Chronology of Practice: Chinese Practice in Private International Law in 2016*

Abstract

This paper is composed of materials reflecting the practice of private international law in China in 2016. First, this paper covers the report of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released in 2017, notably the Report on the Work of the SPC in 2016, which contains the statistics of the foreign-related civil or commercial cases accepted and concluded by Chinese courts. Second, the paper covers judicial interpretations that took effect in 2016. The important legal instruments that have been translated include: the Provisions of the SPC on Several Issues concerning the Trials of Independent Guarantee Cases and the Provisions of the SPC on Several Issues concerning the Adjudication of Cases Occurring in the Sea Waters under China’s Jurisdiction (I). Third, this paper focuses on typical cases decided by various Chinese courts during 2016 that dealt with the following issues: agent ad litem; jurisdiction (involving representative office and forum non conveniens); choice of law (classification of legal relationship, gambling debt, loan contract); proof of foreign law; recognition and enforcement of a Singapore judgment; validity of the dispute resolution clause containing both litigation and arbitration; recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards (involving the review at the request of the party or ex officio review by the court, procedure review, qualification of arbitrator, division of arbitration costs, excess of authority and division of an arbitral award, and public policy).