Beijing Arbitration Commission

　　On June 14, Beijing Arbitration Commission (hereinafter referred to as “BAC”) and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (hereinafter referred to as IALS) jointly held “Unlocking the Intricacies of Commercial Dispute Resolution in China” in London, UK and published the Annual Review on Commercial Dispute Resolution in China (2013) (hereinafter referred to as the Report). 

The forum brought together more than 20 experts from China and the UK, including experts and scholars from famous universities, senior partners of world- renowned law firms and Queen’s Counsels (QCs), who were engaged in an in-depth discussion about the commercial dispute resolution in China. 

Ms. Melanie Willems from Chadbourne & Parke Law Firm hosted the opening ceremony of the forum, and Ms. WANG Hongsong, Vice-Chairperson of BAC, delivered the opening speech. Mr. Jules Winterson, Deputy Director & Chief Librarian of IALS, and The Hon. Mr. Justice Blair, Judge of the Technology and Construction Court, High Court of Justice, delivered their speeches in succession. Afterwards, the forum held five sessions successively regarding commercial arbitration, commercial mediation, construction engineering, intellectual property and financial dispute resolution according to the sequence of contents of the Report.

Mr. John Marrin, QC of Keating Chambers, hosted the commercial arbitration session. Dr. CHEN Fuyong, Deputy Secretary-general of BAC, introduced the latest legislations and practice progress of arbitration in China on the basis of the sub-report Annual Review on Commercial Arbitration in China (2013) and in light of the revision of Civil Procedure Law, and made analysis of the environment for judicial supervision of commercial arbitration in China based on the judicial supervision of arbitration in China and the statistics of BAC’s cases. Subsequently, Dr. Stuart Dutson, Partner of Eversheds LLP, and The Hon. Mr. Justice Blair made comments and thought highly of the new progress of relevant legislations on arbitration and the continuous improvement of judicial supervision environment for  arbitration in China.

The commercial mediation session was hosted by Ms. Ana Stanic, the founding Partner of E&A Law Limited. Mr. Robert Lambert, Head of International Arbitration Department of Clifford Chance LLP, first sketched the sub-report Annual Review on Commercial Mediation in China (2013), then summarized and analyzed the latest development of mediation system, mediation organization construction and training and seminars of 2012 in China with the reform of dispute resolution mechanisms in China as the background. As a commenter, Dr. Karl Mackie, Chief Executive of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (“CEDR”), believed that the commercial mediation in China had achieved outstanding and conspicuous achievements in the past year and was positive about its future development.

Mr. Atkin Burr, Barrister of Atkin Chambers, Editor-in-chief of Construction Law Journal and an arbitrator of BAC, hosted the construction engineering dispute resolution session. Ms. TAN Jinghui, the editorial writer of the sub-report Annual Review on Construction Engineering Dispute Resolution in China (2013), Managing Partner of City Development (Beijing) Law Firm and an arbitrator of BAC, first analyzed the development trend, legal environment and legislative trends of construction engineering industry in China, and then summarized relevant cases, laws and regulations and main forms for the resolution of construction engineering disputes. Mr. David Robertson, Partner of BLP LLP, and The Hon. Mr. Justice Ramsey, Judge of the Queen’s Bench Division, High Court of Justice, made comments and expressed their opinions that with the further development of Chinese economy, there would be more complicated and diversified commercial disputes in construction engineering industry and continuous improvement of relevant legislation and practice in China would favor the dispute resolution in such field.

The intellectual property dispute resolution session was hosted by Mr. Anthony Connerty, Barrister of Lamb Chambers and an arbitrator of BAC. Dr. XIE Guanbin, the founding Partner of Lifang & Partners and the editorial writer of the sub-report Annual Review on Intellectual Property Dispute Resolution in China (2013), systematically summarized the amendments to the Copyright Law, the Patent Law, and the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China, and introduced the famous intellectual property cases that had attracted wide attention in 2012. Afterwards, Mr. Tom Carver, Chief Representative of Wragge & Co LLP Guangzhou Office, made comments and expressed the opinion that the amendments to relevant legislations in China had demonstrated further improvement on protecting intellectual property right, and the intellectual property dispute resolution in China would have a more broad and promising future.

The financial dispute resolution session was hosted by Mr. CHEN Sheng, Deputy Division Chief of the Financial Innovation and Regulation Department of China Banking Regulatory Commission and an arbitrator of BAC. Ms. XIAO Fang, the editorial writer of the sub-report Annual Review on Financial Dispute Resolution in China (2013) and Associate Professor of the Law School of Central University of Finance and Economics, reviewed the diversified current status of financial dispute resolution in China from the perspective of lawsuit, arbitration and mediation, and specially introduced the legislation and supervision on financial consumer rights protection - the newly emerged dispute resolution field. Mr. Jonathan Pfister, Associate of DAHUI LAWYERS, as the commenter, expressed his confidence in the prospect of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism in China and believed that the future development of China’s financial industry would benefit from the diversified dispute resolution pattern.

 The closing ceremony was hosted by Mr. Michael Kor, Barrister-at-law of Middle Temple, Solicitor of Supreme Court, England & Wales, Advocate & Solicitor of Supreme Court, Singapore. The Rt. Hon. Jack Straw, MP, former Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, delivered the closing speech. He highly praised the forum and the Report for its unique perspective, rich content and high value in study and practice; what’s more, he praised this forum for providing a valuable chance for authoritative experts from China and UK to jointly interpret the development of commercial dispute resolution of 2012 in China and gain an insight into the legal environment in China. At the same time, he also expressed his heartfelt respect to BAC and IALS for their efforts in facilitating the commercial dispute resolution in China and deepening the international communication in the field.

It is learnt that IALS is a research institution affiliated to the University of London, aiming to provide the researchers with excellent facilities and resources. The most important mission of IALS is to become the center of legal studies in the UK. IALS owns a national-level law library, and holds all kinds of seminars and lectures open to the public from time to time. 

LIN Zhiwei, Secretary-general of BAC, told the reporter of Legal Daily that the forum was held for the first time. The Report is written and the forum is held for the following three purposes: first, providing the world with a window to know the development of commercial dispute resolution in China; second, building a platform for communication regarding commercial dispute resolution in China for Chinese and overseas scholars; third, hoping to attract Chinese and overseas experts, scholars and professionals who are concerned about, pay attention to and  provide support for commercial dispute resolution in China to cooperate with BAC, so as to jointly promote the development of commercial dispute resolution in China.