In cases where the evidence is completely controlled by one party and the other party has no way to collect, unfairness judgments may arise. To solve this problem, China has gradually set up the evidence presentation order system. Given it is designed to force the evidence controller to provide the evidence, some people call it China’s “evidence discovery and disclosure” system. However, there is a marked difference between the two. The evidence presentation order…

  China promulgated its first Civil Code in May 2020, which includes seven parts, i.e., General Principles, Real Rights, Contracts, Personality Rights, Marriage and Family, Succession, Liability for Tort, and Supplementary Provisions. The Real Rights is its second part.  Before that, China had promulgated the Real Right Law and the Security Law respectively. After the promulgation of the Civil Code, both the Real Right Law and the Security Law are to be abolished accordingly on…

  According to the PRC Foreign Investment Law, the organizational structures and the governance rules of foreign-funded enterprises shall be governed by the Company Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国公司法), the Partnership Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国合伙企业法), etc. Existing foreign-funded enterprises can keep their original organizational structures within five years from the effective date of the Foreign Investment Law (1 Jan. 2020). However, to avoid a hasty decision on a…

  The answer lies in China’s Supreme Court’s “Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Administrative Agreements Cases” (关于审理行政协议案件若干问题的规定). How Chinese courts deal with government contract disputes? The answer lies in the “Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Administrative Agreements Cases ” (关于审理行政协议案件若干问题的规定, hereinafter referred to as the “Judicial Interpretation”), which was issued by China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) in Dec. 2019. If you enter into an administrative agreement with…

  On 11 Apr. 2016, the Court of Appeal of New Zealand enforced a Chinese monetary judgment to its full value in Yang Chen v. Jinzhu Lin, CA334/2015, [2016] NZCA 113. This marks the first time that a Chinese monetary judgment has been enforced in New Zealand. Given that there has neither been a bilateral treaty that covers recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, nor any factual reciprocity precedence between China and New Zealand, the…

  China promulgated its first-ever Civil Code in May 2020. The General Principles is its first part. Before that, China had promulgated the “General Principles of Civil Law” (民法总则) and the “General Provisions of Civil Law” (民法通则) respectively. After the promulgation of the Civil Code, the two laws were abolished accordingly. “Part I General Principles” is divided into ten chapters: Basic Provisions, Natural Persons, Legal Persons, Unincorporated Associations, Civil Rights, Civil Juristic Acts, Agency, Civil…

In intellectual property litigation, the technical examination officer will act as the judge’s technical assistant in aid of understanding and identifying professional and technical issues. On 18 Mar. 2019, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) promulgated the “Several Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on the Participation of Technical Examination Officers in the Intellectual Property Litigation” (最高人民法院关于技术调查官参与知识产权案件诉讼活动的若干规定, hereinafter “the Provisions”), officially establishing the technical examination officer mechanism. As early as 2014, the SPC had…