How to make sure a recording is admissible
According to article 68 of “Regulation on Several Issues of Civil Procedure”: “Evidence obtained by means violating the lawful rights and interests of another or violating the prohibitive provisions of laws shall not be used as the basis for ascertaining the facts claimed” and article 70: “If any of the following evidences submitted by a party and the other party files an objection but raises no enough evidence to support such objection, the people's court shall confirm the admissibility of such evidence, including evidence audios, videos, and their verified copies.”
For the recording to have legal effect, the following three conditions must be met generally:
First, the recording evidence produced by the parties is not edited or forged, the other party showed no evidence of audio editing or forging.
Second, the acquisition of recording must be legal. If the recording evidence holder violates the privacy of others or violates the prohibitive provisions of law, for example, if such recording was obtained by the means infringing others privacy, such evidence is not admissible.
Third, the other party did not submit a rebuttal or the rebuttal submitted is overruled. In the case of recording evidence, the court has to examine whether there is any doubt about the recording evidence. If the other party objects to the admissibility of the recording material and gives sufficient evidence to support its rejection, the recording evidence shall therefore not be admissible, if there is insufficient evidence to support the other party’s rejection, the court should confirm the admissibility of the recording.
However, the recording shall better be taken by good recording equipment with as less noise as possible. During the recording the identity of related parties shall be identified first, the recording time shall better be mentioned for enhancing the credibility of the evidence.
