Shanghai Advances Int’l Maritime Arbitration Ecosystem, City’s High Court VP Says

Shanghai has created an international maritime arbitration ecosystem that ensures rulings are legally recognized and effectively enforced both at home and abroad, according to the vice president of the Shanghai High People’s Court.

The Chinese eastern city supports local maritime arbitration institutions in expanding overseas and encourages foreign arbitration institutions to practice in the city, Cao Jie said yesterday at the Judiciary and Arbitration Forum and the Sixth China Maritime Justice and Arbitration Summit Forum at the North Bund Forum.

The appeal of Shanghai’s maritime judiciary and arbitration system has continued to increase in recent years, with more and more parties involved in international commercial and maritime disputes choosing the city for litigation or arbitration, Cao added.

Shanghai is the only Chinese city with local and foreign arbitration institutions, related business organizations, and international representative offices, as it has taken the lead in building a full-chain institutional and regulatory system for temporary arbitration, Lu Zheng, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice, said at the forum.

Since August last year, several maritime arbitration cases related to international matters have been awarded in Shanghai, Lu noted.

The newly revised Arbitration Law will introduce a temporary arbitration system for the first time once it is implemented next March, Lu pointed out. Shanghai will optimize supporting services to attract global parties to choose temporary arbitration in the city for dispute resolution with more stable institutional guarantees and professional services, he added.