Beijing Arbitration Commission

On June 6, 2013, the seminar of “Where China-related Arbitration to Go”, hosted by Beijing Arbitration Commission (hereinafter referred to as BAC) and organized by China Britain Law Institute (CBLI), was held successfully in the international conference hall of BAC. The seminar was presided over by Mr. Justin D' Agostino, Principal of Asian Dispute Team of Herbert Smith LLP, while Mr. CHEN Fuyong, Deputy Secretary-general of BAC, Ms. WANG Jie, Division Chief of China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), Mr. Friven Yeoh, Partner of Hong Kong Office of O’Melveny & Myers LLP, Ms. Helen H. SHI, Partner of Fangda Partners, and Mr. LIU Jing, Deputy Secretary-general of Hong Kong International Arbitration Center (HKIRC) were invited to be the guest speakers to discuss the practical issues encountered in the arbitration practice in China and the development direction of arbitration. Over 80 legal professionals at home and abroad who are  concerned about the development of dispute settlement in China attended the seminar.

Mr. Matthew Townsend	Mr. Justin D' Agostino

Mr. Matthew Townsend from CBLA first gave a speech in the seminar. Afterwards, the discussion was conducted in the seminar presided over by Mr. Justin D' Agostino with humor.

At the first stage of the seminar, the guest speakers proposed their opinions on the confusion of many arbitration practitioners about the current situation of Chinese arbitration, i.e. whether a Chinese party would make full use of arbitration in the dispute with a foreign party or would  fear the procedure. Most guests thought that in recent years, with the internationalized course of Chinese arbitration speeding up, the Chinese parties have  significantly improved cognition of international arbitration and more and more Chinese parties have begun to make use of such skills as filing counterclaims, disclosure of evidence and instituting litigation or arbitration in other regions at the same time. However, it needs to be mentioned that for most Chinese parties, it would be a great challenge as to how to make full use of their procedural rights in international arbitration in order to safeguard their legal rights and interests; meanwhile, there are not enough arbitrators and lawyers who can strive for fair competition  in international arbitration environment for Chinese parties. People of insight were called on to contribute to improving the internationalized level of Chinese arbitration.

Deputy Secretary-general CHEN Fuyong	Division Chief WANG Jie

At the second stage of the seminar, the guest speakers proposed different opinions on Arbitration-Mediation (hereinafter referred to as Arb-Med), a controversial international arbitration concept with Chinese characteristics. Some speakers pointed out that 90% of the parties under Arb-Med had chosen to resolve disputes by settlement. From the perspective of fairness, whether the dispute is resolved by ruling or by settlement, the interests of both parties could be farthest considered; and from the economic standpoint, the mode of Arb-Med could be timesaving and laborsaving. At the same time, there were some guest speakers questioning such a mode. They questioned whether an arbitrator acting as a mediator would affect the fairness, back-to-back mediation would result to disclosure of the confidential information of the parties, and some irrelevant evidences would be taken into consideration, which would cause panic to the relevant parties.

As to the above-mentioned queries proposed by the guest speakers, many domestic dispute settlement organizations have established relevant mechanisms to resolve them. For example, it is clearly provided in the Beijing Arbitration Commission Arbitration Rules that “where the mediation fails, the parties may apply to change the arbitrators with the reason of avoiding the arbitral awards to be affected by the mediation”. BAC has further established a set of completely independent mediation procedures. Meanwhile, in the mediation practice, some arbitration institutions prefer the usage of facilitative mediation rather than evaluative mediation.

Mr. Friven Yeoh	Ms. Helen H. SHI

At the third stage of the seminar, the guest speakers deeply analyzed the reasons why foreign corporations hold prejudice against Chinese arbitration, including the overall legal environment and the enforcement of arbitral awards and interlocutory injunction; and introduced some counter-measures positively taken by Chinese arbitration institutions. It was worth mentioning that relevant provisions in the latest amended Civil Procedure Law of China on preservative measures before arbitration would be a guarantee of the rights of relevant parties.

Deputy Secretary-general LIU Jing	Host and guest speakers

After communication, the participants agreed that the law education and training in China has developed rapidly in large cities over the past years, but needs to be promoted in small-medium cities; and some problems still exist in the judicial system of China. However, the participants held the opinion that the world will attach more concern to China-related arbitration in the future and the arbitration in China will develop towards a more competitive direction.

Questions by participants	Seminar site