China

China, Civil Procedure, Court Proceedings, Discretion, Fair and Equitable Treatment, Procedural Fairness

(Zhong Lun Law Firm)/ /Leave a comment

The “right of clarification” (in German: Aufklarungsrecht) is a product of the inquisitorial method of hearing. It refers to a judge’s right to ask, suggest to or require the parties to clarify or supplement their ambiguous, insufficient or improper claims, submissions or evidence. In international arbitration, which is strongly influenced by the adversarial system, arbitral…

China, Interviews with Our Editors, Online Dispute Resolution, Shanghai International Arbitration Center, SHIAC

(Clifford Chance Asia)/ /Leave a comment
Shanghai International Arbitration Center (SHIAC)

Dr Ma Yi is the Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the Shanghai International Arbitration Center (“SHIAC”) – SHIAC is also one of our Blog’s newest Permanent Contributors. Before joining SHIAC, he was actively involved in the growth of Shanghai’s legal scene as a Director at the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice and the Deputy Secretary…

China, Hong Kong, Interim measures, interim relief, Legislation, PRC

, (King & Wood Mallesons)/ /Leave a comment
HK45

On 1 October 2019, the Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (the “Arrangement”) came into force. It was previously reported on the blog here and here. On 8 October 2019, the first interim measure under…

China, Court Assistance, Judicial intervention, judicial review, PRC

(Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution) and (China Arbitration Institute of China University of Political Science and Law)/ /Leave a comment

In March 2020, the official Beijing judiciary website published the ground-breaking Big Data Research Report on Cases of the Beijing Fourth Intermediate People’s Court Involving Judicial Review of Arbitration (北京市第四中级人民法院仲裁司法审查案件大数据研究报告) (the “Report”). Prepared by the China Arbitration Institute of China University of Political Science and Law (中国政法大学仲裁研究院), the Report covers 18 months of decisions involving “judicial review”…

Ad hoc arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, China

(Zhong Lun Law Firm)/ /1 Comment

It is undisputed that the Arbitration Law of the People’s Republic of China (“the Arbitration Law”) has greatly contributed to the establishment, development and improvement of China’s current arbitration system. However, due to the fast-moving socio-economic realities and the ever-developing legal system of China, the provisions of the Arbitration Law have gradually begun to lag…

China, Enforcement, Hong Kong, Limitation period, PRC

(CIETAC (HK))/ /Leave a comment
CIETAC Hong Kong Arbitration Center

For awards issued in cases administered by the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (“CIETAC”) Hong Kong Arbitration Center, parties can enforce them in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong out of the many other possible jurisdictions. What they cannot do, however, is to simultaneously enforce the award in both jurisdictions. This is expressly prohibited under…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Asia, China, Hong Kong, India, Intellectual Property, Paris Arbitration Week, Set aside an arbitral award, Singapore, South Korea, Webinar

(Schellenberg Wittmer Pte Ltd)/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

On 10 July 2020, a panel of arbitration practitioners discussed the topic of “Recent Developments and Key Arbitration Trends in Asia” as part of the 2020 Paris Arbitration Week. The panel discussion covered the distinctive features of and the latest developments in five different jurisdictions: Singapore, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and India. Hosted by…

Adverse Inference, China, Document Production, Evidence, Legislation

, (Shanghai International Arbitration Center)/ /Leave a comment
Shanghai International Arbitration Center (SHIAC)

The practice of adverse document production or disclosure is largely foreign in civil law jurisdictions like mainland China. Despite resistance, the growth of judicial practice on document production prompted the Supreme People’s Court of China (“SPC”) to make the new Rules of Evidence on Civil Procedure (“Rules of Evidence”) on December 25, 2019, effective as…

China, Commercial Arbitration, Discovery, Document Production

(Herbert Smith Freehills LLP) and (Kewei Law Firm)/ /Leave a comment
Herbert Smith Freehills

Document production in China – getting to maybe Document production (also known as “discovery”) is still a very foreign concept in China’s civil law court system. The traditional notion of “who claims, proves” (“谁主张，谁举证“) in China’s Civil Procedural Law has ingrained in people’s mind that one has to prove its case by its own evidence….

Belt Road Initiative, China, currency, Financial Industry

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China’s Belt and Road Initiative (“BRI”) is well known as the largest infrastructure construction program in world history.1)This post is expressed as Michael J. Bond’s personal opinion and does not represent the views of any organization or party. President Xi Jinping announced its two components in 2013; one is a land-based Silk Road Economic Belt…

ADR, Arbitration Industry, Arbitration institution, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Belt Road Initiative, Case Management, China, CIETAC, Conciliation, Domain Names, Hong Kong, Interim measures, Interviews with Our Editors, Jurisdictional challenge, Macau, Mediation, Taiwan, Tribunal Secretary

(Peter & Kim)/ /Leave a comment
CIETAC Hong Kong Arbitration Center

Dr. Li Hu is Deputy Secretary-General of China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (“CIETAC”), Vice Chairman of China Maritime Arbitration Commission, and also Board Member of the Arbitration Institute of Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. He has authored several publications on dispute resolution in China and has served as arbitrator in over 120 domestic and…

2019 In Review, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belt Road Initiative, China, Georgia, HK Arbitration Week, HKIAC, Hong Kong, Interim measures, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Online Dispute Resolution, South Korea, Third party funding, Trade, Uzbekistan

and (Peter & Kim)/ /Leave a comment

Gong Xi Fa Cai! The Year of the Earth Pig has drawn to a close. In what was certainly an auspicious and lucky year for arbitration developments in East and Central Asia, we take a closer look at five key developments:   1. Initiatives in PR China to boost arbitration In southern coastal China, the…

Antitrust arbitration, Arbitrability, China, Competition Law, Economic, Jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, Non-arbitrability

(International University of Rabat)/ /Leave a comment

Private antitrust actions were long thought to be non-arbitrable due to the public law character of antitrust law, though the scope of non-arbitrability has been reduced to varying extents in different jurisdictions. For instance, US courts had long adhered to the so-called “American Safety doctrine”, which limited the arbitrability of domestic antirust disputes.1)American Safety Equipment v…

Artificial Intelligence, China, Online Arbitration, Online Dispute Resolution, Robojudge

(PRK Partners)/ /1 Comment

Introduction At the latest ODR Forum which was held on 29-31 October 2019 in Williamsburg, Virginia, Dr Anyu Lee presented on China’s vision of online dispute resolution (“ODR”). He discussed how far China has progressed in developing artificial intelligence (“AI”) tools for online courts, arbitration and mediation. He also described the potential of AI in…

China, CIETAC, HKIAC, Hong Kong, Interim measures, interim relief

, , (Fangda Partners)/ /Leave a comment

On 1 October 2019, Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong bodies brought into force a reciprocal arrangement with significant implications for Hong Kong as a seat of arbitration. The arrangement allows the courts of each jurisdiction to award interim measures in support of arbitrations seated in the other territory. Parties to Hong Kong-seated arbitrations have been…

Adjudication, Arbitration, China, Construction arbitration, HK Arbitration Week, HKIAC, Hong Kong

(Hogan Lovells), (Allen & Overy), and (Morrison & Foerster)/ /1 Comment

As Hong Kong Arbitration Week 2019 hits the midway point, we asked three next-generation arbitration practitioners: how do you see the future of arbitration in Hong Kong? These are their answers: Joyce Leung: As a construction lawyer, I am seeing an increase in arbitrations arising from the construction sector in light of the completion of…

Artificial Intelligence, China, HK Arbitration Week, HKIAC, Hong Kong, Interviews with Our Editors

(Simmons & Simmons) and (Law Offices of Kiran N Gore PLLC; The George Washington University Law School)/ /Leave a comment

Joe is the longest-serving counsel in HKIAC, having been at HKIAC since January 2014. He holds LLMs from New York University and London School of Economics and Political Science. His previous stints included private practice as well as that in SIAC. In January 2019, he was appointed as the Deputy Secretary-General of HKIAC. Our Blog…

Arbitrability, Arbitration Agreement, China, Company Law, Corporate disputes, Non-arbitrability, PRC, Scope of an arbitration agreement, Shareholders Agreement, Shareholders Arbitration

(Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction1)All citations of People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) sources refer to original Chinese language materials, except for the Tsinghua China Law Review. Title translations are provided by the author. Agreements governing the relationship of shareholders to each other and to the company (e.g., shareholders’, investment or subscription agreements) (collectively, “SHAs”) frequently address matters of corporate…

Arbitration institution, China, Foreign arbitration institution, Free Trade Zones

(Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP) and (Davis Polk & Wardwell, Hong Kong Solicitors)/ /1 Comment

On 6 August 2019, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) (the “State Council”) published the “Framework Plan for the New Lingang Area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone” (the “2019 Framework Plan”). Under Article 4 of the 2019 Framework Plan, reputable foreign arbitration and dispute resolution institutions may register…

Agency, Arbitration Agreement, Arbitration clause, China, Validity

, (Shanghai International Arbitration Center)/ /Leave a comment
Shanghai International Arbitration Center (SHIAC)

Under China’s arbitration regime for foreign-related arbitration and international arbitration, the concept of a juridical seat is a statutory juncture where, in cases with no express agreement on the applicable law between the parties, Chinese courts must determine the applicable law (statutory text is available in Chinese here and unofficial English translation here).1) See Article…

Arbitration Agreement, Arbitration Agreements, China, Shanghai, Stay of Proceedings

(CIETAC (HK))/ /Leave a comment
CIETAC Hong Kong Arbitration Center

In the case of ZL Offshore [translation] (“ZL”) v PICC P&C Shipping Insurance Operation Centre [translation] (the “Operation Centre”) and PICC P&C Zhoushan City Branch [translation] (the “Zhoushan Branch”) pronounced on 20 March 2019 (2019 Min 72 Min Chu 149), the Xiamen Maritime Court (the “Court”) of People’s Republic of China dismissed the challenge against…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitrator's Fees, BAC, China, Costs in arbitral proceedings, Institutional Arbitration

, , (Jingtian & Gongcheng)/ /Leave a comment

On 19 July 2019, Beijing Arbitration Commission a.k.a. Beijing International Arbitration Center (the “BAC/BIAC”) released its amended Arbitration Rules (the “Rules”) and Fee Schedule (the “Fee Schedule”), both of which will take effect on 1 September 2019.   An Overview of BAC/BIAC’s New Fee Schedule The amendments introduced many reforms to reduce the time and…

China, Hong Kong, Interim measures, interim relief

(Zhong Lun Law Firm)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction On April 2, 2019, the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR”) signed the Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“Arrangement”). This…

China, Hong Kong, Interim measures, interim relief

(Zhong Lun Law Firm)/ /Leave a comment

In Part I of this post I discussed how the Arrangement excluded ad-hoc arbitration and how it raised certain issues on jurisdiction of the courts. In Part 2, I discuss other aspects of the Arrangement.   Interaction between Arrangement and CICC The interaction between the Arrangement and the China International Commercial Court (“CICC”) is also…