China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) has urged courts across the country to use mediation as their first step to settle disputes and promote social harmony.

In instances where it can be used, the courts should take every opportunity to encourage the litigants to resolve disputes through mediation rather than formal legal proceedings, the SPC said in an document made public on its website Monday.

The SPC said cases eligible for mediation should be expanded to include those relating to minor criminal offenses and state compensation.

The document stressed mediation should if possible be started at the filing stage, to settle the dispute before the relevant court accepted or heard the case.

In nine kinds of civil cases including class action cases posing threat to social stability, family dispute cases, cases where no convincing evidence is found and cases where there is strong antagonism between the two parties, the courts should make special efforts to try to resolve the disputes by mediation, the document said.

In minor criminal cases, the courts should also better use mediation to provide relief for the aggrieved party, implement the policy of "justice tempered with mercy," correctly enforce the law and promote social harmony, the document said.

The SPC stated that courts must not push litigants into mediation, however they must stop mediation if a party was using it to delay legal proceedings or if the method would be too costly in resolving the case.

In cases where China's national interests or public interests are involved, court decisions should be handed down timely, it said.

The SPC also told the courts to take measures to ensure that fair and legitimate agreements could be reached in the mediation and visit relevant parties after mediation to ensure implementation of the agreements.