Supreme People’s Court, April 6, 1997 Fa［1997］No. 120

High people's courts of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government:

According to what we have learnt, the people's courts of some regions have decided to vacate arbitral awards on the grounds that the service of the arbitral awards exceeded the specified time limit, did not comply with the arbitration procedure and violates the provisions of the “Notice on Further Improving Work Related to the Reorganization of Arbitration Institutions” promulgated by the General Office of the State Council (Guo Ban Fa [1995] 38, “Document Guo Ban Fa [1995] No. 38”).

For the purpose of Article 3 of Document Guo Ban Fa [1995] No. 38, the six-month time limit refers to the time limit for an arbitration institution to make an arbitral award and does not include the time required to serve the award. If a court decides to vacate an arbitral award because the service thereof takes more than six months and therefore does not comply with the arbitration proceedings and Document Guo Ban Fa [1995] No. 38, that decision shall be deemed to lack a legal basis and to be detrimental to the protection of the parties’ lawful rights and interests. Therefore, if people's courts find any of the aforementioned problems in their trial work, they shall in a timely manner make corrections in accordance with the law. 

Related Links:
最高人民法院关于不得以裁决书送达超过期限而裁定撤销仲裁裁决的通知

*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.