China has established International Commercial Court for commercial disputes under BRI

published on September 25, 2018 / reading time approx.: 2 minutes
 
On June 29, 2018, China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) officially established the First and Second International Commercial Courts (CICC) based in Shenzhen and Xi'an, respectively. The main purpose of the CICC is to settle international commercial disputes under the Belt & Road Initiative. Both courts are supervised by the SPC.
    

       

The CICC have jurisdiction in disputes with an amount in dispute of at least RMB 300 million and if the parties have agreed on the jurisdiction of SPC, or in disputes of national importance. In addition, the CICC may also obtain jurisdiction by referral of disputes through other courts.

Decisions shall be taken by chambers of at least three judges. Judges are selected on the basis of a high level of experience in the fields of international trade and investment as well as a profound knowledge of English. In addition, an International Commercial Expert Committee (ICEC) has been established to advise and support the court in its decision making.

The CICC integrates litigation, mediation and arbitration. In case of litigation, the judgment of the CICC will be final and binding. If the parties agree on mediation, the CICC may appoint members of the ICEC as mediators and issue a judgment based on the settlement agreement. If the parties agree to conduct arbitration, the CICC may issue interim measures (e.g. preservation of property, evidence, or conduct, etc.) as well as set aside or enforce an arbitral award.

In addition, there are some procedural simplifications. For example, if the other party agrees, no Chinese translations of documents in English need to be submitted, evidence can be taken through the use of information technology, notarization of evidence provided abroad is no longer required, and priority is given to the application of the law agreed by the parties over deviating Chinese legal norms.

As with any new initiative, there are further procedural and practical questions, such as whether English can be chosen as the language of the proceedings or whether foreign arbitration institutions will also be involved. Further guidelines and rules are expected to be published in the near future.