[Direct answer]In the Beijing area, the implementation of the reward notice is initiated by the applicant for enforcement who submits a written application to the enforcement court, which is used to locate the property available for enforcement. According to Article 21 of the "Regulations of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning Property Investigation in Civil Enforcement" (FASFA [2017] No.8, implemented on May 1, 2017 and amended in 2020), if the defendant fails to fulfill the obligations determined by the effective legal documents, the applicant for enforcement may submit a written application to the people's court to issue a reward notice to locate the property available for enforcement. The application shall specify the amount or calculation method of the reward, the commitment to voluntarily pay the reward, the way of issuing the notice, and other matters that need to be specified. The people's court shall decide whether to grant the application within ten days from the date of receipt of the written application. The reward shall be borne by the applicant for enforcement and may be deducted from the enforcement money due to him/her.

1. Problem background and typical scenarios

The reward for enforcement applies to cases where the debtor has the ability to perform but hides his assets or where his whereabouts are unknown, making it difficult to locate him through conventional investigation and control measures. Typical scenarios include: individual business owners or small and micro enterprise owners frequently changing accounts or operating under others' names; debtors who have been out of the country for a long time and whose residences and business locations are unknown; assets existing in non-registered forms such as cash, inventory, or accounts receivable; and cases where there are still no effective clues after multiple attempts to enforce the judgment. The value of the reward lies in leveraging social forces to obtain property clues that the court has not yet obtained, but it is not a panacea: if the debtor truly has no assets available for enforcement, even the highest reward cannot bring back the money. At this point, the focus should shift to expanding and adding liability subjects.

II. Key points of contention

The controversy focuses on three points. Firstly, the application conditions and approval standards: whether it is necessary to have exhausted conventional property investigations, and whether the court has the discretionary right to review the application and should make a decision within ten days. Secondly, the burden and distribution of the reward: the reward shall be borne by the applicant for enforcement, and in principle, it shall be deducted from the enforcement money due to him/her. If it cannot be deducted, it shall be paid separately; if the person who provides the clue is the applicant's agent or a person who has the obligation to provide clues, the reward shall not be distributed. Thirdly, the registration and confidentiality of clues: if more than two people provide the same clue, they shall be registered in the order of arrival, and the court shall keep the identity information of the informants and the property clues confidential. When handling such cases in Beijing, the court usually publishes them simultaneously on the reward announcement platform and the court's public channels.

III. Professional analysis by Henglue Law Firm

A reward is a supplementary means of finding property clues, but whether the money can be recovered ultimately depends on the actual situation of the responsible party and the property. Taking a shareholder's liability dispute for damaging the interests of the company's creditors handled by Attorney Yuan Hang of our firm as an example: In the intermediary contract dispute between Ma * and A Company, the Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court ruled that A Company should return the intermediary service fee of 423,500 yuan; after the judgment came into effect, A Company failed to perform its obligation, and Ma * applied for enforcement. However, because A Company had no property available for enforcement, the court ruled to terminate the current enforcement. Ma * then entrusted Beijing Henglu Law Firm to handle the case.Yuan HangThe lawyer continued to pursue the case. By retrieving the industrial and commercial archives, the lawyer found that shareholder Liu * subscribed to a capital contribution of 9 million yuan, and shareholder Zhang * subscribed to a capital contribution of 1 million yuan, with the subscription period ending on September 23, 2039. There was no record of actual payment. In response to the shareholders' defense of the time-limited interests, the lawyer argued that A Company had exhausted all means of enforcement and had no assets, and had already met the criteria for bankruptcy but did not file for bankruptcy. Therefore, the shareholders' capital contributions should accelerate their maturity. The lawyer then filed a lawsuit for shareholders' liability for harming the interests of the company's creditors. The court adopted the lawyer's opinion and ruled that Liu * should bear supplementary compensation liability for A Company's debts within the scope of the unpaid 9 million yuan, and Zhang * should bear supplementary compensation liability for A Company's debts within the scope of the unpaid 1 million yuan. The lesson from this case is that when there are no assets under the company's name, it is more effective to shift the investigation direction to the shareholders' capital contributions, related-party transactions, and accounts receivable, etc., and to adopt a multi-pronged approach. This case was handled by Beijing Henglu Law Firm.Yuan HangThe attorney (practice license number: 11101202110286151, subject to the document issued by the judicial administrative organ) acts as the agent.

IV. Practical suggestions and legal basis

The legal basis is Article 21 of the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning Property Investigation in Civil Enforcement" (Legal Interpretation [2017] No. 8, implemented on May 1, 2017 and amended in 2020): (1) Written applications for reward announcements and application forms shall specify the matters to be investigated, and the court shall decide within ten days whether to approve the application; (2) The production and release platform of the reward announcement, including the National Court Enforcement Reward Announcement Platform; (3) The registration of clues and the confidentiality of identity information; (4) The distribution, deduction, and non-distribution of the reward; as well as the provisions of Article 2 of the regulation regarding the applicant providing property clues and the court's deadline for investigation and verification. Practical suggestions: 1. Submit specific property clues and apply for an investigation order verification before filing the application. 2. Clearly specify the amount of the reward or the calculation method and the payment commitment in the application to avoid subsequent disputes. 3. Choose a release method that covers the debtor's living and business circles, and voluntarily bear the costs of releasing on other platforms if necessary. 4. Simultaneously advance paths such as reporting property orders, audits, and adding shareholders. For investigations into enterprise operation clues, relevant provisions can be combined with the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning Property Investigation in Civil Enforcement" to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the investigation.Legal services for corporate commercial and contract disputesAdvance.

5. Henglue Law Firm's Reminder

The announcement of a reward is an auxiliary means of locating property and should not be used as the only solution. Firstly, the reward money should be borne by the applicant for enforcement, and it should be set reasonably based on the amount of the creditor's claim and the expected recovery of the money, so as to avoid the cost of the reward eroding the recovery of the money. Secondly, after the announcement is issued, it is necessary to maintain communication with the court and register and verify the clues reported in a timely manner to prevent the loss of control opportunities due to the delay in handling the clues. Thirdly, for cases involving the Terminal Enforcement Program, it is advisable to investigate clues such as the actual payment of shareholders, related-party transactions, and accounts receivable simultaneously, and to combine the use of the reward with the addition of responsible parties and the resumption of enforcement. For more enforcement solutions, please refer toSpecial services and legal services for other cases.

VI. Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: After applying for a bounty notice, will it be easier for me to get my money back?

Not necessarily. It depends on whether the person subject to enforcement actually has property available for enforcement. The purpose of offering a reward is to enlist the help of society to obtain clues to property that the court has not yet identified, which is a supplementary means of property investigation and does not change the debtor's repayment ability. If the debtor does have hidden real estate, vehicles, equity or accounts receivable, the clues, once verified, can significantly increase the likelihood of recovering the money; if the debtor truly has no property, the reward will be ineffective. In this case, attention should be turned to investigating whether the shareholders' contributions have been made in full, whether there has been a withdrawal of funds, and whether there are situations of gratuitous or low-price transfer of property. If necessary, additional liable parties should be added or separate lawsuits should be filed.

Q2: What materials are required to apply for a bounty execution?

It mainly includes: an application for a reward announcement, stating the amount of the reward or the calculation method, a commitment to voluntarily pay the reward, the proposed release method, and other matters that need to be specified; effective legal documents and execution case numbers, and an explanation of the execution situation; the identity information of the debtor that has been obtained, clues to his residence and business location; and materials showing that conventional investigation and control have failed to identify the debtor's assets. If you wish to publish it on other media platforms and are willing to bear the expenses, you should also state this in the application. The more specific the clues are, the smoother the review and release process will be by the court, and it will also be more conducive to the verification and control of subsequent clues.

Q3: Who bears the bounty, and how much is it usually set at?

The reward money shall be borne by the applicant for enforcement. According to Article 24 of the "Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning Property Investigation in Civil Enforcement" (FASI [2017] No.8, implemented on May 1, 2017 and amended in 2020), the reward money shall be deducted from the enforcement money to which the applicant for enforcement is entitled. If the specific property is delivered for enforcement or there are other circumstances where the reward money cannot be deducted, the applicant for enforcement shall pay it separately; if the informant is the applicant's agent or a person obligated to provide clues to the property, the reward money shall not be issued. The amount of the reward money shall be determined by the applicant for enforcement himself or stated in the application with the calculation method. The court shall not make mandatory provisions. Generally, it shall be reasonably set based on the amount of the creditor's claim and the value of the clues.

Q4: How long does it usually take from applying for a license to its release, and then to someone reporting it?

According to Article 21 of the aforementioned judicial interpretation, the people's court shall decide whether to grant the application within ten days from the date of receipt of the written application; after granting the application, the court shall prepare and issue a reward announcement. Thereafter, whether and when effective clues will be received depends on the financial status of the debtor and the degree of public attention, with no fixed timeframe. After receiving the clues, the court shall register and verify them. If the clues are found to be true and result in the full or partial recovery of the creditor's rights, the reward money shall be paid according to the announcement. Overall, from the application to the actual recovery of funds still depends on the progress of property control and disposal, and the cycle involving appraisal and auction will be even longer.

Q5: I want to apply for a bounty announcement. How exactly should I proceed?

It is recommended to proceed in four steps: First, sort out the effective legal documents, the execution case numbers, and the property clues already obtained, and explain the situation that the conventional investigation and control failed to identify the property; Second, write the application for a reward announcement, stating the amount of the reward or the calculation method, the commitment to voluntarily pay, the way of issuing the announcement, and other matters, and submit it to the execution court and request a receipt; Third, wait for the court to make a decision on whether to approve it within ten days. If it is approved, cooperate in choosing a platform for issuing the announcement, and if necessary, voluntarily bear the cost of issuing it through a wider channel; Fourth, follow up and verify the reported clues in a timely manner, and simultaneously advance such paths as the order to report property, audit, adding unpaid shareholders, and resuming execution, so as to form a synergistic effect.

The above content is based on the compilation of judicial practices in the Beijing area. The facts of individual cases and the jurisdiction of the court may affect the conclusions. Welcome to consult Henglu Law Firm for specific cases.

If you are facing similar problems, it is recommended that you consult a professional lawyer as soon as possible with the relevant evidence materials to avoid missing the statutory time limit. →Legal services for creditor-debtor disputes·Attorney Yuan Hang·Beijing Henglu Law Firm

Disclaimer: This article is compiled based on current laws and regulations and publicly available adjudication rules. It is for general reference only and does not constitute formal legal advice for specific cases. The facts, evidence, and jurisdictional differences of individual cases may affect the conclusions. In the event of a dispute, please consult a practicing lawyer in a timely manner.