China and International Commercial Dispute Resolution presents important contributions from eminent legal scholars from Europe, the United States, Australia, South America, and China in a variety of areas of international commercial law with relevance to China. The authors provide expert analyses from a number of perspectives – doctrinal, comparative, empirical, economic, and legal – on an array of issues, private and public, involved in or arising from international commercial dispute resolution in China.

The first comprehensive study of China's role in international dispute resolution in the context of the 'Belt and Road Initiative'.

In 2022, with the pandemic continually impacted the world economy, coupled with the ongoing competition among major powers and the ever-changing geopolitical landscape, China’s commercial dispute resolution has adapted to the new economic form, presenting new changes and embracing new development. In the field of commercial arbitration, the amendments to the Arbitration Law were being accelerated, as it has been included in the annual legislative review projects of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. The Arbitration Association of China has been registered, attracting significant attention both within and outside the industry. Arbitration institutions, including the Beijing Arbitration Commission/Beijing International Arbitration Center, have improved systems and rules for online arbitration and hearings, innovated the supply of arbitration services, and promoted the development of arbitration practices. Meanwhile, China’s arbitration judicial review and the opening up of arbitration have also drawn a lot of attention and highlights. In the field of commercial mediation, “headquarters-to-headquarters” online dispute resolution has been comprehensively promoted in response to the call of the times. This has driven the effective linkage of various dispute resolution mechanisms such as litigation, arbitration, and mediation, achieving good results. Various mediation organizations are constantly improving their rules and innovating their service models, which strongly promotes the development of commercial mediation. In key professional sectors, the construction of the rule of law and dispute resolution are continuously adapting to the demands of new economic forms. Since 2013, BAC/BIAC has been continuously organizing industry experts to write the Commercial Dispute Resolution in China: An Annual Review and Preview (hereinafter referred to as the “Annual Review”), which is published globally in both Chinese and English. The Annual Review and the Annual Summit based thereon have become an important window for people at home and abroad to understand the development of China’s commercial dispute resolution, establishing an important platform for dispute resolution professionals at home and abroad to communicate and interact. The Commercial Dispute Resolution in China: An Annual Review and Preview (2023) continues to uphold the concept of being rooted in and serving practice. Through systematic reviews of industry overviews, key legal regulations and policies, analysis of model cases, observations on hot issues, and forecasts for the industry in the coming year, it provides support for market entities in making business decisions and enhancing risk prevention and dispute resolution capabilities.

2020 marked a remarkably unusual year for all, tough and impressive enough. Along with the prevalence of COVID-19 and the deepening of economic globalization, work and production in China were resumed in an orderly manner, bringing positive economic growth against the trend. In this context, commercial dispute resolutions in China were faced with new challenges and endured new reforms while embracing new developments. The promulgation of new laws and regulations in 2020, including the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China and the Supplementary Arrangements on Mutual Implementation of Arbitral Awards in Mainland China and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, has elevated the arbitration system to a higher level. Arbitration institutions such as the Beijing Arbitration Commission/Beijing International Arbitration Center (hereinafter referred to as “BAC/BIAC”) carried out anti-pandemic measures in a timely manner to ensure the well-functioning of the arbitration procedures. Meanwhile, China’s judicial supervision on arbitration and arbitration disclosure have undergone impressive developments. In 2020, the procedural standards of commercial mediation were further optimized, and commercial mediation institutions continued to expand and grow, while the number of mediation cases increased steadily. The “one-stop” diversified dispute resolution system was fully advanced, and the systems of litigation-mediation and arbitration-mediation have been constantly improved. Online mediation mechanism was rapidly developed in response to the new norms of pandemic prevention and control. Sino-foreign joint mediation mechanism has been gradually established, and international commercial mediation rules and systems are continuously refined. While rolling out countermeasures in full scale to mitigate impacts of pandemic, China achieved some eye-catching accomplishments in terms of legal system development and dispute resolution practices in 2020. To present an in-depth and systematic report on the 2020 practices and developments in the aforementioned fields, BAC/BIAC has called upon industry experts to contribute to the Annual Review and Preview of Commercial Dispute Resolution in China (2021) (“2021 Annual Review”), and released it in both Chinese and English to facilitate a better understanding of the status quo of China’s commercial dispute resolutions among interested parties at home and abroad. The 2021 Annual Review is compiled based on the following principles: First, focus on the state of the art. The 2021 Annual Review strives to showcase the latest developments in relevant industries and the leading trends in legal systems and judicial practices. It selected annual hot topics for in-depth analysis, aiming to deliver timely observations and cutting-edge contents while providing detailed information thereof. Second, focus on consistency and systematises. By inheriting previous compilation rules, the 2021 Annual Review presents an annual overview of various industries, crucial laws and policies, typical cases, analyses of heated issues and prospects, such that the readers are able to grasp the practices and developments of key industries from a multi-angle, holistic perspective. Third, focus on practicability. The 2021 Annual Review pays attention to the pragmatic value in order to help commercial entities improve their abilities of risk prevention and dispute resolution. The Editorial Committee is composed of seasoned professionals who deliver observations and opinions based on their rich experience on the industry’s frontline, providing practical references for the readers.

Twenty-eighteen marked the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up policy. Profound changes have been seen internally and externally, prior to 2018, during 2018, and continuing beyond 2018, which echo China’s great quest for reform and engaging with the world and shape the future of the dispute resolution industry in China. “Economic stability”, “economic restructuring and upgrading”, and “Sino-US trade friction” are clues to internal and external changes in 2018. Reviewing changing conditions in dispute resolution across a wide range of industries, the authors of Commercial Dispute Resolution in China: An Annual Review and Preview (2019) [hereinafter referred to as the “An Annual Review and Preview (2019)”] preview challenges that are yet to come. In Annual Review on Real Estate Dispute Resolution in China (2019), for example, the authors present a case study on the Linkage of the First and Second Level Projects and preview potential disputes of Securitization of real estate. In Annual Review on Investment Dispute Resolution in China (2019), the authors describe the arrangement of fixed income and equity repurchase under the backdrop of a slowing economy. In Annual Review on Energy Dispute Resolution in China (2019), the author focuses on policies and cases relating to Chinese transnational M&As, illustrating opportunities and challenges for future “Going Global” transactions in the energy sector. In Annual Review on International Trade Dispute Resolution in China (2019), the authors analyze the challenges posed by the China-US Trade War, and call for better compliance, industrial upgrading, and better understanding of the legal environment and trade protection measures in different jurisdictions in the process of “Going Global.” Decentralization and a continuing opening-up of China’s markets are also key in understanding economic and international changes. In Annual Review on Construction Dispute Resolution in China (2019), the authors introduce two examples, namely the promulgation of the Interpretation II on Issues Concerning the Application of Law for the Trial of Cases of Dispute over Construction Contracts by the Supreme People’s Court, and cancellation of construction contract record-filing by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, which reflect the ongoing transformation of social governance and the reforms of “delegate power, improve regulation and optimize services” (“DIO” reform) in the construction sector. In Annual Review on Financial Dispute Resolution in China (2019), the author describes the opening of the futures market, clearly demonstrating the Chinese government’s determination to open financial and capital markets.

China's ever-expanding commercial influence has attracted global attention on how its civil and commercial disputes are resolved. This compelling new book, Dispute Resolution in China, offers a detailed examination of the elements in the Chinese legal system and the relevant reforms to the multiplicity of approaches to civil and commercial disputes in China today. This book reveals how civil litigation, commercial arbitration, mediation, and their hybrid dispute resolution have distinctly responded to, reformed, and developed in the context of China’s transformational economic growth, societal development, and international interaction in the last two decades. It situates these developments and continued experimentation within a unique hybrid of empirical, contextual, and comparative analytical framework, while paving productive pathways towards the future. This book argues that, rather than being a legal project, China’s civil and commercial dispute resolution system is essentially a social development project, which distinguishes the Chinese approach to civil justice reform from contemporary civil justice movements elsewhere. Among the primary methods of dispute resolution, commercial arbitration in China today uniquely transcending the traditional socio-political constraints, its reform has developed in favor of market-oriented considerations and shaped by China’s socio-economic dynamics and internationalization needs. By contrast, civil litigation and mediation being more instrumentalist in nature, their reform is socio-politically embedded and continues to prioritize social stability. This book also shines a fresh light on comparative assessments of top-down and bottom-up changes in China’s dispute resolution discourse, as well as on how China speaks to international dispute resolution systems. Original and rich in its analysis, this book will be essential reading and invaluable reference tool for scholars with a focus on Chinese law, comparative and international dispute resolution, and on broader legal, institutional, economic, social, political and cultural dimensions of dispute resolution development.

This book brings together articles from leading experts in the field of international dispute resolution. The main focus is on the situation in Asia, though the European perspective also plays an important part. Accordingly, the focus on the Asian dispute resolution market with a distinctly American and European “touch” is one of the book’s most unique features. The dispute resolution market is rapidly transforming, and dispute resolution law is changing with it –especially in Asia. This book highlights recent advances and outlines future trends in this area. Emphasis is especially placed on International Commercial Arbitration Law on the one hand; and on International Investment Arbitration Law on the other. Two dedicated sections address these two topics, while another is dedicated to a quite new phenomenon in the field of international dispute resolution, the emergence of International Commercial Courts not only in Asia, but also in other regions of the world (e.g. in the Netherlands). This raises a host of interesting legal questions, which the book addresses. The book’s final section investigates general trends in dispute resolution (e.g. the rising cost problem in arbitration in general).

Both China and Europe have a long tradition of commercial and maritime law; and this new book examining various topics from their particular perspectives is both timely and important. It links the vital component of maritime law with commercial law, financial law and trade policy. The book has performed a remarkable task in making connections between China and Europe through the lenses of substantive and procedrual laws, covering a wide range of areas, including commercial law, insurance law, salvage, EU maritime law and Brexit, carriage of goods by sea, arbitration, mediation, litigation, the recently formed China International Commercial Court, and different liability regimes, as well as a brief look forward into new initiatives and artificial intelligence in the digital age. In these challenging times, we all have much to learn from each other in seeking to find answers to what are often difficult problems. This book provides a welcome opportunity for anyone interested in commercial and maritime law to engage in that learning exercise and, looking ahead, thereby to help solve such problems as may arise in the future – in a practical and fair manner. It is therefore of great relevance to both the academic field and the legal practice field in China and Europe.

This book is the final study report of the key project of the National Social Science Foundation of China, “China and the Reconstruction and Innovation of International Rules in the New Era of Global Value Chain”. On the basis of a comprehensive analysis of the complex situation of international rule reconstruction and innovation in the new era of the global value chain, this book makes an in-depth and systematic analysis on six types of international rules, namely official export credit rules, international competition rules, cross-border e-commerce and digital trade rules, ISDS, multilateral agreement on investment and international regulatory cooperation. It also introduces the theories and practices of China's engagement in the new round of reconstruction and innovation of international rules.