Adapted and translated from a speech by Madame Wang Hongsong, Secretary-General of the Beijing Arbitration Commission, at the 2008 Spring Festival Tea Party.
Fellow leaders, arbitrators, dispute resolution professionals, and friends from the press, it is once again my pleasure, on behalf of the Beijing Arbitration Commission, to report to you our progress during the last year. We will report to you on the following seven aspects:
I. CASES
1. Caseload
In 2007, the Commission accepted 1,863 cases in total, 601 fewer than in 2006 C a decrease of 24.4%. The Commission concluded 1,953 cases, a decrease of 420 from 2006a rate of 17.7%. The conclusion rate last year was 104.7% (some cases from last year finished this year).
2. Disputed Amount
The total disputed amount of cases last year was 7.68 billion RMB, decreasing by 2.79 billion from the 2006 level, at a rate of 26.6%.
In 2007 the BACs caseload decreased for the first time since its foundation. There are several reasons for the decrease. First, cases of loan and guarantee contracts have decreased by 407, from 939 in 2006 to 532 in 2007. Second, cases of sales of goods, especially purchasing of commercial houses have decreased by 131, from 615 to 484. The aforementioned decreases total 538, and account for 90% of the decrease in cases. Additionallycases of other types also decreased to some degree.
We think that caseload is not the only criteria for appraising the work of arbitration, since the increase or decrease of caseload is related closely to the current economic situation, and has uncertainties. However, the decrease of the caseload should attract our attention. We made improvements to address the decrease in the caseload, in the following aspects:
- We shall increase publicity and marketing efforts, and exploration in arbitration issues
- We shall improve arbitration service, and further better the quality and efficiency of arbitration
- We shall continue creative innovation and explore the multiple functions of dispute resolution so as to satisfy the needs of the changing market
3. Composition of Cases
Among the cases accepted last year, loan & pledge contract disputes account for 28.56%sales disputes account for 25.98%construction projects disputes account for 18 .89 %entrustment and agency disputes account for 8.7%lease disputes account for 6.44%contracting disputes account for 2.31%investment and finance disputes and cooperation disputes account for 5.58%; new types of disputes account for 1.72%; intellectual property disputes account for 0.16%, internet disputes account for 0.27% and other disputes account for 0.86%. Of the accepted cases last year, 37 were foreign-related cases, a decrease of 16. There were 60 cases of both parties from outside Beijing, increased by 12.
4. Case Duration
The average duration of a case from constitution to the conclusion was 65 days, the same as that in 2006.
Among the concluded cases, six were revoked, three were re-arbitrated, and two cases were refused enforcement by the Peoples Court.
As of the end of last year, the commission has accepted 12,027 total casesand concluded 11,161 cases C a conclusion rate of 92.8%. According to incomplete statistics of concluded cases, the Peoples Court ruled to revoke or partially revoke 41 arbitral awards, re-arbitrate 15 cases, and refuse enforcement on 21 awards. These cases occupy less than 0.7% of the total awards.
II. PERFORMANCE
1. Revenue and Taxes
The Commission earned a revenue of 62.1193 million RMB, and paid 11.4168 million RMB in taxes, an accumulative total of 57.45 million RMB in taxes since its inception, or 13.36 times the initial fiscal allocation made by the Beijing Municipal Government.
2. Operational Statistics
Second, the Commission has 30 working staff, including 6 administrative assistants and 24 secretaries. Each secretary concluded an average of 81.2 cases. The accounting division handled more than 20,000 financial documents, paid arbitrators compensations on 2,035 occasions, declared tax records on the Internet 3,079 times, and drew up 242 pieces of tax-paid proof. In addition, the staff also assumed the work of publicity, training, theoretical research, meeting services, international exchange, website construction, and software management development.
III. COMMISSION MEMBERSHIP CHANGE
1. Committee Members
In May 2007, the BAC successfully accomplished the most recent change of membership, and composed the Fifth BAC Committee.
The BAC was engaged in preparation for the membership change several months beforehand. The preparation paid off, and all plans were executed smoothly. The Fifth Committee has 15 members, an increase of two more members. The Chairman of the Committee is Professor Jiang Ping. It is the BACs honor to have Prof. Jiang as the Chairman continuously since the BACs beginning, especially at this critical point of renovation C Prof. Jiangs experience, wisdom, and charming personal character brighten the future of the BAC. The duties of Vice-Chairperson of the Committee will be performed by:
Mr. Wu Zhipan
General Counsel and Executive Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Beijing University
Mr. Zhou Jidong
Director of the Legislative Affairs Office of the Beijing Municipality
Mr. Wang Liming
Dean of Remin University Law School
Mr. Li Yanping
Vice Chairman of Beijing Federation of Industry and Commerce
There are 10 committee members in total, including:
Mr. Che Pizhao
Vice President of Tsinghua University School of Law
Mr. Dong Chunjiang
Deputy Director General of the Beijing Municipal Government Bureau of Justice
Mr. Liang Huixing
Research Fellow of the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Science
Ms. Ma Yu Ping
Chief of the Beijing Municipal Government Taiwan Affairs Office
Ms. Wang Hongsong
Secretary-General of the Beijing Arbitration Commission
Mr. Wu Derui
Deputy Secretary-General of CCPIT, Beijing Branch
Mr. Zhang Chunlin
Senior Development Expert of Private Economic Sectors at the World Bank, Beijing Office
Mr. Zhang Weiying
Dean of the Guanghua School of Business at Beijing University
Mr. Zhou Tianyong
Deputy Director of the Research Institute of Party School of the Central Committee of C.P.C.
Mr. Zhu Jiang
Vice President of the Beijing High Court
The BAC is a group consisting of famous experts devoted to a common vision. We believe that under the leadership of this Committee, the BAC will ascend to be one of the worlds first-rate arbitration institutions and accomplish great things.
2. Arbitrators
The commission engaged 330 arbitrators in all, with 294 arbitrators returning from the previous commission and 36 arbitrators who were newly engaged. 36 arbitrators, 11 percent of all the arbitrators recruited by the previous BAC, were not re-engaged. Among all engaged arbitrators in the Fifth BAC, the proportion of arbitrators with doctorate degrees rose to 36.7 percent, an increase of 8.1 percent over the previous BAC; those with masters degrees took up 36.7 percent, the same as before; those with highest education at a bachelors degree held 26.6 percent, a decline of 7.8 percent.
In the aspect of vocation, arbitrators acting as lawyers accounted for 22.1 percent of all the arbitrators; scholars engaged in law research and teaching, 25.8 percent; experts engaged in economic or trade work, 32.4 percent; retired or resigned judges, 6.2 percent; and others 13.6 percent.
The commission has accomplished the delivery of certificates confirming the arbitrators and the printing of the Panel of Arbitrators and other related materials.
IV. CHANGES TO RULES AND PROCEDURES
The BAC discussed and passed the BAC Mediation Rules on the first meeting of the 5th session on Sep 20th, 2007, as well as revised the BAC Arbitration Rules.
1. New Mediation Rules
The Mediation Rules have been formulated through absorbing the rich experiences of internationally recognized mediation centers and based on the opinions of respected experts and scholars, both at home and abroad.
The Rules have the following characteristics:
1) The existence of a written mediation agreement is not a necessity for mediation. The range for mediation acceptance is not restricted by a written agreement.
2) The implementation of a recommendation system for mediators. The BAC will provide a list of mediators, and the parties can choose from the list, or may also choose from outside the list.
3) The BAC has separated the compensation for mediators from the administration charges. To encourage parties to mediate, administration expenses have been greatly reduced. The mediator fee can be calculated according to the disputed amount or on an hourly rate. The BAC will not limit on this matter as long as both parties agree.
4) Mediation procedures are separated from arbitration procedures, and the list of mediators is separated from that of arbitrators. Not only can mediation be carried out before arbitration, it can also be carried out with the arbitration procedures at the same time.
5) Mediation procedures are convenient, and do not require complicated application, defense and delivery. In most cases, a sole mediator should have the capacity to resolve the dispute.
6) The parties may sign an arbitration agreement to launch a simple written arbitration procedure, requesting the arbitral tribunal, according to the mediation agreement, to make an arbitral award or statement of mediation, which will grant it enforceability.
The BACs implementation of the new Mediation Rules has been innovative for the following reasons:
1) Establishing separate Mediation Rules is not only a new means by which international commercial disputes can be resolved, but also a strategic innovation by which BAC can open up new markets and new avenues of influence.
2) This innovation is an adaptation to the needs of the market, and will further assist development. Six ministries in China have jointly issued The Standard Bidding Document for Construction Projects, in which there was a formalized article allowing for adjudication procedures, similar to the Dispute Adjudication Board or Dispute Review Board model in international construction. The document will come into effect on May 1, 2008. We are aiming to stipulate instructive rules of adjudication for the parties to choose and do the training and selection of professionals in this field. We believe that chance favors those that are prepared. In the meantime, mediation also has advantages in the resolution of disputes arising from the transfer of shares and stocks and foreign-funded companies.
3) The BAC is aiming to set up a professional mediation system and adopt advanced mediation knowledge, experience and techniques; to cultivate high-quality mediators and improve the professional standard of mediation. We have cooperated with the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University, successfully holding comprehensive mediator training and a DAB skills course in March, 2008. We are also planning to invite the CIArb to give the necessary training to achieve CIArb membership at the Fellowship level. We hope that in the near future the BAC will help promote professional standards of arbitrators and mediators in China. We also hope that our arbitrators continue to improve their skills, experience, and knowledge in the demanding field of ADR.
2. Mediation Administration
The BAC implemented the Administrative Measures for the Engagement of Mediators of the Beijing Arbitration Commission, specifying the standard for mediators and specific procedures for candidates to be listed in the Panel of BAC mediators.
3. Revised Arbitration Rules
The revision of the BAC arbitration rules is designed to improve the flexibility, compatibility and feasibility of the rules, so as to satisfy the diversified needs of the parties in arbitration under the current situation.
The revisions are embodied in the following aspects:
1) In international commercial cases, the parties are allowed to select arbitrators outside the list of arbitrators. The new Rules no longer distinguish between the list of arbitrators for domestic and international commercial cases so that the parties have more options.
2) Cancelling the procedure of public notice in the case of non-contact with a party, so as to embody the principle of confidentiality, economy and efficiency.
3) The addition of separate mediation procedure clause (Article 40) and clarification on the regulation of arbitration fees (Article 55).
4. Revised Arbitrator Remuneration
The fifth meeting of the Fourth Committee revised the payment for arbitrators and improved the standard of payment on Feb. 13, 2007, and came into effect on March 1, 2007.
V. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND EXCHANGE
1. Worldwide Collaboration
Last year, the BAC attended international and regional arbitration-related conferences 21 times and made speeches on over 20 occasions, with more than 2,000 participants. We accepted visitors from academic universities, research institutes, arbitration institutions, lawyers, students abroad and press media on 34 occasions, with more than 1,500 total participants. We made great progress in cooperative exchange as follows:
1) The BAC representatives went to the United States to attend the Seminar on Managing Business Disputes in Todays China, on March 26, 2007 held in New York. Madame Wang Hongsong gave a speech at this conference. Following the seminar, they paid visits to CPR and the AAA in New York.
2) Following the New York visit, the representatives traveled to Los Angeles to meet with representatives from the Straus Institute of Dispute Resolution, to discuss the cooperation between the BAC and Straus.
The Straus Institute has ranked the first among US law schools in the field of dispute resolution five times since 2000. Their mediation training has gained an excellent reputation worldwide. We cooperated with Straus Institute to employ their best teachers, so as to grasp the newest knowledge, experience and information. We collaborated together to create some excellent training sessions.
Madame Wang Hongsong was invited to take part in the meeting of the Straus Institute Council of Distinguished Advisors on May 21st and to attend the 20th anniversary ceremony on the following day. The distinguished advisors of the Straus Institute are mostly leaders from prominent ADR organizations, the CEOs of large-scale enterprises, senior judges, and partners of famous law firms. She is the only counsel from mainland China.
Straus and the BAC have cooperated on many occasions. During the Council meeting, we were able to meet with the directors of the Straus Institute, Professor Peter Robinson and Professor Thomas Stipanowich, to work out details on the 2008 mediator and DAB training. On June 1, 2007, Prof. Stipanowich made a lecture on the evolution of mediation and dispute resolution, emphasized that mediation had changed the culture of the U.S. and other countries in disputes resolution, and assumed the role of leading way in ADR. On Oct. 30, the BAC cooperated with the Straus to hold a videoconference: Cultural Differences and Communication in MediationDialogue across the Ocean. Professionals from China and America discussed the differences of mediation culture and made comparison between them, exchanged experiences and techniques. Over 100 arbitrators, lawyers and research fellows and other professionals attended the videoconference. The Los Angeles Daily Journal reported this videoconference with an article titled China jumps into independent mediation.
3) A team from the Master of Science in Organizational Development program at Pepperdine Universitys Graziadio School of Business and Management paid a visit to the BAC on March 19-22. This is the second time the team has come to make a case study of the BAC. They think that the BAC has been a successful model for management, experience, enterprise culture, and outstanding performance. Most of the MSOD students have experience working for large corporations, and consulting firms. The case study benefits the MSOD program by allowing students a look into the operation of the BACs business model. At the same time it has provided the BAC with valuable insight into how to guide our future strategies.
4) On Sept. 17, 2007, four senior construction arbitrators from the Arbitration Association of Taipei paid a visit to the BAC and gave a lecture on construction arbitration. This was the first time the BAC had cooperated with the Arbitration Association of Taipei. The participants benefited a lot from the visiting arbitrators professional knowledge, rich experience and wide viewpoints. After the lecture, the guests paid a visit to the BAC and showed their praise for the BACs modern office facilities.
5) On Nov. 27, 2007, we were invited to attend a seminar on the resolution of trade disputes between China and Japan held by the Japanese Commercial Arbitration Association in Beijing, in which the BAC introduced our most recent developments. After the meeting, the director of the association Mr. Mashaharu Onuki visited the BAC and was impressed by the BACs office facilities and high quality of working staff. He expressed the willingness of cooperation between the association and the BAC. We signed a formal agreement of cooperation.
6) Last year, we also attended other conferences and gave lectures. On April 23, Madame Wang Hongsong attended the 17th Annual Meeting and Conference of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) held in Beijing. She delivered a speech on ethical issues of arbitrators. On June 5, representatives from the BAC also attended the 20th Biennial LawAsia Conference and made a speech on the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards by the Peoples Court of China. On September 16, she gave a lecture on the points of accepting foreign cases by domestic arbitration institutions at the forum of 2007 international private law held by Wuhan University.
On October 14, the Wuhan University Institute of International Law organized a seminar on the application of the CISG in member countries, in which a representative from the BAC gave a lecture on the innovation and development of the BAC, attracting great concerns of the participants.
On Nov. 21, 2007, Madame Wang introduced the development of the BAC at the forum of Arbitration in Greater China held Hong Kong Arbitration Association. The BAC, as one sponsor of the forum was recommended as the secretary at the general meeting.
On Dec. 16, the International Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences held the fourth international law forum, at which we gave a lecture on the exploration of alternative dispute resolution systems, introducing the new BAC Mediation Rules in details. We have put the lecture on the BAC website, which was linked by other websites and attracted much attention from professionals.
7) We also received several other visits, including Dan Jiang of the University of Taipei, students from the China Law Summer Program at the University of Indiana, students from the Asia Study Tour at Pepperdine University, CPR, the International Commercial Court of Stockholm, the Ministry of Lawyers of Singapore and Mediation Center of Hong Kong. We also welcomed visitors including research fellows from foreign universities and senior partners of law firms and performed the duty of umpire at the fifth LILU Mock Hearing Competition held by Tsinghua University Law School.
2. Interaction with the Media and Academia
We gave the media 29 articles about arbitration law and innovations last year, of which 20 were re-published by other websites with more than 7 million hits in total and 400,000 hits in average, according to recent statistics. We issued four copies of Beijing Arbitration Journal with 53 articles. The BAC made 110 new pages on the BAC website, and revised website over 60 times. We greatly improved the English website, as well as renovated the Chinese, Japanese and Korean websites. On the website, the BAC gave 87 pieces of news with pictures, at which the visiting number reached 123,478 hits on the Chinese version and 28,465, 18,465, 10,134 hits on the English, Japanese and Korean versions respectively. The BAC carried out the following works in order to improve arbitration law and enhance innovation of the arbitration system:
1) Aiming at the problems in implementing the Arbitration Law, the BAC coordinated the writing of an article, Actively and Steadily Push Forward Arbitration System Reform: Important Issues of the Amendment of the Arbitration Law, which was published on the Legal Daily on February 25, 2007. This article compared the different social practices, the purposes of the lawmakers, and the implementing effects under the new and old arbitration systems, and concluded that the amendment of arbitration law should insist on the basic principles and values established in the Arbitration Law and continue to promote development into non-governmental direction of Chinese arbitration and arbitration institutions. The publicizing of the article aroused strong echoes throughout society. Some 30 popular websites republished this article, such as Chinacourt.org, the Jcrb.com, the China Legal Website, Xinhuanet.com, Qianlong.com, Sohu.com and Sina.com. Some websites aroused fierce arguments on adopting governmental or non-government character of arbitration institutions.
2) On April 7, 2007, the BAC assisted the Law School of Hunan University to host the Seminar on the Amendment of Arbitration Law (also the 2nd Meeting of Chinese Arbitration Forum) in Changsha. More than 60 experts and scholars from the whole country shared dialogue on the implementation of the Arbitration Law and its amendment. Some speeches made during the seminar, and articles published shortly thereafter clearly pointed out the current arbitration situation and many inherent flaws, arousing strong responses and concerns within and out of the arbitration circle, for example, the Direction of Amendment of Arbitration Law by Professor Liang Huixing, On the Amendment of Arbitration Law by Mr. Fei Zongyi, the Restriction Mechanism of Arbitration Authority and the Management Model of Arbitration Institutions by Professor Fu Yulin, the Relationship between the Arbitration Institutions and Administrative Bodies and the Abuse of Cadres from Administrative Bodies to Hold Posts in Arbitration Institutions Concurrently by Mr. Luo Yinglong, and the articles on Arbitration Association by Mr. Lin Yifei. These articles were republished on many websites and initiated further discussion on the reform of arbitration system. At the same time, Mr. Jiang Ping, Chairman of the BAC, Professor Liang Huixing and some other senior arbitrators reflected on the situations and raised critique by sending letters, submitting proposals, writing articles and issuing on-line comments to further the development of arbitration policy. These efforts attracted high attention from the leaders of the State Council and relevant government departments and led to good social effects.
3) In May 2007, the BAC cooperated with the Peoples Court Newspaper Office to establish a column on the Comprehension and Application of Arbitration Law, which preached the function of arbitration in promoting economy and social harmony and facilitated the perfection of judicial supervision over arbitration. By the end of 2007, we have received over 130 articles, 18 of which were published in the column and republished on the Chinacourt.org.
4) During May to July 2007, some arbitrators and secretaries of the BAC cooperated with the task force on ADR and Buildup of Harmonious Society of Ministry of Education and the task force on Perfection of Judicial System and ADR of Tsinghua University to send out questionnaires to 186 arbitration institutions of China regarding their current situations and reform efforts. 80 responses were received. After statistical analysis, the team made an investigation report, and was affirmed by several experts for its specific nature and scientific value. This report provided empirical findings to support the arbitration institution reform plan drafted by the BAC, which was created by the request of the Legislative Office of the State Council.
5) On July 24 and 25, 2007, the BAC hosted a colloquium on the Construction of Non-Governmental Arbitration Institutions. The Director-General of Coordination Department of the Legislative Office of the State Council, Mr. Lu Yunhua, the Vice Director-General of Experts and Technical Staff Management Department of the Ministry of Personnel, Mr. Sun Jianli spoke at the colloquium. The 100 attendants were from the Civil Law Office of Legislative Working Office of the National Peoples Congress, the Judicial Reform Office of the Supreme Peoples Court, the Principals of over 40 arbitration institutions, and experts and scholars from teaching and researching institutes as well as arbitrators. The colloquium focused on the Exposure Draft of Experimental Units Scheme on Furthering the Reform of the System of Arbitration Institutions (the Scheme) and its explanation initiated by the BAC under the consignment of Mr. Lu Yunhua. According to the Arbitration Law and the requirement on reform for public institutions, the Scheme raised solutions for the main problems existing in arbitration institutions. After the discussion in the colloquium, we amended and perfected the Scheme and then submitted it to the Legislative Office of the State Council and publicized it on the website to solicit opinions. The publication of the Scheme made clear the practice, concrete aims and implementing approaches of constructing the non-governmental arbitration institutions. It responded to the doubt and question on the non-governmental natures of arbitration institutions. The Finance and Economics Magazine, the Commonwealth Times and the Peoples Court Newspaper reported this event from different points of view. The comment by the Peoples Court Newspaper titled Furthering the Reform of Arbitration System, Boosting the Building of Non-governmental Arbitration was republished by many different websites.
Our publicity efforts last year were dramatic and effective. Many Committee Members and arbitrators devoted great effort to promoting the correct understanding and implementation of the Arbitration Law, and to the reform and development of the arbitration system. Among them, the BAC is especially thankful to those senior persons, who have cared so deeply about the country and the people, who have taken society as their own responsibility, whove fought against injustice; they have bowed only to the truth, and pressed forward with attempts to reform. They were duty-bound not to turn back and insisted on their belief in law and justice, which is embedded in the culture and tradition of the BAC. The 17th Preliminary Meeting of the Chinese Communist Party brought forward the policy to speed up reform on the administrative management system and build up a government of service; pushing forward toward the separation of government and enterprise, capital, public services, and intermediary market bodies. Carrying out the Arbitration Law and the reform policy of the 17th Preliminary Meeting of the CCP are life-and-death issues of the Chinese arbitration industry. We can not sit by and watch. The BAC should pioneer this effort and insist on Arbitration Law and reform. This is our destiny and social responsibility. We would like to step up to the plate when it comes to these reforms.
VI. TRAINING AND RESEARCH
1. Arbitrator Training
First, we assisted Tsinghua University Law School in hosting training for arbitrators in May 2007, in which 24 arbitrators and 36 professionals were trained and examined. Since the implementation of the Decision on Strengthening the Training and Examining for Arbitrators of the BAC, Tsinghua University Law School has trained 192 arbitrators (plus other 73 professionals), which is 65.3% of all domestic arbitrators on the BAC Panel of Arbitrators.
2. Arbitrators Salons
17 Arbitrators Salons were hosted last year. There were 1,200 participants during these salons, including arbitrators, lawyers, judges, in-house counsels, teachers and students from colleges and universities, and other professionals. Some of the topics (and their special guests) for these salons are as follows:
- Judicial System Reform and Arbitration C Mr. Wan Exiang, Vice-President of the Supreme Peoples Court
- General Provisions of the Property Law C Professor Liang Huixing,
- Cost Issues in International Arbitration and the Application of the Common Law Interpretation during International Arbitration C Professor Phillip Yang, President of Asian Pacific Regional Arbitration Group
- The Arrangement of International Arbitration Procedure and Mediation Skills C Ms. Teresa Cheung, by the President of Chartered Institute for Arbitrators
- Practice of Claims in International Construction C Mr. John Savage, BAC Arbitrator
The salons last year featured the following: an increase in participants, due to high-level speakers, excellent facilities, and considerate service. Not only the arbitrators, but also some lawyers, in-house counsels, and teachers and students from colleges and universities frequented the salons.
Due to the BACs advanced video facilities, participation of other arbitration institutions of Chinese mainland and across the world via video conference system increased (11 times in total). After the successful video conference last year, the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution sent their wishes to continue this kind of seminar and the discussion on the system, methodology and skills of mediation. The Secretary General of the Arbitration Association, Taipei has notified me that they have purchased the equipment for video conference, which will be used for strengthening the study and communication between the arbitrators of both organizations. During a visit with Mr. Richard Naimark, VP of AAA, I suggested our willingness to co-host an international seminar on celebrating the 50th anniversary of New York Convention in this conference room. He was delighted with it. After hearing this news, the Singapore International Arbitration Center, the Japanese Commercial Arbitration Association, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and Hong Kong International Arbitration Center were all willing to support this seminar. We believe there will be more and more international conferences like this. I hope everyone can make good use of these opportunities to learn knowledge, practice language and develop friendship. Third, the arbitrators spontaneously organized Expertise Groups on Construction and Engineering, Finance, Revision on Arbitration Law, Real Estate and the Arbitration Development Committee focusing on various research activities. Through these groups, the arbitrators have taken more participation in managing the public affairs of the BAC. For example, the Construction and Engineering Group has divided into four sub-groups, whose leaders take turns to convene the meetings, the topics of which include the analysis and research of cases and current situation of construction industry and the plan of publicizing. The members of the Arbitration Development Committee have participated in the amendment of arbitration rules, drafting of mediation rules, writing of articles and planning of important projects and meetings.
To achieve transparent management a colloquium was held between the Secretary General and the arbitrators. Madame Wang reported to the arbitrators on the work of the Committee and the future plans and solicited the suggestions and advice on the office and the secretaries from the arbitrators. We have made corresponding improvements according to their advice. First, we provided arbitrators with a timesheet of arbitration procedures, which clarified the responsibilities between the arbitral tribunals and the secretaries within the periods between sending the notice of arbitration till composition of the tribunal, the closing of arbitration till the first draft of the arbitral award and the first draft till the final draft. Second, we improved the supervision procedure for bind-up of arbitral awards; that is, the award can not be sealed and sent out until the confirmation of the tribunal. Third, under the principle of confidentiality, we provided arbitrators with a look-up system for award decisions, searchable by key word, to refer to when reaching a decision involving similar circumstances. Fourth, we improved the accuracy of the short message system to make it a good tool to remind the secretaries, arbitrators and parties. We plan to adopt opinions from the arbitrators as important factors when choosing the leaders of the BAC Secretariat. We plan to institutionalize the supervision system by arbitrators over the BAC Secretariat, and hope the arbitrators will play an important role in guaranteeing the independence and impartiality of the BAC and healthy development of the arbitration industry.
The arbitrators salon was created by arbitrators. It becomes hotter and more important under the concerns of the arbitrators. It is the study platform between the arbitrators as well as the communication platform between the arbitrators and judges, law professors, scholars and other professionals. It is a means for democratic management by arbitrators under their common values. This means the BAC is an organization of study, whose members are sensitive, curious and anxious of new knowledge and new phenomena. We are full of the spirit of exploration, experiment and study. We are always seeking better ways to put the basic principles of the arbitration law into practice, how to combine international practices with Chinese conditions, how to use modern management ideas, structures, systems and methods to help the BAC expand, refine, and sustain itself into the future. We work toward success through exploration, and grow with respect and dedication.
3. Collaboration with the Supreme Peoples Court
The BAC took part in sub-topic research on commercial arbitration organized by the Supreme Peoples Court with the topic of the Work Scheme of Reform Project in Establishing and Perfecting the Alternative Dispute Resolution System. By the end of 2007, the first draft of the report had been finished. We made the initial report on January 18, 2008.
4. Drafting of the New Mediation and Arbitration Rules
The BAC spent much time on the research and investigation work of drafting the Mediation Rules and amending the Arbitration Rules last year. We held a colloquium, inviting some of the arbitrators, lawyers, including those from abroad, to discuss the drafts in both Chinese and English.
Copies of the draft were sent to some mediation institutions, chambers of commerce, and senior mediators for review. They expressed their interests in our mediation rules and sent back responses, materials, and information for reference, which was of great assistance.
VII. EXPANSION OF THE OFFICE
1. More Staff
The BAC recruited 3 more secretaries of the Office and 1 accountant last year, for a total of 30 working staff. The BAC has achieved a higher quality of service with the hiring of additional staff.
2. Improved Facilities
Innovation of the 7th floor working area was finished, and has been put into use.
3. Expanded Information System
Third, the BAC has accomplished the following tasks in the course of management of information system:
1) Classification of the cases in the system, increasing variables for analysis, such as foreign-related cases, the types of parties and so on, so as to make research of the trend of accepted cases and make better propaganda;
2) Adding the evaluation of appraisal institutions to the system;
3) Adding the submission and approval procedure, reducing or remitting the arbitration fee, so that the acceptance office could make inquiry conveniently and avoid the random of reduction and remitting.
4) Adding a system for inquiry of arbitrators on dealing with foreign-related cases;
5) The implementation of an English version of the inquiry system of the parties, including English feedback, so that foreign parties can get a grasp of arbitrators through inquiry system; We also added the Chinese and English information of appraisal institutions and other materials of the BAC.
6) We enlarged the bandwidth of the website from 4M to a 10M exclusive line input so as to improve the quality of voice and picture transferring when connected to different user-terminals and videoconferences. The Internet of the BAC can be connected to 6 other institutions with different user-terminals and videoconferences simultaneously.
7) The BAC gained another special message sending number, from China Mobile, with formal number of 106575020066. Each secretary is given four digit additional numbers, such as 106575020066 0032, so that arbitrators will know who sent the message and be able to reply to the specific person in a timely manner.
CONCLUSION
2007 was another incredible year for all of us here at the BAC. Our achievements came forth out of painstaking effort by all the committee members and arbitrators, and the support of the leaders from the Beijing Municipal Government, the Legislative Office of Beijing Municipality and other departments, and the concern and help of so many others. This report is a reflection of the hard work and dedication of the BACs committee members, arbitrators, staff, and friends throughout the world. When we look back, we will remember the excitement, emotion, and camaraderie that we have experienced. We look toward the New Year with a continued sense of hope, dedication, and determination. From the working staff of the BAC Secretariat, we send our best regards, and are honored to take part in providing the best possible dispute resolution service, and striving toward improving ADR throughout the world.
Warm regards,
Madame Wang Hongsong
Secretary General, Beijing Arbitration Commission