On 13 Sept. 2022, the Shanghai High People’s Court issued the Chinese-English bilingual version of “Shanghai High People’s Court White Paper on Foreign-related[1] Commercial Trials (2017-2021)” (hereinafter the “White Paper”, 上海市高级人民法院涉外、涉港澳台商事审判白皮书（2017-2021）).
According to the White Paper,
- Between 2017 and 2021, Shanghai courts had accepted 4,202 first and second instance foreign-related commercial cases, and closed 4,294，with total amount of controversy reaching over CNY 92 billion (approx. USD 13 billion).
- The cases were mainly resolved by litigation, but the mediation had also been widely adopted, showing the effect of the diverse dispute resolution mechanism.
- The top three types in terms of numbers were disputes in lending, sales and equity transfer, making up 40.33%. Other common disputes included service contract, partnership contract and damage to corporate interests.
- In addition to cases involving Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, there were 2,989 foreign-related commercial cases, which involved 76 countries and regions.
The White Paper also includes a number of typical cases with international and domestic influence. For example, the Daesung Industrial Gases Co., Ltd. vs. Praxair (China) Investment Co., Ltd. over the validity of arbitration agreement, in which the parties agreed to be arbitrated by a foreign arbitration institution in Shanghai, is the first case accepted and concluded in Shanghai.
[1] Unless otherwise specified, the term “foreign-related cases/disputes” also includes those relating to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Cover Photo by Bide Cui on Unsplash