On 26 July 2021, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate released the “Rules on the Supervision of Civil Proceedings by People’s Procuratorates” (“the Rules”, 人民检察院民事诉讼监督规则). The Rules consists of ten chapters, including investigation and verification, suspension and termination of examination, supervision over binding judgments, rulings and settlement statements, etc. The Rules has been implemented as of 1 Aug. 2021, and simultaneously the “Rules on the Supervision of Civil Proceedings by People’s Procuratorates (for Trial Implementation)” (人民检察院民事诉讼监督规则（试行）) was repealed.

Pursuant to the Rules, sham litigation is included into the scope of cases in which procuratorates may initiate supervisory proceedings ex officio. If, in the course of performing duties, the procuratorate suspects that a civil case involves sham litigation, regardless of whether the party has applied to the court for adjudication supervision, the procuratorate may initiate supervisory proceedings ex officio, which makes it more efficient to investigate and crack down on the sham litigation.