context: The new Minutes on court work for foreign-related trials updated the old version of 2005, showing the tendency of courts to respect the agreement of the parties and strengthen the application of foreign and international laws. The unification of the thinking of local courts will make rights protection in foreign-related business activities more secure.
SPC (Supreme People's Court) issued 'Minutes of the symposium on foreign-related commercial and maritime trials by courts nationwide' on 31 Dec 2021. The document specifies
- foreign-related commercial trials
- respecting the agreement of the parties on case jurisdiction
- simplifying procedures to facilitate foreign parties participating in litigation
- rules on ascertainment of foreign laws
- judging the validity of internal resolutions of overseas companies according to the laws of the country of registration
- applying for recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments
- relaxing conditions for identifying reciprocal relationships
- courts may not recognise damages in excess of the actual loss
- improving the applicable conditions of exit restriction measures
- maritime trials
- transport contract disputes
- contracts for the carriage of goods by sea and contracts for multimodal transport
- domestic waterway freight contracts signed by carriers without domestic waterway transportation business qualifications are invalid
- insurance contract disputes
- ship property rights disputes
- maritime tort disputes
- other maritime cases
- cannot sue for marine traffic accident liability determination
- transport contract disputes
- arbitration judicial review
- agreements of 'arbitration first and then litigation' are valid
- regarding awards made by overseas arbitration institutions in Mainland China as foreign-related arbitration awards of Mainland China
The Minutes makes it clear that the parties can agree on the application of 'UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission on International Trade Law) arbitration rules' in Mainland arbitration institutions, showing that SPC gradually accepts ad hoc arbitration and supports the internationalisation of Chinese arbitration, Xie Xianghui 谢湘辉 Guoall Law Firm partner believes.