Publish time: Sun Feb 12 23:17:12 CST 2017
On January 20 2017, the 2016 Work Report Conference of the Beijing Arbitration Commission / Beijing International Arbitration Center (the “BAC”) was successfully held at the BAC international conference hall. Prof. Liang Huixing, Chairperson of the BAC, Madame Wang Hongsong and Prof. Che Pizhao, Vice-Chairpersons of the BAC, Mr. Wang Aimin and Prof. Li Renyu, Committee Members of the BAC, Mr. Lin Zhiwei, Secretary General of the BAC, Mr. Fei Zongyi, Mr. Yao Zhuang and Prof. Wei Yaorong, the BAC honorary arbitrators, and Mr. Liu Zhengang, Director of the Legal Affairs Office of Beijing Municipal Government, attended the conference along with more than 130 arbitrators and staffs of the BAC. The conference was moderated by Mr. Che Pizhao, Vice-Chairperson of the BAC and Professor of the Tsinghua University.
 |
 |
| Prof. Che Pizhao | |
“A greeting to the early warmth, a farewell to the fading coldness, the rooster is singing in early spring; a celebration forthe coming festival, an eagerness for the Lunar New Year, the BAC boomed for another year again – Early spring rewardsthe diligent only”. Prof. Che Pizhao drafted a pair of poetic couplets for the conference, and then started to moderate the event with cheer and passion. He delivered sincere thanks to the BAC management and honorary arbitrators for their lasting support to the BAC, and extended warm greetings to the BAC arbitrators and staffs who have been engaged in arbitration practice for many years.
Thereafter, Mr. Lin Zhiwei, Secretary General of the BAC, presented the work report of 2016 to the attendees. In the year 2016, the BAC had a steady growth in its caseload and a new record figure in the disputed amount. There were 3,012 arbitration cases accepted throughout the year, an increase of 68 cases compared with the figure of 2015, with the disputed amount of 46.59 billion RMB, an increase of 5.48 billion RMB. Among such cases, there were 75 cases with more than 0.1 billion RMB in dispute, an increase of 20 cases compared with that of 2015 (by 36.40%), totaling 33.84 billion RMB, an increases of 4.7 billion RMB than that of 2015. The BAC’s caseload newly registered in 2016 covered a wide scope of disputes, where the amount of international commercial arbitration remained stable, and domestic cases with parties from places other than Beijing experienced a steady rise. Dispute categories mainly included sales contract disputes (25.96%), investment & financial contract disputes (22.97%), construction & engineering contract disputes (11.88%), with certain increase in franchising, information & internet, intellectual property and new type contract disputes.69 international commercial arbitrations were accepted in 2016, an increase of 17 cases over 2015, accounting for 2.29% of the total caseload, with the overall disputed amount of 4.88 billion RMB and on average 70.72 million RMB per case. Among domestic arbitrations, there were 1,816 cases involving at least one party from places other than Beijing, accounting for 61.71%, namely, more than half of the BAC’s domestic cases; and 442 cases where both parties were non-Beijing entities, an increase of 45 cases over 2015 and accounting for 15.02% of the domestic cases. Throughout the year, the BAC kept a short duration on average for case handling, a high ratio of case closing and settlement, and a high quality of its dispute resolution services. 2,917 arbitrations were closed in 2016, with an increase of 492 cases over 2015 at a growth rate of 20.29%. The average case closing time is 94 days. Among those closed cases, 1,887 cases were closed with arbitral awards, about 64.69% of the total, 375 cases were closed by way of mediation, about 12.86% of the total, and 655 cases were closed due to withdrawals of claims by the parties, about 22.45% of the total (among which 397 cases were closed before the formation of arbitral tribunals, and thus arbitral tribunals were formed in 86.39% of the total cases). No BAC arbitral award was set aside in 2016, and only 1 arbitral award met non-enforcement.
Meanwhile, in 2016 the BAC proactively promoted its brand building, and gradually formalized its own marketing event series, with international events specifically highlighted and well received. The 2016 Summits on Commercial Dispute Resolution in China held in the UK, Germany, Netherland and Hong Kong focused on dialogues and exchanges between dispute resolution leaders, widely sharing the sound experience of the Chinese dispute resolution industry and authoritative interpretation of the Chinese commercial environment as well as the rules and practice of the Chinese dispute resolution practice. The BAC also attended the 23rd International Council for Commercial Arbitration (the “ICCA”) Congress as the Gold Sponsor of this congress and the only exhibitor from China, and highlighted features of the Chinese dispute resolution industry,with international standards and from multiple perspectives. Apart from that, during the past year, the BAC continued to refine its research platform, raised the pertinency of its practical trainings, explored the specialization of its research projects, and harvested a number of research achievements that have effectively heightened the BAC’s brand awareness. With respect to its internal management, the BAC endeavored to reform and improve its organizational structure, personnel assignment, work system and performance assessment, and strengthened its staffs’ sense of responsibility and mission by way of multidimensional and comprehensive management and incentive systems, doing whatever it could to build a hardworking, pressure resistant, collaborative and high-qualified staff team.
In summary, with the sincere cooperation and joint endeavor of its arbitrators and staffs, the BAC has experienced a fruitful year in 2016 in case handling, marketing, research, internal management.
 |
 |
| Mr. Lin Zhiwei | |
When elaborating the BAC’s work plan for the year of 2017, Mr. Lin pointed out that despite the BAC’s strong momentum of development in recent years, it should be noticed that with a growing marketing efforts of foreign arbitration institutions in China, the emerging opening up policy toward foreign arbitration institutions’ market access, the increasingly severe competition among arbitration institutions, and the ever-growing new type disputes arising from the economic restructuring under the background of the implementation of the Belt and Road strategy and the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the parties would have higher expectation for the BAC’s capability and service of dispute resolution. This means a new opportunity for the development of the BAC or even China, and meanwhile no small challenge. Therefore, to keep improving the BAC’s dispute resolution capability and service level so as to meet the market requirement is what the BAC’s various efforts should be focused on in 2017 and a period of time thereafter. At last, Mr. Lin expressed delightful greetings for the Lunar New Year to the audience on behalf of all the BAC staffs.
 |
 |
| BAC Committee members, arbitrators and staffs | |
Next, Ms. Ren Xiujuan, GM of Legal Dept. of the Longfor Group, Mr. Gao Feng, Partner of Grandall Law Firm, Ms. Yang Min, Vice-President of the Bank of East Asia (China) Limited Beijing Branch, Mr. Wang Jialu, Partner of Commerce & Finance Law Offices, made speeches respectively as the BAC arbitrators’ representatives. They unanimously affirmed and appreciated the BAC’s encouraging achievements in 2016. Ms. Ren shared her happiness of “embracing the institution and embraced by the institution” based on her own experience as a BAC arbitrator, and raised pertinent suggestions on how the BAC could give full play of its advantages in traditional dispute resolution areas such as construction and real estate so as to meet the new requirements of such industries in the new era. Mr. Gao stressed the importance of pre-hearing preparations for arbitrators, shared his hearing experience as arbitrator as to commercial arbitration’s respect of party autonomy and the finality of arbitral awards, and advised on how the BAC arbitrators team on Aviation Law could organize and conduct marketing events and practical research within the general aviation industry by analyzing the latest news and development trends of the general aviation industry.Ms. Yang referred to her extensive experience in dealing with internet finance related disputes and analyzed the value orientation the arbitral tribunal should keep when hearing such cases from perspectives of the complexity of financial products, the DD investigation and risk control of financial institutions, the social responsibility of financial institutions, and emphasized the features and advantages of commercial arbitration for financial cases such as flexibility and high efficiency. Mr. Wang passionately shared his experience of offering the course of Contract Law Practice in the Peking University Law School for 8 successive years jointly with Madame Wang Hongsong and Prof. Deng Feng who is also a BAC arbitrator, and the course has become the favorite course of the Law School students, which well interpreted the BAC’s persistence and endeavors in cultivating dispute resolution talents, not only for the BAC, but also for the nation.
 |
 |
| Ms. Ren Xiujuan | Mr. Gao Feng |
 |
 |
| Ms. Yang Min | Mr. Wang Jialu |
Following the four arbitrators’ speeches, Mr. Liu Zhengang delivered an address to the audience. He firstly conveyed greetings to the BAC arbitrators, staffs and all the audience on behalf of the Legal Affairs Office of Beijing Municipal Government, and then shared the efforts of the Legal Affairs Office jointly with the BAC in promoting the development of Beijing’s commercial arbitration industry during 2016. The first sample is the active promotion of the BAC’s Belt and Road arbitration plan, and the adoption of such plan into the blueprint of the Belt and Road work plan of the Beijing municipality reported to the central government. The second one is the active promotion of the BAC’s bidding for the ICCA congress and reporting to the Beijing municipal government of the progress thereof. The third one is the reception of the Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Law of Singapore (MLS) Han Kok Juanand his delegation jointly with Madame Wang Hongsong, and the reinforcement of the tie and exchange with famous international arbitration institutions. The fourth one is the thorough implementation of the Party’s strict self-discipline principle, with support and assistance to the BAC for its party members’ team building as well as positive suggestions aiming at the BAC’s healthy development. Mr. Liu also provided constructive opinions for the BAC’s work plan in the 2017 on the team building of case managers, the effects of marketing works, the quality of arbitral awards, the arbitrators’ integrity. He said that it is important for the BAC to take effective measures to implement these works, and to constantly polish and improve the quality of arbitral awards, to enhance the professional capability and service level, and to keep the professional integrity. The BAC is expected to emerge from its arbitration practice, and to lead the healthy development of the Chinese and even international arbitration industry.
 |
 |
| Mr. Liu Zhengang | |
At the end of the event, Prof. Liang Huixing delivered an impressive closing speech. He appreciated the achievements the BAC won during 2016, and gave thanks for the efforts and endeavors of all the BAC committee members, arbitrators and staffs. He stressed that arbitrator is the lifeline of arbitration and the essential guarantee of arbitration’s credibility, and the BAC arbitrators, staffs and the BAC have a shared future, so all the arbitrators and staffs shall commit to the BAC’s credibility, always stay alert, strictly keep their professional integrity, and be a dignified arbitration professional. Prof. Liang then gave expectations to all the BAC arbitrators and staffs from three aspects:
The first one is to stick to the doctrine that everything has two aspects. Nobody is perfect. Despite the satisfactory achievements, the BAC unavoidably has its imperfections, and thus the BAC arbitrators and staffs are expected not only to strive for success, to bring forth innovations, to collect rewards and to summarize experiences, but also to have self-examination, to find out shortcomings, to face problems and to continuously improve their services.
The second one is to continue the in-house construction. The aim of “enhancing arbitration’s credibility and improving the arbitration system” raised in 4th Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Party is a fundamental requirement for arbitration. The BAC is expected to play an exemplary role in this regard, and all its arbitrators and staffs are expected to focus on the improvement of their service competence and professional quality and the cultivation and training of arbitration professionals, and to constantly strengthen the internal management and to enhance the overall service level.
The third one is to insist on learning. As legal professionals, all the arbitrators and staffs are expected to keep learning, not only to learn professional legal theories and practical expertise and to timely follow up with the up-to-date law amendments, but also to learn about the background and purpose of the promulgation of relevant policies and regulations, and meanwhile to stress and strengthen their life cultivation as well as to improve their individual knowledge system, so as to improve the overall quality.
“Learn from the ancient saints to build up our internal uprightness.” Prof. Liang’s words were strong and powerful, and were echoed warmly in the BAC arbitrators and staffs, who made their resolution for the 2017 to constantly strengthen their learning, to endeavor to enhance their dispute resolution capability, and to march ahead jointly with the BAC for a brighter future. The Conference successfully came to an end in the warm applause of all the attendees.
Prof. Liang Huixing
Honorary arbitrators Mr. Fei Zongyi, Mr. Yao Zhuang and Prof. Wei Yaorong with committee members