Fafa [1995] No. 18, promulgated by the Supreme People's Court on August 20, 1995, and effective on August 28, 1995; revised by the decision of the SPC on “Adjusting the Article Number Order of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China in Judicial Interpretations and other Documents”, promulgated on December 16, 2008, effective on December 31, 2008.

To high people's courts and PLA military courts of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government：

In order to strictly implement the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and relevant international treaties that China has entered into, and guarantee the legality of litigious and arbitral activities, we hereby decide to establish a reporting system for such issues as the acceptance of foreign-related economic dispute cases by a people's court, refusal to execute foreign-related arbitral awards, denial of and refusal to implement foreign arbitral awards, etc. To that end, we hereby notify as follows：

1. With respect to any foreign-related, or Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan-related economic or maritime dispute cases filed to a people's court, if the parties involved have included an arbitration clause in the contract or have concluded an arbitration agreement afterwards, and if the people's court considers the arbitration clause or the arbitration agreement null, void or unclear to the extent of being non-executable, the people's court, before deciding to accept the lawsuit filed by a party concerned, must report to the high people's court that covers its jurisdiction for examination; if the high people's court agrees to the acceptance, it shall report to the Supreme People's Court on its examination opinions. Before the Supreme People's Court gives its reply, the people's court may dismiss the lawsuit on temporary basis.

2. [Revised 2008]   Where a party concerned applies to a people's court for the execution of an arbitral award made by a domestic foreign-related arbitration institution, or for the acknowledgement and execution of an arbitral award made by a foreign arbitration institution, if the people's court considers that the arbitral award made by the arbitration institution in China falls under any case described in Article 258 of the Civil Procedure Law,  or if the foreign arbitral award in question fails to conform to the international conventions China has entered into, or fails to comply with the principle of mutual benefit, the people's court must report to the high people's court of the jurisdiction concerned for examination before making a ruling of non-execution or refusal of recognition and execution. If the high people's court agrees to non-execution or refusal of recognition and execution, it shall report its examination opinions to the Supreme People's Court. Only after the Supreme People's Court gives its reply can the ruling of non-execution or refusal of recognition and execution be made.

Related Links:
最高人民法院关于人民法院处理与涉外仲裁及外国仲裁事项有关问题的通知

*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.