SHANGHAI, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- China's first cross-region court and procuratorate were established in Shanghai on Sunday, part of the country's judicial reform to reduce the interference of local governments on administrative litigation cases.

The Shanghai No.3 Intermediate People's Court is responsible of hearing the cross-region administrative litigation cases, major civil and commercial litigation cases, environmental protection cases as well as food and drug safety cases.

In the trial period, the court will mainly hear the administrative litigation cases with the municipal government as the defendant.

The Shanghai No.3 People's Procuratorate was also established on Sunday, responsible for cross-region cases.

Shanghai had 16 districts and one county by the end of 2013. In the past, each district court and procuratorate is responsible for handling the cases within the district.

The Shanghai Intellectual Property Right (IPR) Court was also set up on Sunday to handle IPR-related cases, becoming the third IPR court in the country obsessed with IPR infringement accusations.

The Supreme People's Court proposal, which was approved in August by China's top legislature, advised that three special courts for IPR cases be set up.

The first IPR court was set up in Beijing in early November. The second one opened in the southern city of Guangzhou in mid-December.