Asia's most popular arbitration institutions, CIETAC, SIAC, and HKIAC, have all revised their arbitration rules in the last 2 years. These revisions have sought to introduce new measures enhancing the efficiency of arbitration. As a quick path to an efficient arbitration, the expedited arbitration procedures may be of particular interest to commercial parties. Focusing on the expedited arbitration procedures in the CIETAC, SIAC, and HKIAC arbitration rules, this analysis provides an overview of the threshold amounts for expedited procedures, the structural features of each procedure and potential risks in the adoption of such procedures – notably with imperfect estimations of the arbitration duration.More
2025-02-19ARTICLES Stella Lu, Jiamin Zhang Economic sanctions are measures imposed by a country to restrict transactions between its natural and corporate persons on the one hand, and targeted individuals, entities, or countries on the other. They typically arise in pursuit of a country’s foreign policy and national security objectives, but have important commercial consequences. When the economic sanctions a country imposes cause difficulties for one party to fulfill its contractual obligations, can the affected party invoke force majeure as a defense to avoid liability? Under Chinese law, the validity of a sanctions clause depends on whether the circumstances outlined in the clause meet the essential criteria of force majeure.More
2024-11-29ARTICLES Vera Zuo, Guo Shuai, Li Jiarong The struggle for corporate control is reflected not only in the balance of rights between minority shareholders and majority shareholders, but also in the weight given to the voice of each shareholder in corporate governance. Through the system of the powers and personnel of directors, supervisors, senior executives and legal representatives, shareholders can more conveniently participate in the daily operation and decision-making of the company, thus realizing effective control of the company.More
In the international trade in goods, the delivery of goods without the original bill of lading refers, as the phrase suggests on its face, to carriers or freight agencies delivering the goods being shipped to the consignee without the presentation of the original bill of lading. Although this practice may be convenient and meet the immediate needs of the trading parties in some cases, it also entails significant legal risks and potential economic losses.More
Consisting of two international commercial courts in Shenzhen and Xi’an respectively, the China International Commercial Court (CICC) is a permanent adjudicative organ established by the Supreme People’s Court. With its streamlined procedure, exceptional legal expertise (including in particular its judicial strength and the depth in its International Commercial Expert Committee), and provision of the “One-stop” Diversified International Commercial Dispute Resolution Mechanism which integrates litigation, mediation and arbitration and connects various institutions and platforms, the CICC aims to provide fair, professional and efficient dispute resolution service for international commercial disputes.More