to the entire process. 

(2) In-depth application of the "artificial intelligence + 

court" model. The development of artificial intelligence has, 

to a certain extent, promoted the deepening of archival 

research and the reconstruction of the archival knowledge 

system. 

(3) Clarify the legal effect of electronic files, realize the 

electronic file "one key filing", improve the electronic file 

transfer system, the electronic file access procedures. 

(4) Clarify the legal effect of the original type of electronic 

file, clarify the applicable status and scope of the "double set 

system" and the "single set system", and improve the filing 

rate of the electronic file on schedule. 

As can be seen through the opinions of scholars, the 

application of electronic files in the construction of China's 

needle wisdom court has entered the field of vision of more 

scholars, and there is an urgent need for advanced theoretical 

support for substantive practice feedback. 

1.3. Research Methodology 

1.3.1. Literature Research Method 
In the whole process of writing this paper, reference to 

consult a large number of authoritative research results on the 



 

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construction of the wisdom of the court and the use of 

electronic files of relevant scholars, literature and books and 

magazines, etc., and at the same time, selecting the valuable 

part of the sorting and integration of these for the paper to lay 

a good foundation for the research, but also for the paper's 

research provides a large number of bases for checking. 

1.3.2. Case study Method 
This paper takes the practical achievements of the courts in 

various regions of China as an example, takes the reform 

situation in various regions as the research object, fully grasps 

the current situation of the use of electronic files in China to 

promote the wisdom of the court in the context of the 

comprehensive analysis of the collected information, finds the 

problems in the process of the court's use of electronic files, 

carefully analyzes the reasons and puts forward the 

optimization strategy of the court's use of electronic files. 

1.3.3. Survey Research Method 
Through the form of network survey of China's courts in 

all regions of the relevant data for collation, through the use 

of electronic files on the court to carry out a full range of 

investigations, and then be sorted out and integrated, a 

comparative analysis of all the shortcomings exposed and 

their differences, pointing out that the current stage of the 

court's use of electronic files the actual situation, to elaborate 

on the use of electronic files in the process of the problems, 

through the analysis of the causes of the problem, and put 

forward optimization strategies.                       

2. Concepts Related to E-filing 

2.1. Definition of E-Files 

Electronic file, refers to the case before acceptance or in the 

process of acceptance of the case, will be bound into a volume 

of paper case file materials, relying on digital imaging 

technology, text recognition technology, database technology 

and other media technology produced by a specific format of 

electronic documents and related electronic data.  

Electronic file contains the court in the case of acceptance 

or handling the process of electronic documents, images, 

audio, video and other electronic documents, as well as paper 

case file materials relying on digital imaging, text recognition 

and other technologies to produce electronic documents, data 

and other electronic documents.  

2.2. The Concept of Smart Courts 

Intelligent court is a people's court organization, 

construction, operation and management form that relies on 

modern artificial intelligence, focuses on justice for the 

people and fair justice, insists on the integration of judicial 

law, institutional reform and technological change, and 

supports judicial trial, litigation service and judicial 

management with a high degree of informatization, so as to 

realize online handling of all business, disclosure of all 

processes in accordance with the law, and all-around 

intelligent service. 

The construction of smart courts strives to improve the 

quality and efficiency of the people's courts' trials and 

executions, so that the development trend of informatization 

construction can be increasingly combined with the business 

of trials and executions, so that fairness and justice can be 

realized faster and better. 

3. The Current Status of the use of 
Electronic Files in Smart Courts 

3.1. Current Status of the Application of 
Electronic Files in the Construction of 

Smart Courts 

3.1.1. Construction of E-File-Related Systems 
By the end of 2020, 3,256 courts nationwide had 

constructed e-file-related systems, but the systems are 

characterized by insufficient intelligence, repetitive storage 

and lack of unified supervision, so that there are still big 

differences between the courts in different regions at the level 

of synchronization with the case and in-depth application, and 

there are duplicated and incompatible functions in the 

construction of e-file systems in some courts, and there is no 

Some courts have duplicated and incompatible e-file system 

construction functions, no docking between systems, no data 

interaction, etc., which not only wastes construction resources, 

but also fails to provide good services. Therefore, the top-

level design should be strengthened to form an overall 

solution, and the construction of electronic file-related 

systems should be planned in an integrated manner, so as to 

better serve the participants in judicial practice activities. 

3.1.2. The Generation of Electronic Files 
In the practice of the Smart Court, relevant litigation 

materials are uploaded by the parties themselves, however, it 

is really difficult for the parties to submit electronic materials. 

The current electronic litigation system cannot fully realize 

the automatic classification and automatic cataloging of 

electronic materials, etc. The parties need to submit to 

different ports according to the system prompts, and limited 

by the level of professional knowledge and judgment, the 

materials uploaded by the parties are often confusing and 

disorderly, and are often categorized under the wrong 

directory. Therefore, in promoting the application of 

electronic files, should improve the relevant management 

system, improve the intelligence of the electronic litigation 

system, scientific, better serve the people and judges and 

police, fully protect the rights and interests of the parties. 

3.1.3. Electronic File Archiving in Practice Problems 
Electronic file archiving "double set system" and "single 

set system" two modes, their respective operating procedures 

are not the same. In the current practice, there are still the lack 

of independent effectiveness of the electronic file, filing mode 

of application of the order of misplaced and overdue filing 

and other dilemmas. In order to protect the depth of the 

application of electronic files in judicial practice, it is 

necessary to clarify the legal effect of the electronic file, 

clarify the "double set system" and "single set system" of the 

application of the order and scope of the electronic file to 

improve the filing rate on schedule. 

3.1.4. Electronic File Transfer System 
Due to the lack of relevant legislation on the transfer of 

electronic files to be clear, the current electronic file and the 

traditional carrier file transfer procedures are not big 

difference, not give full play to the convenience of electronic 

file transfer, timeliness and other advantages. In judicial 

practice, the transfer of electronic files, there is a case file 

transfer cycle is too long, the transfer of case file materials are 

not qualified phenomenon, very easy to cause "new 

procedural injustice" problem. In order to standardize the 

order of file transfer, improve the efficiency of file transfer, 



 

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so that the trial of the case is more convenient and efficient, 

should be for the electronic file transfer problems in practice 

and the legal system on the transfer of files to amend and 

improve. 

Electronic file access to the provisions of the program: 

electronic file reading, including electronic file in the internal, 

cross-court access, including the people's court outside the 

other subjects of the right to read the file. On the electronic 

file access, as well as the relevant subjects of the right to read 

the file clear, decided the electronic file in the whole litigation 

process. Therefore, a sound system of access to electronic 

files should be established to ensure that participants in 

litigation activities enjoy a differentiated right to read the files. 

3.2. Practical Examples of E-filing in the 
Construction of Smart Courts 

In the context of the construction of smart courts, courts are 

actively promoting the "electronic" process of case files to 

deepen the reform of the judicial system and to promote the 

future development of justice. 

Guang'an District People's Court, Guang'an City, Sichuan 

Province, was named "the province's court of wisdom court 

construction advanced collective", the whole process of 

online case-related experience was "People's Court News" 

published, more than 50 provincial and foreign courts to learn 

and exchange. In this regard, Guang'an District Court Party 

Secretary, President Zhang Fanping said, "from 'nothing' to 

'something', and then from 'something' to 'superior'. 'superior'". 

He emphasized that the case filing reform prompted a 

profound change in the trial and execution mode of Guang'an 

District Court, gradually realizing the goal of the Smart Court, 

"all business online, all processes are open in accordance with 

the law, and all-round intelligent management".  

In the future, Guang'an District Court will continue to 

deepen the organic integration of modern science and 

technology with the work of the court, promote the 

transformation and upgrading of the trial and execution mode 

of work, and strive to create a higher level of digital justice 

system, so that the people can truly feel the fairness and 

justice around. Guang'an District Court will continue to 

deepen the construction of the Smart Court, conscientiously 

implement the spirit of the province's court case filing method 

reform work conference, take the information construction 

and digital transformation as a breakthrough, strengthen the 

hardware support, break through the data barriers, and 

reshape the trial process. Under the guidance of the concept 

of breaking and setting up, first try, Guang'an District Court 

has crafted three key workflows to actively explore and 

implement the new mode of case filing reform "based on 

electronic files, supplemented by paper files". The goal is to 

promote the modernization of the trial system and trial 

capacity through informatization, intensification and 

standardization, and to provide intelligent support for the 

high-quality development of the courts. 

3.3. Problems with the use of Electronic Files 
in Practice 

To summarize, there are significant differences in the 

application and work of electronic files in courts across the 

country, with the following three main problems: insufficient 

degree of intelligence, repetitive storage and lack of unified 

supervision. 

First, some courts are not intelligent enough in terms of in-

depth application functions. They have failed to actively 

promote the deployment of relevant in-depth application 

functions, such as the lack of full-text search of content and 

flexible marking of files in the online reading function of the 

electronic file; the cataloging system is not intelligent enough, 

the evidence has not been effectively cataloged, and the 

system response time is too long. The depth of the current 

electronic file application provides intelligent auxiliary 

function is not intelligent and humane enough, for example, 

the current use of class case push function of the court, its 

system is almost 100% based on the cause of the case push, 

rather than the case facts push, resulting in excessive push, 

not accurate enough; case information automatic backfill 

needs to be further improved, cannot be achieved 

comprehensive backfill of the information. All these 

problems have seriously affected the judges' experience. 

Secondly, various applications have duplicated the storage 

of electronic files. According to the actual research of the 

national court, the electronic file system and the trial business 

system operate independently, in most cases, the trial business 

system and other business applications in the access to the 

electronic file for duplicate storage, resulting in the electronic 

file stored in different applications, has not yet realized the 

unified storage of the electronic file. 

Finally, the supervision and management of electronic files 

needs to be improved. At present, there is a lack of 

supervision and management mechanisms for electronic files, 

and the courts across the country have mainly focused on the 

construction of electronic file systems at the application level, 

but the supervision and management and regulatory aspects 

of electronic files still need to be strengthened. Courts around 

the country should realize the multi-dimensional management 

function of electronic files according to the management 

requirements of electronic files. 

4. Countermeasures and Suggestions 
on the Utilization of Electronic Files 
in the Context of Intelligent Courts 

4.1. Strengthening Top-Level Design 

The wide application of electronic files in the judicial field 

has made their functions complex and varied, so some courts 

have the problem of duplication and incompatibility in the 

construction of electronic file systems, with no docking 

between systems and no interoperability of data. This not only 

wastes resources, but also fails to provide good services. 

Through top-level design, an overall solution can be 

formulated to coordinate the planning of the construction of 

e-file-related systems. It should unify the research and 

development, procurement, maintenance and updating of 

powerful and convenient and friendly e-file system and 

related software. Of course, the integrated planning also needs 

to take into account the local characteristics as well as the 

habits and needs of the court case handlers, so as to develop 

and purchase and leave the necessary flexibility. 

4.2. Forming a Regulatory Mechanism 

The correct, compliant, complete and effective generation 

of electronic files is the basic premise of the depth of 

application, directly affecting the effectiveness of the depth of 

application of electronic files. However, the current lack of 

effective supervision in this regard, should establish a set of 

perfect regulatory mechanism, covering the generation, 

application and storage of electronic files, and through 

technical means to achieve intelligent supervision. 



 

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Supervision of the integrity of the file, generation of 

timeliness, quality excellence, standardization, the 

application of the electronic file process from different 

dimensions of supervision, statistical analysis of the results, 

visualization and so on, in order to better serve the electronic 

file with the case to generate quality enhancement and 

promote the depth of the application of electronic files. 

4.3. Increase Training Efforts 

The original intention of the electronic file is to enable 

judges to no longer use paper files, but to use the electronic 

version online, in order to facilitate the handling of cases, fast 

handling, standardized handling. However, for judges who 

have long used paper files to handle cases, the use of 

electronic files has certain difficulties and resistance. For 

some courts electronic file use rate is low, the use of the scope 

is not wide, the use of the status quo, should be through the 

way of training, so that the case staff to establish the concept 

of information technology case. Through phased training, 

judges will become proficient in the use of electronic files, 

gradually overcome resistance psychologically, and develop 

the habit of handling cases online. 

5. Conclusions and outlook 

With the rapid development of modern science and 

technology, we will further deepen the reform of the judicial 

system, combine the application of modern science and 

technology with judicial reform, promote the transition from 

paper to electronic files, and continue to promote the 

construction of smart courts, so as to provide the people with 

a feeling of faster and more convenient litigation procedures 

in judicial practice. The development of electronic files is the 

trend of smart courts, which has been widely emphasized by 

courts nationwide. In order to realize better development, the 

future smart court needs to increase human and material 

resources, improve the relevant development planning and 

system, and timely follow up the development status of e-file, 

with a view to obtaining more development opportunities 

through e-file and becoming a leader in the judicial field in 

the new era. 

Acknowledgements 

This work is supported by Innovation and Entrepreneurship 

Training Project for College Students of Anhui University of 

Finance and Economics in 20232, Project number: 

XSKY23214. 

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