Fashi [2006] No. 7, adopted at the 1,375th Meeting of the Judicial Committee of the SPC on December 26, 2005, promulgated and in effect on 8 September 2006. 

Pursuant to the provisions of the Arbitration Law of the People's Republic of China and the Civil Procedural Law of the People's Republic of China, etc, the interpretation of certain issues relating to the applicable law for hearings by the People's Court for cases which involve arbitration is hereby as follows: 

Article 1 An arbitration agreement in “other written format” described in Article 16 of the Arbitration Law includes any agreement requesting for arbitration in the form of a contract, letter and electronic text (including telegraph, telex, facsimile, electronic data exchange and electronic mail), etc. 

Article 2 Where the parties have included a subject matter of arbitration as the basis of the contractual dispute, any dispute arising as a result of the conclusion, validity, variation, transfer, performance, default, interpretation, rescission, etc, of the contract may be deemed as a subject matter of arbitration. 

Article 3 Where the name of the arbitration agency provided in the arbitration agreement is inaccurate but identifiable, the arbitration agency shall be deemed selected. 

Article 4 Where an arbitration agreement only provides the applicable arbitration rules, it shall be deemed that no arbitration agency is stipulated under the arbitration agreement, unless the parties have concluded a supplementary agreement, or an arbitration agency may be determined pursuant to the arbitration rules provided. 

Article 5 Where an arbitration agreement provides for two or more arbitration agencies, the parties may agree on the selection of one agency for arbitration; where the parties are unable to agree on the choice of an arbitration agency, the arbitration agreement shall be invalid. 

Article 6 Where an arbitration agreement provides for arbitration to be submitted with an arbitration agency at a fixed locality and only one arbitration agency exists at that locality, that arbitration agency shall be deemed as the arbitration agency stipulated under the arbitration agreement. Where there are two or more arbitration agencies at that locality, the parties may agree on the selection of one of the agencies for arbitration; where the parties concerned are unable to agree on the choice of an arbitration agency, the arbitration agreement shall be invalid. 

Article 7 Where the parties agree that a dispute may be submitted for arbitration with an arbitration agency or filed with the People's Court 

for commencement of legal proceedings, the arbitration agreement shall be invalid, unless one party has submitted an arbitration application to an arbitration agency but the other party failed to object within the time limit stipulated in the second paragraph of Article 20 of the Arbitration Law. 

Article 8 Where a party is merged or divided upon the conclusion of an arbitration agreement, the arbitration agreement shall bind all successors to the rights and obligations of the party. Where the death of a party occurred after the conclusion of an arbitration agreement, the arbitration agreement shall bind the party's successor who succeeds the rights and obligations to the subject matter of arbitration. 

The provisions in the preceding paragraphs shall not apply where the parties have agreed otherwise in the arbitration agreement. 

Article 9 An arbitration agreement shall bind a transferee of any creditor rights and debts transferred whether in whole or in part, unless the parties agreed otherwise, or where the transferee clearly objected or was unaware of the existence of a separate arbitration agreement at the time of the transfer. 

Article 10 Where a concluded contract has not taken effect or has been revoked, the provisions in the first paragraph of Article 19 of the Arbitration Law shall apply in the determination of the arbitration agreement's validity. 

Where the parties reach an arbitration agreement at the time when they agree to contract, the validity of the arbitration agreement shall not be affected by the contract that has not yet been concluded. 

Article 11 Where the contract provides that a valid arbitration clause of another contract or document shall apply in the resolution of a dispute arising from the first mentioned contract, the parties shall apply for arbitration pursuant to such an arbitration clause in the event of a contractual dispute. 

Where a foreign related contract is governed by the arbitration provision of a relevant international treaty, the parties shall apply for arbitration pursuant to the arbitration provision in the international treaty in the event of a contractual dispute. 

Article 12 Where a party applies to the People's Court to determine the validity of an arbitration agreement, the case shall come under the jurisdiction of the intermediate People's Court at the location of the arbitration agency described in the arbitration agreement; where the arbitration agreement fails to describe an arbitration agency clearly, the case shall come under the jurisdiction of the intermediate People's Court at the location where the arbitration agreement was concluded, or the place of residence of the respondent. 

Where a party applies for the determination of validity of a foreign related arbitration agreement, the case shall come under the jurisdiction of the intermediate People's Court at the location of the arbitration agency described in the arbitration agreement, or the location where the arbitration agreement was concluded, or the place of residence of the applicant or respondent. 

Where a party applies for the determination of validity of an arbitration agreement involving maritime or maritime commerce disputes, the case shall come under the jurisdiction of the maritime court at the location of the arbitration agency described in the arbitration agreement, or the location where the arbitration agreement was concluded, or the place of residence of the applicant or respondent; where no maritime court is established at the said locations, the case shall come under the jurisdiction of the nearest maritime court. 

Article 13 Pursuant to the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 20 of the Arbitration Law, where a party has not objected to the validity of an arbitration agreement before the opening session of hearings conducted by the arbitral tribunal, but the party subsequently applies to the People's Court to determine the invalidity of the arbitration agreement, the People's Court shall not hear such a case. 

Where an arbitration agency has decided on the validity of an arbitration agreement and a party subsequently applies to the People's Court to determine the validity the arbitration agreement or overturn the decision of the arbitration agency, the People's Court shall not hear such a case. 

Article 14 The opening session of hearings mentioned in Article 26 of the Arbitration Law shall mean the first session of arbitral hearings organised by the People's Court after the period for pleadings has expired and it shall not include the activities in pre-hearing procedures. 

Article 15 The People's Court shall, in the determination of validity of arbitration agreement hearings, form a collegiate bench to conduct case hearings and examine the parties concerned. 

Article 16 The governing law for a determination of validity of a foreign related arbitration agreement shall be the governing law as agreed between the parties; where the parties have agreed on the place of arbitration but not the governing law, the law of the place shall apply to the arbitration; where the parties have not agreed on both the governing law and the place of arbitration or where agreement on the place of arbitration is unclear, the law of the place where the court is located shall apply. 

Article 17 Where a party applies to overturn an arbitral award by reason of an event that is not stipulated in Article 58 of the Arbitration Law or Article 260 of the Civil Procedural Law,  the People's Court shall not grant any support to such an application. 

Article 18 The phrase “no arbitration agreement” mentioned in Item (1) of the first paragraph of Article 58 of the Arbitration Law shall mean the parties did not enter into an arbitration agreement. An arbitration agreement that is deemed invalid or is being revoked shall also be deemed as a case of having “no arbitration agreement”. 

Article 19 Where a party applies for an arbitral award to be overturned by reason that the subject matter of the arbitral award is outside the scope of the arbitration agreement, the People's Court shall overturn that specific content part in the arbitral award that is outside the scope of the agreement where the claim is verified to be true. Where the specific content part in the arbitral award that is outside the scope of the arbitration agreement cannot be severed from other matters in the arbitral award, the People's Court shall overturn the arbitral award. 

Article 20 The phrase “contravention of statutory procedures” mentioned in Article 58 of the Arbitration Law shall mean circumstances where the arbitration procedures contravene provisions in the Arbitration Law and where arbitration rules selected by parties may affect the correct ruling of a case. 

Article 21 Under any of the circumstances where a party applies to revoke an arbitral award in China, the People's Court may, pursuant to the provisions of Article 61 of the Arbitration Law, notify the arbitral tribunal to conduct a new round of arbitration: 

(1) the arbitral award is based on forged evidence; or 

(2) the counterparty has concealed evidence which affects a fair ruling. 

The People's Court shall state the specific reasons for a new round of arbitration in the notice. 

Article 22 Where an arbitral tribunal conducts a new round of arbitration pursuant to the period stipulated by the People's Court, the People's Court shall rule on the suspension of overturning procedures; where the arbitral tribunal does not conduct a new round of arbitration, the People's Court shall rule on the reinstatement of overturning procedures. 

Article 23 A party that does not accept the new arbitral award may apply to the People's Court pursuant to the provisions of Article 58 of the Arbitration Law within six months from the date of delivery of the new arbitral award to overturn the award. 

Article 24 Where a party applies to overturn an arbitral award, the People's Court shall form a collegiate bench to conduct hearings and examine the parties concerned. 

Article 25 Where the People's Court accepts an application by one party to overturn an arbitral award and the other party subsequently applies for the enforcement of the arbitral award which is also accepted by the People's Court, the People's Court shall rule on setting aside enforcement upon acceptance of the enforcement application. 

Article 26 The People's Court shall not support a party that pleads for a suspension of enforcement of the arbitral award in the enforcement proceedings by quoting the same reasons used in the same party's rejected application for overturning an arbitral award. 

Article 27 The People's Court shall not support a party that subsequently asserts the overturn of an arbitral award by reason of invalidity of the arbitration agreement, or makes a plea for the suspension of enforcement of the arbitral award when the party has not objected to the validity of an arbitration agreement during arbitration proceedings. 

The People's Court shall support a party that has objected to the validity of an arbitration agreement during arbitration proceedings and subsequently asserts the overturn of the arbitral award by reason of the objection, following the arbitral award made or a plea made for the suspension of enforcement of the arbitral award, provided the assertion is verified to comply with the provisions of Article 58 of the Arbitration Law or Article 217 and Article 260 of the Civil Procedural Law. 

Article 28 The People's Court shall support a party that requests for the non-enforcement of an arbitral conciliation document or an arbitral award made pursuant to a settlement agreement between the parties. 

Article 29 The application by a party to enforce of an arbitral award shall come under the jurisdiction of the intermediate People's Court at the place of residence of the party against whom the award is being enforced or at the location of the property against whom the award is being enforced. 

Article 30 The People's Court may, pursuant to the actual requirements of the hearing for an application for the overturn or enforcement of an arbitral award, require the arbitration agency to explain or to submit the arbitration case file for perusal. 

A ruling that is made by the People's Court in the process of handling a case which involves arbitration may be forwarded to the relevant arbitration agency. 

Article 31 This Interpretation shall be implemented from the date of promulgation. 

Where there is any inconsistency between this Interpretation and previously promulgated judicial interpretations, this Interpretation shall prevail. 

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最高人民法院关于适用《中华人民共和国仲裁法》若干问题的解释 

*The original text is Chinese and has been translated into English for reference only. If there is any inconsistency or ambiguity between the Chinese version and the English version, the Chinese version shall prevail.