ZHOU Qiang : Resolving International Commercial Disputes in a Fair, Professional and Efficient Manner so as to Provide Strong Judicial Services for the Implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative
From: CICC Updated: 2018-08-26ZHOU Qiang Attended the First Seminar of the International Commercial Expert Committee of the Supreme People’s Court and Emphasized
Resolving International Commercial Disputes in a Fair, Professional and Efficient Manner so as to Provide Strong Judicial Services for the Implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative
Beijing, August 26 (reporter SUN Hang) This morning, the Supreme People’s Court officially established International Commercial Expert Committee of the Supreme People's Court and held its first seminar. ZHOU Qiang, Chief Justice and President of the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China attended the seminar, conferred the Appointment Letters to the Expert Committee members and made a keynote speech. ZHOU Qiang emphasized that it is necessary to give full play to the important role of the International Commercial Expert Committee, resolve international commercial disputes in a fair, professional and efficient manner, and strive to create a stable, impartial, transparent and predictable business environment under the rule of law, so as to provide better judicial services for promoting the implementation of Belt and Road Initiative and the construction of an open world economy.
ZHOU Qiang pointed out that the establishment of the international commercial dispute settlement mechanism and institutions, which accords with the national conditions and characteristics of the Belt and Road Initiative participating countries, is a major decision and deployment made by the CPC Central Committee with President Xi as its core, and a significant measure to strengthen international judicial exchanges and cooperation and provide fair and efficient judicial services and safeguard for the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. The establishment of the International Commercial Expert Committee of the Supreme People’s Court marks the progress of the construction of the Belt and Road international commercial dispute settlement mechanism and institutions, and a new chapter of serving the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative by people’s courts. It will certainly promote the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative and provide stronger legal support for high-level trade, investment liberalization and facilitation policies and an open world economy.
ZHOU Qiang stated that the establishment of the International Commercial Expert Committee meets the needs of resolving international commercial disputes in a fair, professional and efficient manner, which embodies the principle of “planning together, building together and benefit together”. Since the Belt and Road Initiative was put forward, trade and financial communication among different countries have been continually deepened, which urgently demands the improvement of foreign-related legal services. The expert members of the International Commercial Expert Committee come from walks of life and different countries and regions of their own legal systems, which covers a wide range and fully embodies the principle of “planning together, building together and benefiting together”. Through the International Commercial Expert Committee, an open and inclusive international platform is established where the members are able to overcome the obstacles caused by different legal systems of various countries by making good use of their expertise and advantages to safeguard the internationality and neutrality of the dispute settlement mechanism to the max, and to provide more efficient, convenient, faster and cost-effective solutions for the settlement of international commercial disputes.
ZHOU Qiang pointed out that the establishment of the International Commercial Expert Committee not only is the fruit of the reform and innovation, but also meets the needs of development of Chinese courts. In recent years, by reforming of the judicial system and strengthening the construction of “smart courts”, China has created a more open and transparent judicial system, realized a more standardized & unhindered exercise of the judicial power, achieved remarkable results in the construction of diversified dispute resolutions mechanism, which have provided good conditions for the establishment of the International Commercial Expert Committee. At present, as China is speeding up to establish a new open economy system and promoting an open world economy, Chinese courts need to further strengthen judicial cooperation, absorb outstanding experiences of rule of law at home and abroad, establish a dispute settlement mechanism that respects parties autonomy and provides “one-stop” service, and makes positive contribution to the construction of international commercial dispute settlement mechanism and formulation of the rules.
ZHOU Qiang expressed his three anticipations on the work of the International Commercial Expert Committee. Firstly, it is necessary to give full play to the important role of the Expert Committee. Members of the Expert Committee could be entrusted by the International Commercial Court to mediate international commercial disputes based on parties’ autonomy and provide advisory opinions to people’s courts on specialized legal issues. Members could also advice on the revision of the rules of International Commercial Court, development plans, judicial interpretations and judicial policies of the Supreme People's Court. Secondly, it is necessary to fully guarantee the efficient operation of the International Commercial Expert Committee, to improve the rules and regulations of Expert Committee, to establish and enhance the collaboration mechanism among the Expert Committee, the International Commercial Court, mediation and arbitration institutions, and to formulate effective working rules. It is necessary to invite more international renowned experts to join the Expert Committee to absorb their advice, and to provide more solid support so as to create a good environment for the expert members to carry out their work. Thirdly, it is necessary to constantly improve the working capacity of foreign-related judicial work. It is necessary to strengthen the construction of international judicial teams, and explore the establishment of legal talent pool of the Belt and Road Initiative participating countries. It is necessary to strengthen the level of informatization construction of foreign-related trials, establish a Belt and Road legal database with efficiency to provide intelligent services to judges and members of the Expert Committee. It is necessary to establish a cases database for further research in cases and for exchange and mutual learning. It is necessary to encourage and support studies on issues relating international commercial dispute settlement to generate a series of valuable output, and to convert such into practice.
ZHANG Jun, Assistant Minister of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the establishment of the International Commercial Expert Committee of the Supreme People's Court is not only an important institutional innovation in the Belt and Road international legal cooperation, but also is an important platform for communication and mutual learning among different legal systems and legal cultures, which will provide more solid legal support and institutional safeguard for all parties to participate in the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative.
LI Chenggang, Assistant Minister of Ministry of Commerce, said that the establishment of the International Commercial Expert Committee by the Supreme People’s Court promotes and constructs a diversified and functionally complementary dispute settlement mechanism that organically integrates litigation, mediation and arbitration, broadening the methods for the parties to resolve disputes, and is of great significance to the regulation of commercial transactions, the facilitation of cross-border enforcement of commercial disputes judgments and arbitral awards, and the promotion of international economic cooperation.
HUANG Jin, President of China University of Political Science and Law, Sir William Blair, former justice in charge of the Commercial Court of England and Wales, Rimsky Yuen, former Secretary for Justice of the HKSAR and Senior Counsel, delivered speeches at the inaugural ceremony as representatives of the members of the Expert Committee.
LUO Dongchuan, Justice of the Supreme People’s Court, presided over the inaugural ceremony of International Commercial Expert Committee, and announced The Decision on the Establishment of International Commercial Expert Committee of the Supreme People’s Court and The Decision on Appointment of the First Group of Members for the International Commercial Expert Committee. LU Pengqi, Vice President of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), LU Yong, Member of the Party Leadership Group of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC), WANG Junfeng, President of the All China Lawyers Association(ACLA), representatives from the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) and other relevant units, representatives of the members of the International Commercial Expert Committee, experts and scholars of the colleges, universities and research institutes at home and abroad, all judges of the China International Commercial Court (CICC) and officials of relevant departments of the Supreme People's Court attended the inaugural ceremony and the First Seminar.
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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.