Judgment Debtor in China

In a Chinese public court record, 被执行人 means the person, company, or other organization against whom an enforcement case has been opened. “Judgment debtor” is a common English label, but “person subject to enforcement” is often more precise because the enforceable document can be a judgment, ruling, mediation document, arbitral award, notarized debt instrument, or another legally enforceable basis.

The role begins with enforcement

A company does not become a 被执行人 merely because someone sued it. The role belongs to the enforcement procedure after an applicant asks a court to enforce an effective legal document and the court accepts the case. The other side is commonly shown as the applicant for enforcement, 申请执行人.

The Supreme People's Court's public enforcement query guide treats ordinary persons subject to enforcement and persons on the dishonest enforcement list as different datasets. An ordinary case hit therefore does not, by itself, establish a dishonest-list finding.

Dissecting a Chinese enforcement case number

Take the fictional case number （2026）粤0105执1234号. Under the SPC's court case-number rules, a case number has four basic parts:

• 2026: the calendar year in which the court accepted the case, not the year of the underlying contract or judgment.
• 粤0105: the court code, combining the provincial abbreviation and the relevant numeric court identifier.
• 执: the case-type code. Here it indicates an enforcement implementation case; related procedures can use other type codes.
• 1234号: that court and case type's sequence number for the intake year.

Preserve the brackets, Chinese court code, type code, and final number exactly. Translating only the digits can sever the link between the search result, court, and procedure.

Five public fields and their limits

1. Subject name and identifier

Match a company by its full Chinese legal name and USCC or organization code where shown. An English trade name is not enough. Similar names and renamed companies can otherwise attach the case to the wrong supplier.

2. Enforcement court

This is the court handling the execution case. It may differ from the court or institution that produced the enforceable legal document. Keep both if the source exposes them.

3. Filing date

The filing or intake date timestamps the enforcement case. It is not necessarily the judgment date, payment due date, first dispute date, publication date, or date of the latest enforcement action.

4. Enforcement target

执行标的 describes what the applicant asked the court to enforce. It is often monetary, but an enforceable obligation can also involve conduct or delivery. Even for a money case, the displayed target should not be relabelled as the verified current unpaid balance: partial performance, interest, costs, later settlements, or data timing can change what remains.

5. Case status

Older official guidance described public states such as “in enforcement” and “closed”; current court or provider interfaces may expose more detailed procedural labels. Save the exact Chinese status, source, and query date. “Closed” needs its closing method before it can be interpreted.

What “termination of the current procedure” means

终结本次执行程序, usually shortened to 终本, is not a statement that the obligation disappeared. The SPC's explanation of the procedure describes it as a temporary procedural ending for qualifying cases where executable property has not been found after required measures. The subject's duty under the effective legal document continues, and execution can resume when property is found.

Do not translate 终本 as “debt cancelled,” “creditor lost,” “company bankrupt,” or “case fully paid.” Those conclusions require different evidence. Record the amount already satisfied and unsatisfied if a court document states them.

Four records that should not be merged

1. The underlying legal document establishes the obligation.
2. The enforcement case records the attempt to compel performance and its procedural state.
3. A restriction-on-consumption order is a distinct enforcement measure.
4. A dishonest enforcement list entry requires an additional decision and specified conduct; see Dishonest Enforcement Record.

The SPC's English discussion of judicial transparency likewise describes access to case-process and dishonest-person information as related but distinguishable categories.

A neutral case record to save

Capture the Chinese legal name and identifier; exact case number; enforcement court; filing date; applicant and subject roles; enforcement basis and its issuing body if shown; original enforcement target and unit; current status in Chinese; query timestamp; satisfied and unsatisfied amounts only when sourced; closing method; and any later restoration or list event.

For cross-system interpretation, use Read China Court and Enforcement Signals. For a reproducible search trail, use Check Chinese Court and Enforcement Records.