Shenzhen Sent out "China's Voice in International Rules"

—The world’s first commemorative event for the 60^th anniversary of the New York Convention held by UNCITRAL in Shenzhen

 

 

 

"Shenzhen Special Economic Zone is a pioneer in China's reform and opening-up, a pioneer in the internationalization and modernization of China's arbitration, and also a pioneer to promote China’s practice of international rules, including the New York Convention," Mr. GAO Zimin, Deputy Mayor of the People’s Government of Shenzhen Municipality, said on May 15, 2018 at the “60^thAnniversary of the New York Convention& One Belt One Road” forum jointly organized by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA) in Shenzhen. “SCIA will further strengthen its cooperation with international organizations such as UNCITRAL and enhance the reform of business environment; SCIA will continue to uphold the banner of reform and opening-up as well as innovation-driven development; SCIA will benchmark itself against the global leading standards and build a hub of international arbitration; SCIA will advance the development of Shenzhen into an ‘innovatively leading global city with great competitive power and influence’ and promote Shenzhen to use, observe, innovate, develop and optimize international rules, sending out China’s voice and contributing China's wisdom and China's solutions.”

 

 

This forum is the world’s first commemorative event held by UNCITRAL for the 60^th anniversary of the New York Convention, and Shenzhen is the only city in the world, apart from New York, to hold an official commemorative event with the support of UNCITRAL. The New York Convention is short for the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. It is an international convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards signed at a United Nations conference in 1958.The signing of the New York Convention has greatly facilitated the unification of legislation and practices in international commercial arbitration across the world, so that effective arbitral awards can be recognized and enforced world-wide. In 1989, the New York Convention entered into force in China; so far, it has 159 signatories. In 1989, Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (South China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission) created a precedent for China’s arbitral awards to be recognized and enforced overseas in accordance with the New York Convention, and ever since, China's arbitral awards have gone global. After the return of Hong Kong, the Arrangements for Mutual Enforcement of Arbitral Awards between the Mainland and the Hongkong Special Administrative Region (the Arrangements)was signed by the PRC Supreme People's Court and the HKSAR Government in June 1999 in Shenzhen. According to the statistics released by HK judicial authority, SCIA has the highest number of arbitral awards enforced in HK pursuant to the Arrangements, and the enforcement of SCIA’s awards have never been refused by HK courts.  

 

  

Ms. Anna JOUBIN-BRET, Secretary of UNCITRAL, Mr. GAO Zimin, Deputy Mayor of the People’s Government of Shenzhen Municipality, Ms. Elsie LEUNG, SCIA Council Member and Vice Chairperson of HKSAR Basic Law committee under NPC Standing Committee, Mr. Rimsky YUEN Kwok-keung, Senior Counsel and former Secretary for Justice of HKSAR, Mr. ZHANG Yongjian, Chief Judge of the Civil Adjudication Tribunal No. 4 of the PRC Supreme People’s Court, Mr. YE Jun, Deputy Director General of Treaty and Law Department of MOFCOM, Mr. SHEN Sibao, Chairman of SCIA and President of Chinese Society of International Economic Law and Mr. LIU Xiaochun, President of SCIA have attended the forum. Speakers reviewed the history and development of the New York Convention, especially its practice in Shenzhen and China, and discussed the future trends of international commercial arbitration in the context of “Belt & Road” with about 300 representatives from United Nations and other international organizations, the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Austria, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Philippines and other countries and regions. During the forum, Deputy Mayor GAO Zimin conferred commemorative awards for “Meritorious Figures of the 35^thAnniversary of Shenzhen International Arbitration” to Ms. Elsie LEUNG and Mr. LI Xueling, one of the SCIA founders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the first Secretary for Justice of HKSAR, Ms. Elsie LEUNG recalled the historic moment of signing the Arrangements with Mr. SHEN Deyong, then Vice President of the PRC Supreme People's Court on June 21, 1999. She encouraged SCIA to promote deepened arbitration and legal cooperation between the Mainland and Hong Kong in the context of "Belt & Road" and the construction of the Guangdong, Hong Kong & Macau Great Bay Area and to further build an international business environment under the rule of law in China.

 

Mr. ZHANG Yongjian pointed out in his speech that international commercial arbitration played an important role in settlement of international commercial disputes due to its award being final, its cross-border enforcement, neutrality and confidentiality,. In recent years, the PRC Supreme People's Court has adopted an open and supportive approach to international arbitration and become a model for implementing the New York Convention. In the near future, the “First International Commercial Court" will be set up in Shenzhen, and the PRC Supreme People's Court will continue to work with UNCITRAL and well-known dispute settlement institutions at home and abroad to create a diversified dispute resolution mechanism effectively combining litigation, mediation and arbitration in order to properly resolving “Belt & Road” trade and investment disputes.

 

Mr. YE Jun said in his speech that since China became a UNCITRAL member state in 1983, China has been active in fulfilling its obligations under the New York Convention and most arbitral awards from signatories to the convention have been recognized and enforced by China. In the context of "Belt & Road", international arbitration under the guidance of the New York Convention and other international rules will further play its unique role as an effective dispute resolution mechanism.

 

The forum was divided into five sessions to discuss cross-border enforcement of arbitral awards under the New York Convention.

 

The first session was moderated by Mr. GUO Xiaowen, SCIA Council Member and Director of SCIA Expert Committee. Ms. Anna JOUBIN-BRET and Mr. LIU Xiaochun delivered keynote speeches respectively. 

 

 

Ms. Anna JOUBIN-BRET reviewed the drafting and signing of the New York Convention in her speech titled “the New York Convention as a Guide for UNCITRAL's Work". She pointed out that the New York Convention is not only an important tool for UNCITRAL and the United Nations, but also plays an important role in the globalization of international trade and investment. The New York Convention is a cornerstone of cross-border enforcement of arbitral awards and also a guide to the future resolution of international trade disputes. She then briefed the participants on the working mechanism of UNCITRAL, its member states and working groups. Ms. Anna JOUBIN-BRET closed her speech by emphasizing the leading role of UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules and the important contributions made by UNCITRAL to the wide application of the New York Convention. 

 

Mr. LIU Xiaochun reviewed the exploration and practice of Shenzhen in China’s international arbitration in his speech titled “the New York Convention and China’s International Arbitration”. He shared with the audience a SCIA milestone case with the first arbitral award rendered in Chinese Mainland and enforced overseas pursuant to the New York Convention; he also introduced to the audience SCIA’s innovations in arbitration rules during the new era of China’s reform and opening-up. Mr. LIU brought up six forward-looking questions for the cross-border enforcement of international arbitral awards in the context of “Belt & Road” and the construction of Guangdong, Hong Kong & Macao Great Bay Area. He also suggested that measures such as legislations or judicial interpretations could be adopted to deal with new problems of international arbitration in a more open-minded approach and that pilot projects could be conducted in specific regions such as the Guangdong, Hong Kong & Macau Great Bay Area.

 

 The second session focused on “the 60^th Anniversary of the New York Convention: History and Future”. This session was moderated by Ms. Anna JOUBIN-BRET. Mr. Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung, Mr. LIU Jingdong, Director of International Economic Law Department at the Institute for International Law Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Special Counselor of the PRC Supreme People's Court, Mr. LU Song, professor of China Foreign Affairs University and SCIA arbitrator, Mr. FAN Mingchao, Director of the ICC Arbitration & ADR of North Asia, and Mr. Minjung KIM, legal expert of UNCITRAL-RCAP delivered keynote speeches in this session.

 

 

 

 

 

The third session focused on "Belt & Road: the New York Convention and Judicial Courts ". This session was moderated by Professor HUANG Yaying, Dean of the Law School of Shenzhen University and SCIA Council Member. Ms. GAO Xiaoli, Deputy Chief Judge of the Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.4 of the PRC Supreme People’s Court, Mr. HOU Xianglei, Deputy Chief Judge of the Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.4 of the Guangdong Higher People’s Court, Ms. ZHU Ping, Deputy Chief Judge of the Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.4 of Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, and Ms. REN Mingyan, Judge of Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court, Justice Anselmo REYES, International Judge of Singapore International Commercial Court and SCIA arbitrator, Mr. CHEN Lei, Associate Dean &Associate Professor of the School of Law of City University of Hong Kong and SCIA arbitrator delivered keynote speeches in this session.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fourth session focused on “Belt & Road: the New York Convention and Arbitration Institutions” and moderated by Mr. Peter MALANCZUK, professor at the University of Hong Kong and SCIA Council Member. The panel discussion in this session was moderated by Mr. Matthew Gearing, Chairperson of HKIAC. The moderators had an in-depth discussion on cross-border recognition and enforcement of arbitral awardswith Mr. XI Xiangyang, Judge of the First Circuit Court of the PRC Supreme People’s Court, Mr. YAO Hongmin, Director of International Commercial Arbitration Research Center of Shanghai International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (SHIAC),Mr. Heehwan KWON, Acting Secretary General of Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB International) and Ms. Michelle Sunita KUMMAR, Senior Case Counsel of Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC).

 

 

 

 

 

This event was also the 8^th South China In-House Counsel Forum. As Chairman of the forum, Mr. YAO Jun, the Chief Legal Officer of Ping An Insurance (Group) Company and SCIA arbitrator, presided over the closing ceremony. Professor SHEN Sibao pointed out in his closing remarks that the New York Convention is not only a cornerstone of the entire international arbitration, but also a cornerstone of dispute resolution mechanism in the economic globalization. The New York Convention embodies two basic principles: first, the principle of rules —159 countries around the world observe one rule in the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards; second, the principle of globalization or multilateralism—foreign arbitral awards could be recognized and enforced world-wide through the New York Convention. These two basic principles shall be further promoted by SCIA, in close cooperation with the PRC Supreme People's Court and local courts of China, in the development of “Belt & Road" initiative.

 

This year witnessed the 40^th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up and the 35^th anniversary of SCIA’s establishment. This forum, focusing on “the 60^th Anniversary of the New York Convention and One Belt One Road”,provided great opportunities, not only for discussionsto jointly build and share a new international economic and trade order, but also for the retrospect and prospect of Shenzhen innovation in international arbitrationand Shenzhen construction of business environment under the rule of law. Shenzhen international arbitration is expected to seize opportunities of "Belt & Road" and the construction of Guangdong, Hong Kong & Macau Great Bay Area, adhere to innovation-driven development and benchmark itself against the global leading standards, accumulating experience for further internationalization of China’s arbitration and providing Shenzhen practice for China’s participation in drafting and improving international rules. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 UNCITRAL LinkdedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6402137716519104512