Recently, the fifth "Eastern Economic Forum" was held in Vladivostok, Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir, Chinese Vice Premier Chunhua Hu and more than 8500 representatives from 65 countries attended the forum. Upon invitation by Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Yuri Trutnev, designation by the China Law Society and approval by the Supreme People's Court, Professor Wenhua Shan, Expert Member of the Supreme People's Court International Commercial Expert Committee (ICEC) and Dean of the Xi'an Jiaotong University School of Law, participated and spoke at the forum. 

At the forum, Professor Wenhua Shan delivered a speech entitled “China International Commercial Court—An Integrated Dispute Resolution System” at the “Improving National Legal Environment and Protecting Investors’ Rights” seminar, which was one of the most important standing seminars of the Eastern Economic Forum since its launch by President Putin in 2015.  Prosecutor-General of the Russian Federation Yury Chayka, Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov and other senior legal officials of Russia attended the seminar. The heads of some largest Russian multinational enterprises and leading law firms also joined the discussion. Professor Wenhua Shan was the only international speaker that was arranged to sit at the stage.

In his presentation, Professor Wenhua Shan elaborated the background, features, progress and prospects of the China International Commercial Court  (CICC) of the Supreme People’s Court along with its “one-stop shop” dispute settlement platform, as well as the latest developments in the construction of a “Belt and Road” International Commercial Legal Services Demonstration Zone in Xi'an City of Shaanxi Province, with support from the Supreme People's Court. In particular, Professor Wenhua Shan commended the rapid progress that had been made by the CICC since its establishment in June 2018, with not only the main supporting rules and mechanisms having been put in place, but also the first batch of international commercial cases having been heard. Regarding the features, he highlighted the “one-stop” and diversified dispute settlement platform being created by the Supreme People’s Court was the first of its kind to truly integrate “three horses” of international disputes—litigation, arbitration and mediation, into a “troika”. This three-in-one “integrated dispute resolution (IDR)” solution can be said to be an important and unique contribution of China to the development of the world dispute settlement system, and has the potential to lead global trend in international commercial dispute resolution.

To further enhance the IDR system, Professor Wenhua Shan also offered his suggestions. First, the scope of jurisdiction should be further clarified and expanded: On the one hand, the “substantial connection” requirement underlying the current CICC jurisdiction should be amended, so as to ensure that the CICC may accept purely "international" commercial cases even where there is no substantial connection with China; On the other hand, CICC should actively consider engaging international investment cases, including investment disputes between host countries and investors.

Second, the role of Expert Committee should be further substantiated for commercial dispute settlement. The Expert Committee is a most significant innovation of the CICC and has attracted the greatest attention in international communities of dispute resolution. At present, the committee plays a limited role as its specified operational function is only limited to pre-trial mediation. Bearing in mind the 20-day time limit for pre-trial mediation, the Expert Committee's actual space for operation is even more qualified. To make full use of the expertise of the ICEC expert members, ways should be explored to facilitate their works for the CICC, including more directly and substantially engaging them in dispute resolution operations such as mediation and arbitration. Substantiating the role of the ICEC should also help significantly expand the influence and reputation of the CICC in the world dispute settlement communities.

Third, the coordination among different modes should be further enhanced to create a full IDR platform. The CICC, with its "one-stop" dispute resolution mechanism, should be a platform for international commercial dispute resolution that puts together the best resources in arbitration, mediation and litigation. Within the platform, parties could switch freely and seamlessly between different dispute resolution modes and institutions. For this purpose, a case and fees sharing mechanism should be established for the IDR platform. Its ultimate goal should be to best serve the parties to the disputes and to strive to offer the best dispute resolution services at the lower costs. 

To this end, Professor Shan proposed that Chinese courts should deepen cooperation with courts and other dispute settlement institutions from countries along and beyond the “Belt and Road Initiative”, including exploring the possibilities of engaging them in the CICC IDR system. 

According to the moderator Mr Stanislav Alexandrov, Chief of Staff of the Russian Association of Lawyers, following the established practice of the forum, opinions and suggestions of the speakers delivered at the forum will be compiled into a volume and be submitted to the President's Office for reference.

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*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.