On the morning of April 29th, the First International Commercial Court held a pretrial conference concerning the product liability dispute between the plaintiff Guangdong Bencao Medicine Group Co., Ltd., and the defendant Bruschettini S.R.L. (domiciled in Genoa, Italy)[the case number is (2019)ZuiGaoFaShangChu No.1]. This is the first pretrial conference held by the International Commercial Court in accordance with the Procedural Rules for the China International Commercial Court of the Supreme People's Court (For Trial Implementation).

The collegiate panel of the case is composed of five judges from the International Commercial Court: Judge Zhang Yongjian, Judge Gao Xiaoli, Judge Xi Xiangyang, Judge Sun Xiangzhuang and Judge Ding Guangyu. Judge Zhang Yongjian, the Person in Charge of the First International Commercial Court acted as the presiding judge and presided over the pretrial conference together with Judge Xi Xiangyang, another member of the collegial panel.

The two judges explained the "one-stop" dispute resolution mechanism and related rules of the International Commercial Court to both parties. Guang Dong Fair Strategy Law Firm acting for the plaintiff and Beijing Jun He Law Firm acting for the defendant consented on the pretrial mediation to be conducted by members of the International Commercial Expert Committee of the Supreme People's Court. The two parties expressed their opinions on the selection of the mediators, the time limit of the mediation, the date from which the mediation starts, the scope of the expert members to act as a mediator and the date of determination on the mediators. At the same time, for effectively handling the case, the two judges and the parties also broadly determined the date of hearing of the case if the mediation fails.

The innovative measure of the International Commercial Court to integrate litigation and mediation efficiently adheres to the principle of diversifying dispute resolution methods. External and global dispute resolution resources, including international commercial mediation institutions and members of International Commercial Expert Committee, are introduced into the mechanism, allowing the parties to jointly choose the mediation institution or expert members, which therefore guarantees the parties' participation and autonomy in the procedure and meets the demands of Chinese and foreign parties for a diversified dispute resolution. At the same time, a reasonable time limit for the mediation and relevant provisions that if the mediation fails a trial should be scheduled in time prevent the problem of lengthy mediation dragging on the ruling on a case, which improves the efficiency of international commercial dispute resolution, better protects the rights and interests of the parties, and responds to the expectations and needs of the business community.

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第一国际商事法庭就一起产品责任纠纷案件举行庭前会议

*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.