Act of the People’s Republic of China on Application of Law in Civil Relations with Foreign Contacts

Abstract

On 28. 10. 2010, China promulgated the Act of the People’s Republic of China on Application of Law in Civil Relations with Foreign Contacts (ALA), which came into force in China’s Mainland on 1.4.2011. As the first choice-of-law act in the Mainland of People’s Republic of China, the ALA is a milestone in the development of Chinese private international law. The ALA systematises previous choice-of-law rules to a certain extent, but does not repeal all of them. The Act is remarkable for its brevity and lack of concrete solutions. The legislators have opted for generality, while leaving specific issues to the courts and in particular, to the Chinese Supreme People’s Court which is likely to issue interpretive instruments on the Act. Thus, the legislature has merely set the stage for the judiciary by providing a preliminary framework for future Chinese PIL. Within this framework, the ALA will have to interact with previous as well as future conflict rules. The present English translation presents the rules of the ALA.