Conversations on WeChat and QQ, the dominant messaging apps operated by Chinese tech giant Tencent, will soon be admissible as evidence for civil disputes without the need for notarization, according to new rules from the Nansha People’s Court of Guangdong Free Trade Zone.
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How WeChatCommunications
Can Be Presented As Evidence?
With millions of people communicating via WeChat and QQ every day, allowing these messaging platforms to be part of the court record could help determine judgments in some cases, according to legal experts.
Nansha Court, which on Wednesday issued a document titled internet Electronic Data Evidence Proof and Certification Procedures, is the first court in Guangdong province to allow direct presentation of internet chat records without notarization, which is a costly, complicated, and lengthy procedure.
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Paul Haswell, a partner at law firm Pinsent Mason, said WeChat and QQ chats – as well as WhatsApp messages and emails – are all admissible as evidence in mainland Chinese courts. “This is important in both civil and criminal cases as more and more communication is being conducted through these methods,” he said.
In the new guidelines, the Nansha court gives a detailed explanation of how WeChat communications can be presented as evidence. WeChat, has around 1 billion monthly active users and QQ, another Tencent personal messaging service platform, has about 800 million active users.
Direct Presentation Without Notarization
Under the new court rules the parties – if they decide to use WeChat records as evidence – first need to log into their WeChat accounts to prove their authenticity.
The new regulations effectively improve the efficiency of the trial process by reducing the time each party has to spend on legal procedures.
However, some legal experts have raised concerns over using WeChat records in court because some users do not use their real name for account registration.
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“WeChat content identification [is also difficult] because the chat records are easily forged or deleted,” said Sun Hao, president of the Commercial Court of the Nansha Court, according to Legal Daily.
Voice recordings, including those made via messaging platforms, have been used in some court cases in China, but have still required notarization. In the case of Nansha court, cases involving electronic data evidence increased 130 per cent year on year in 2017.
Parties Should Provide Evidence
Included These Aspects
For the chat record in WeChat, the rules and regulations require that the parties should provide the evidence elements that include several aspects:
A process demonstration using the terminal equipment to log in to the WeChat account of the party, which is used to prove the legitimacy of the WeChat chat record and the authenticity of the identity of the WeChat;
The personal information interface of the two chat parties. With the help of the characteristics of the micro signal that can not be changed, the real identity of the parties is fixed with the mobile phone number and head image which is displayed in the personal information interface.
A complete chat record. According to the WeChat chat record in the use terminal, we can only delete the features that can not be added, according to the end of each WeChat client of both sides. The whole chat information is compared to verify the integrity and authenticity of the information.
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When the court is collecting evidence related to WeChat, because WeChat does not enforce the real name certification, the judge can...
Combine the daily life experience,
Integrate the relevant information,
Apply the principle of high probability,
according to the party's micro signal, the binding cell phone number and the related information content provided by the parties.
Identify the identity of a WeChat user. For the authenticity of the WeChat chat record, it can be compared and analyzed whether there is a case of the deletion of the key contents of the tampering through the WeChat chat records held by both sides.
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Source: LegalDaily, SCMP, Waonews
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