Beijing Arbitration Commission

The Beijing Arbitration Commission (the “BAC”) is established on September 28, 1995, following the promulgation of the Chinese Arbitration Law. During the past two decades, the BAC had a hard strive for progress, and has therefore become one of the leading arbitration institutions in China with substantive international influence. By December 31, 2012, the BAC has accepted 22,034 arbitrations in total, with the amount in dispute of roughly 100 billion RMB. Long-term dispute resolution practice helps the BAC to constantly explore the causes of different types of disputes, while the sharply increasing caseload also urges the BAC to constantly seek the best means to resolve commercial disputes. It keeps thinking - Can dispute resolution services be customized when facing parties in different situations? What services can be done to effectively coordinate and satisfy those ever-changing and diversified interest requests from the parties? How can a dispute resolution institution always keep active and competitive?

Ever since its establishment, the BAC has realized that its core competitiveness lies in its capability of meeting the parties’ increasing requests and demands for resolving disputes. This not only makes the BAC to stick to its values of “independence, fairness, professionalism, efficiency”, but also means the BAC needs to be innovative with respect to its dispute resolution mechanisms, methods, and proceedings, and to try its best to keep cost-effectiveness, business creditability, cooperation relationship, and even commercial opportunities as expected by the parties. During the transitional period of China’s society, commercial conflicts are becoming more and more complicated with growing interests in dispute. And the development of the BAC’s diversified dispute resolution will then hinge on practice-oriented theoretical research. It is in order to resolve disputes timely, effectively, and thoroughly that the BAC has been paying close attention to adopt those leading ADR ideas globally, and promoting discussions of ADR theoretical and practical issues, either within the ADR community or socially. From this perspective, the BAC has had a truly strong sense of mission and responsibility from its early days.

Over the past two decades, the BAC has funded the Beijing Arbitration Quarterly (formerly the Beijing Arbitration Newsletter) to promote ADR related theoretical study, academic discussion, and experience sharing. It was based on profound investigation and extensive researches that the BAC started to provide independent mediation and construction dispute review services in addition to arbitration, and to set out the rules on construction arbitration appraisal procedure and arbitrator information disclosure. Meanwhile, with its fast growing financial strength, the BAC has sponsored and supported more and more academic projects, monograph studies, and training courses relating to diversified dispute resolution. Its wide vision and open mind is best shown with such extensive areas, complex researches, professional discussions it sponsored, as well as its forward-looking understanding of the parties’ expectations. This truly reflects the BAC’s ambition and passion to improve the diversified dispute resolution mechanism in China.

So far, diversified dispute resolution practice has not been covered by Chinese traditional legal education, which resulted in China’s discrepancy with the international general legal education, and more seriously, the lack of legal professionals who are familiar with international dispute resolution rules and practice, as well as the situation that domestic legal services could not fully meet the requirements of China’s booming economy. In view of it, the BAC made its decision to fund the BAC New Horizontal Translation Series (the “BAC Translation Series”) in 2013, where translations of foreign books that are of guiding significance to Chinese diversified dispute resolution, especially those of values for issues demanding urgent solution during China’s transitional period, will be selected, edited, and published into books, in hope of adopting foreign wisdom in solving Chinese domestic problem. The funding of the BAC Translation Series is also intended to improve the situation that Chinese translations of foreign works on diversified dispute resolution are insufficient, by means of importing the best original text books on diversified dispute resolution and practice guides, introducing international diversified dispute resolution innovations, so as to substantially improve Chinese legal professionals’ practical experience and skills in international diversified disputes resolution, and also, to enhance the international competitiveness of Chinese commercial dispute resolution industry.

It is well known that the translation of foreign law books is a tough job, and the payment to the translators is humble. It is never easy for excellent translation of law books to get published. In addition, since diversified dispute resolution is still not very popular among so many legal subjects, even for relatively popular topics like arbitration, excellent Chinese translation works are far from enough when people hope to read about it. Such plights, if not changed, will go against the development of Chinese diversified dispute resolution in the long term. The BAC Translation Series is based on the rich resources of the BAC, invites domestic and foreign prestigious experts to act as its editorial board members, encouraging and supporting professional translators to provide Chinese readers with excellent translation works of high-level foreign books on diversified dispute resolution, both theoretical and practical, the more the better. It is sincerely hoped that the BAC Translation Series will provide more fresh and valuable information and materials to Chinese academics and practitioners on diversified dispute resolution, helping them to strengthen their professional competence and skills, and promoting the harmonious development of Chinese economy.

Editorial Board of BAC Translation Series
September 2^nd, 2013 in Beijing

Notice on Submission of Application for the Project of Collected Translations of Beijing Arbitration Commission-“New Horizons of Dispute Resolutions”

With a view to expanding the horizons of dispute resolutions sector in the international arena, promoting the philosophy of diversified dispute resolutions and achieving more research fruit in the domestic fields concerned, Beijing Arbitration Commission (“the Commission) has launched the project of the collected translations of Beijing Arbitration Commission-“New Horizons of Dispute Resolution” (“the Project”). This project is aimed at attracting more outstanding translation works in the field of diversified dispute resolutions and financially supporting more translators who are willing to be committed to study in this field. We hereby give notice on relevant issues as follows:

1. Prerequisites for Application

There is no restriction on the source of applicants. Any people including any staff members of the Commission, arbitrators, lawyers, teachers or students of any colleges domestic or overseas, and staff members of any scientific research institutes, law courts, administrative departments or trade associations may apply for the Project in consideration of their own conditions.

The Project was launched in 2013 and planned to run for a long term. The temporary annual plan is that 2 to 4 translation works will be published annually. The content of the original work which translation is to be submitted for application must fall into the definition of the Commission for diversified dispute resolution field, and should reflect the development of innovative practices of or the academic research content relating to diversified dispute resolutions outside China. The work to be submitted for application should meet the requirements for the publication of the Project. There is no restriction on the source, languages and forms of the original works. The Commission and the Editorial Board of the Project have the right to interpret the above criteria. The Commission will make final decision as to whether approve an application.

Applicants should guarantee the originality of their submitted translation works and provide necessary aid to the Commission and publisher for coordinating the authorization of the owners of copyrights. They should also guarantee that their submitted translation works do not infringe on the copyrights of others, do not have any illicit contents, and are readable and accurate. The Commission, the Editorial Board and the publisher reserve the right to determine the production, publication, distribution, promotion, pricing, reprint and sale of the submitted translation works in light of circumstances.

The application for the Project should observe the following procedures formulated by the Commission

2. Application and Implementation Procedures of the Project

1) Applicants shall download and fill up the Application Form for the Project of Beijing Arbitration Commission of “the Collected Translations of New Horizons of Dispute Resolution” (“the Project Application Form”) and submit three copies, with the paper version posted to the Commission with the recipient of “Xu Jie”, the  electronic version sent to this email box xujie@bjac.org.cn.

2) After receiving the Project Application Forms, the Commission will submit them to the Board in a unified manner for assessment and review. The review period will be two months from the time the Board received the application. The deadline for application submission for this year is no later November 30, 2014. An application which passed the review will be handed back to the Commission, and the Commission will give notice of project approval to the applicant. If an applicant does not receive the notice of project approval at the end of the period, it is deemed that he (she) has failed the review and the Commission will not notify the applicants of the failure under normal circumstances.

3) Within half month from the time an applicant received the notice of project approval, he (she) should assist the Commission in completing the assessment on the right and risk of the translation work submitted and concluding the appropriate book publication contract. The applicant may, at the same time, provide necessary supporting documents for rights to the Commission. If an applicant fails to perform the above assist obligations or fails to enter into a contract with no due cause, it is deemed that the applicant has voluntarily given up his qualifications for applying for the Project.

4) After having concluded the above contract, the applicant should submit a copy of an electronic final version of the translation work to the Board within the prescribed time. The copy should be submitted by the applicant by email which is able to certify the identification of the applicant. The applicant should reserve an identical copy of a written version or electronic version of the work submitted. If the final version of a translation work is submitted after the end of the prescribed period, it is deemed that the applicant has voluntarily given up his (her) qualifications for applying for the Project.

5) After receiving the above electronic final version of the translation work, the Commission, the Editorial Board and the publisher will edit and proofread the work. If the submitted work fails to the meet the appropriate requirements, the Commission has the right to require the party to improve and amend the work in a prescribed time. A delay in completing the improvement and amendment is deemed that the applicant has voluntarily given up his (her) qualifications for applying for the Project.

6) After completing the above job, the translation work will be handed over to the publisher for final processing for publication. The authorship of the translator will be determined by the applicant. The applicant agrees that the cover (back cover) and tile page of the final publication of the translation work should carry the markings prescribed by the Commission, the names designated by the Editorial Board, and the publication should be titled “…of the Collected Translations of New Horizons of Dispute Resolutions of Beijing Arbitration Commission” or any other name designated.

3. Project Funds

The funds of the Project will be used for the reimbursement of the publication expenses of the translation works which have passed the review of the Commission and the Editorial Board. The Commission reserves the right to assess and explain the usage of the project funds as well as the right to use the funds.

Contact Person: Xu Jie
Email: xujie@bjac.org.cn
Tel: 65669856-330
Publication of the Collected Translations of Beijing Arbitration Commission of 2013:
《补偿的正义--美国如何应对灾难》
（《WHO GETS WHAT Fair Compensation after Tragedy and Financial Upheaval》）
Author (America): Kenneth R.Feinberg Translated by: Sun Wei, Xu Jie, Guo Chao, Wu Wendi
Publication of the Collected Translations of Beijing Arbitration Commission of 2014:
《商事仲裁国际理事会之1958纽约公约释义指南：法官手册》
（《ICCA’s Guide to the Interpretation of the 1958 New York Convention: A Handbook for Judges》）
Translated by: Yang Fan

Book Summary:

The one in common of all the cases lies in their care-taking arrangement: there was a neutral third party in each case to set up and deliver the compensation. In all cases above, the president, general prosecutor and other high ranking officials of U.S government all strived to call in Kenneth R.Feinberg to preside over these cases. In this book, Mr. Kenneth R.Feinberg gave a terrific narrative about his extraordinary experiences in handing these thorny issues, and revealed case by case his deep deliberation, hard decision-making and ingenious solutions in compensating individual victims of each calamity.

The gist of this book is how the American democracy system coped with calamity, and to give a discussion of the relevant fundamental issues. Life is full of events; disasters and accidents happen every day. How will people face up the challenges of tragedies? What does compensation mean to them? And how much cash check will meet their expectation for the consequence of a tragedy? All these are not merely legal issues. A deep understanding of humanity is necessary in addressing them. Mr. Kenneth R.Feinberg once said, “Although I have no degrees in theology, psychology and neurology, the knowledge in these disciplines gave me a big hand in my pursuing justice in setting compensation-they helped me to measure the fairness of compensation”.

This book-WHO GETS WHAT summarizes much unique experience and wisdom accumulated in coping with calamities and crises in America, and directs readers in the uncommon first person to inquire into the in-depth subject of “compensate victims with money”.

Profiles of translators

Sun Wei
Sun Wei graduated from Stockholm University of Sweden with a LLM Degree in international commercial arbitration, and used to be a full-time lawyer in a Swedish law firm, handling legal affairs of Sino-Euro trade and commercial investment and dispute resolutions. Sun Wei now works in Beijing Arbitration Commission, who is responsible for the arbitration and mediation of various domestic and international commercial cases, and co-currently serves as an editor of the journal of Beijing Arbitration. Sun Wei conducts a relatively in-depth study of the theories and moderately rich practical experience of international commercial arbitration and diversified dispute resolutions.

Xu Jie
Xu Jie graduated from Wuhan University with a LLB Degree and Pepperdine University, US with a Master Degree in dispute resolutions. Xu Jie used to work in America engaged in mediation and now works in Beijing Arbitration Commission, having handled more than 300 cases. Xu Jie jointly translated the book- the Negotiation Field Book, taught legal negotiation in a LLM course as a leading visiting lecturer at Beijing Normal University and conducted a good number of trainings on the philosophy and skills of modern commercial mediation for Securities Association of China. Xu Jie has rich experience in the practice, study and training of diversified dispute resolutions.

Guo Chao
Guo Chao graduated from China University of Political Science and Law with a LLB Degree and Durham University, UK with a Master Degree in international trade and commercial law. Guo Chao now works in Beijing Arbitration Commission.

Wu Wendi
Wu Wendi graduated from China Foreign Affairs University with a LLB Degree and University College London, UK with a Master Degree in banking and financial law. Wu Wendi used to be engaged in financial sector and now works in Beijing Arbitration Commission.