The College successfully hosted the roundtable discussion on the New Challenges of Evidence Law in the Digital Era on Haidian Campus on the afternoon of 21 Oct.
French dignitaries included Mr. Yves Charpenel, Hononrary Chief Magistrate of the French Court of Cassation, Mr. Olivier Vix, Representative of the French Notaries Association for the China Programme, Mr Jérôme Cauro, Notary of the association, Ms. Christel Grillet, Office Secretary of the association, and Professor Charles Gijsbers from the Panthéon-Assas University (Paris II). Chinese participants included Chair of the College of Council Gu Yongqiang, Associate Dean of the School of Law & Deputy Director of the Centre for Notary Law Studies of the University Yuan Gang, A/Prof. Zhuang Shiyue from the School of Civil, Commercial and Economic Law, A/Prof. Li Lin from the College, Lecturer Wang Chenchen from the Institute of Evidence Science and Notary Ma Lin from the Beijing Guoxin Notary Office. The roundtable was chaired by Yuan Gang.
At the beginning of the meeting, Gu Yongqiang extended a warm welcome to the delegation of the French Notaries Association on behalf of the College. He reviewed the history of friendly exchanges between the two sides and noted that this roundtable represented a continuation of their ongoing dialogue. He expressed his hope that through the exchange of ideas between Chinese and French experts, both sides could explore the future trajectory of evidence law in the digital era. Gu also mentioned that the establishment of the China-France Law Institute Programme was underway and thanked the French Notaries Association for its active participation, expressing the hope that both sides would work together to accelerate the project’s progress.
Subsequently, Christel Grillet, on behalf of Mr. Bertrand Savouré, President of the French Notaries Association, read his congratulatory letter. Savouré expressed his sincere gratitude to the College of Comparative Law for its warm hospitality and highlighted the fruitful results achieved through a series of exchanges. He affirmed the Association’s willingness to continue working closely with the Chinese side to promote the establishment of the China-France Law Institute and extended his best wishes for the success of the roundtable.
During the discussion, participants engaged in an in-depth exchange of views on key topics, including the fundamental principles of evidence law, the evidential value of new digital tools, remote documentation and electronic notarisation, public data and data collected by notaries, and strategies to mitigate the potential risks posed by artificial intelligence.
Both sides agreed that the successful holding of this roundtable further deepened Sino-French cooperation. Building upon the fruitful achievements of CUPL President Ma Huaide’s recent visit to France, both parties expressed their commitment to further strengthening collaboration and to jointly establishing a systematic and institutionalised mechanism for Sino-French legal cooperation in the near future.
