Comments on the Supreme People’s Court’s Interpretation No. 1 on the Private International Law Act of the PRC

Abstract

In January 2013 the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) published its first judicial interpretation on the 2010 Private International Law Act (PILA). The main aims of this Interpretation are to clarify the meaning of several rules, to facilitate judicial practice and to enhance legal security in private international law contexts. In order to achieve this, the Interpretation contains rather detailed provisions, often directly addressing certain issues that raised concerns among the courts when applying the PILA. In addition, the SPC went beyond simple explanation and also created a number of rules that could not be found in the Act. These cases mostly concern issues that had been discussed by the legislator and among academia before the enactment of the PILA, but which were finally not included. The article will show that despite several points of critique, the SPC has successfully engaged in finding solutions to existing deficiencies or potential problems in the PILA.