China’s Ministry of Justice seeks public consultation on draft revisions to Arbitration Law 中国司法部就《仲裁法》修订草案征求公众意见

After commencing the process to revise the Arbitration Law of the People’s Republic of China (“PRC Arbitration Law”) in March 2018, the PRC’s Ministry of Justice (“MOJ”) released draft revisions on 30 July 2021 for public consultation (“Draft Revisions”).

The Draft Revisions are a welcome development since the PRC Arbitration Law was promulgated in 1994. Minor amendments were introduced in 2009 and 2017. However, the 13^th National People’s Congress Standing Committee Legislative Plan identified a need for the legislation to be updated substantially to bring it in line with China’s economic growth and expansion, as well as international developments in arbitration over the past three decades.

The proposed amendments introduce significant improvements to the arbitration regime in the PRC on a range of areas, including the treatment and operation of arbitral institutions, foreign-related arbitrations, and the enforcement of arbitral awards. Notable revisions include:

• foreign ad hoc arbitral awards will be recognised and enforceable in the PRC, and ad hoc arbitration in Mainland China will be permitted for foreign-related commercial disputes;
• foreign arbitral institutions may register with relevant judicial administrative departments to establish business operations in the PRC in order to conduct foreign-related arbitration business;
• the doctrine of competence-competence will be recognised, which will finally allow arbitrators to determine their own jurisdiction over a claim – a principle that had been lacking from the current PRC Arbitration Law; and
• additional requirements will be imposed on arbitrators in relation to their disclosure of interests, including the requirement to sign declarations regarding their independence and impartiality.

The Draft Revisions can be found here. The MOJ has also released explanatory notes, which can be found here. Both are currently available in Chinese only.

The consultation period will conclude on 29 August 2021. We will publish further updates as the revision process develops.

继司法部于2018年3月启动《中华人民共和国仲裁法》（“中国仲裁法”）修订后， 2021年7月30日，司法部发布了修订草案，征求公众意见（“修订草案”）。

本次修订是中国仲裁法自1994年颁布以来最值得期待的一次发展和调整。在此之前，中国仲裁法曾分别于2009年和2017年小幅修订。第十三届全国人民代表大会常务委员会的立法规划指出，有必要大幅更新中国仲裁法，使其符合中国的经济增长和扩张，以及过去三十年来国际仲裁的发展。

修订草案在一系列领域对中国的仲裁制度进行了重大改进，包括仲裁机构的定位和运作、涉外仲裁和仲裁裁决的执行。重大修订包括：

• 外国临时仲裁裁决将在中国得到承认和执行，而具有涉外因素的商事纠纷的当事人将被允许在中国大陆进行临时仲裁；
• 境外仲裁机构可以向有关司法行政部门登记，在中国境内开展业务，开展涉外仲裁业务；
• 纳入和承认仲裁庭管辖权自治原则。该原则允许仲裁员决定其对某项索赔是否享有管辖权；以及
• 将对仲裁员的利益披露提出更多要求，包括要求仲裁员签署关于其独立性和公正性的声明书。

请点此链接阅读修订草案。司法部亦就修订草案发布了说明文件，请点此链接阅读。

征求意见期将于2021年8月29日结束。我们后续将根据中国仲裁法的修订进展，及时发布更新信息。