In China, the types of contract-based claims are stipulated by law, and different types of claims together establish a claim system. Arbitrators should identify the types of claims made by the parties. A claim is the target of the arbitration, which must be made an award on by the arbitral tribunal. Evidence and documentation required to support one’s claim will be different as the type of claims varies, and the respondent has to make different…

  In 2017, China signed the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements (HCCCA, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Convention’). The question naturally arises, will China ratify the Convention? ‘Yes, it’s only a matter of time’, as pointed out by Justice Song Jianli (宋建立) from China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC), now the Secretary-General of the International Commercial Expert Committee of SPC’s International Commercial Court, in his recent article titled “The Hague Convention on Choice of…

China amended the PRC Anti-Unfair Competition Law (中华人民共和国反不正当竞争法) for the second time in Apr. 2019 to enforce stricter punishment for trade secret infringement. The PRC Anti-Unfair Competition Law (“AUCL”) was enacted in 1993 and amended twice respectively in 2017 and in 2019. In the 2019 AUCL, relevant provisions are added to regulate trade secret infringement in a more targeted way and impose stricter sanctions on it. 1. In the 2019 AUCL, the acquisition of trade…

  China’s judiciary comprises of courts, procuratorates, supervisory commissions, and two other governmental organs—public security organs (i.e. Ministry of Public Security and local public security bureaus) and judicial administrative organs (i.e. the Ministry of Justice and local justice bureaus). I. Brief introduction: “horizontal blocks”（块状） and “vertical lines”（条状） The legislative body, the people’s congress, establishes judicial organs at the same level, which means that it elects or appoints the heads of such judicial organs. All these…

In Mar. 2019, China promulgated the Foreign Investment Law (“the Law”), which restructured the regulatory system of foreign investment in China. After the Law came into force, most of the foreign investment will no longer be subject to the approval by or the filing with the Chinese government. To adapt to this change, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) promulgated the Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Foreign Investment Law of the People’s…

  Editor’s Note: The PRC Civil Code (中华人民共和国民法典) was adopted on 28 May 2020, and will take effect on 1 Jan. 2021. This article was originally published in CGTN on 23 May 2020, and is reproduced with the consent of the author.  Huo Zhengxin is a professor of law at the China University of Political Science and Law. The article reflects the author’s opinions, and not necessarily the views of China Justice Observer. China’s National…

  The PRC Organic Law of the People’s Courts(人民法院组织法, “the Law”) helps us to gain a better understanding of China’s court system and the internal structure of Chinese courts. The Law was enacted in 1979 and has been amended four times respectively in 1983, 1986, 2006, and 2018. The current Law comprises 59 articles, the core parts of which include: (1) the court system in China; (2) the internal structure of the court; (3) the…