The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice, in collaboration with other departments, took a series of measures to optimize legal services for the 7th China International Import Expo held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) from Nov 5 to 10.

Formulating a work plan

In accordance with the Overall Plan for Guaranteeing Urban Services for the 7th China International Import Expo, the bureau, together with various member units, further refined service measures and formulated a work plan for the legal services group.

The work plan focused on the expo's four major functions – international procurement, investment promotion, cultural exchanges, and open cooperation, and proposed 13 specific legal service measures for CIIE participants in four aspects – "one-stop" legal services, "full-chain" intellectual property protection, "diversified" dispute resolution mechanism, and "all-round" business policies promotion.

Providing one-stop legal services

A legal services volunteer team was formed for the CIIE to provide comprehensive legal consulting services, and assist in intellectual property protection as well as dispute resolution. 

The volunteer team consisted of 128 people, including 65 lawyers, 20 public and commercial mediators, and 17 intellectual property and copyright service members, alongside 18 judges, arbitrators, notaries and judicial appraisers. They specialize in various fields of concern to exhibitors and buyers, such as investment, intellectual property, and dispute resolution related to international business.

"Online and offline" and "on-site and off-site" legal services have been made available. The bureau has established a foreign-related legal services center for the CIIE, and selected lawyers, commercial mediators and arbitrators to provide on-site services. The CIIE special line of the "12348" public legal services hotline has been opened to offer legal consulting services in both Chinese and English. Legal services are also accessible via the "Jinboshi" mobile application.

Legal professionals from the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice, and the Changning, Minhang, and Qingpu district bureaus of justice, together with regional investment promotion departments and the Shanghai Hongqiao International Central Business District Administrative Committee, visited exhibitors and buyers in different sectors and areas, helping them solve problems about contracts, intellectual property, and trade disputes. 

Moreover, the professionals promoted the local business environment and policies to enterprises with intention to invest, facilitated in-depth negotiations and cooperation among all parties partaking in the CIIE, offered professional legal services, and motivated more projects to enter Shanghai or expand globally. 

Strengthening protection of intellectual property rights

The Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration offered on-site consulting services, and accepted applications for registration. It promptly handled intellectual property complaints and disputes related to the expo. It also carried out on-site inspections, demanded timely rectification of infringement issues, and implemented a next-day review system to reinforce the protection of exhibitors' intellectual property rights.

The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Copyright and the Music Copyright Society of China offered consulting services on copyright laws and regulations, registration, and licensing during the CIIE. They also accepted on-site applications for voluntary registration of copyright and licensing for the use of music copyright.

The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Public Security and the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation focused on key areas around the NECC (Shanghai), conducting comprehensive investigations across production, transportation and marketing. They established a streamlined communication channel between the police and enterprises, quickly gathering leads and effectively eliminating counterfeiting and infringement risks.

Establishing a dispute resolution mechanism

The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice set up the CIIE Mediation Center (Commercial Mediation Center) and, in collaboration with the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Public Security, set up a dispute mediation room. Together, they organized teams of police officers, mediators, and lawyers to jointly investigate and address potential risks and hidden dangers. Any conflict or dispute spotted would be promptly guided to the appropriate mediation channels for resolution, ensuring that all types of conflicts and disputes during the expo would be quickly and efficiently resolved.

The West Hongqiao People's Tribunal established a professional trial team and set up one-stop litigation service windows such as the CIIE window, Yangtze River Delta window and intellectual property window. It also provided legal consultation, litigation guidance, on-site case filing, cross-regional case filing, and on-site mediation services, and opened a special trial channel for cases concerning the CIIE.

The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice introduced temporary arbitration services, further publicized rules on the temporary arbitration system, guided CIIE exhibitors to agree on Shanghai as the arbitration venue, and handled disputes on exhibition contracts according to regulations on foreign-related commercial and maritime temporary arbitration.

Promoting business rules and regulations

A legal services guide, Shanghai's policies and regulations on optimizing the business environment, and a Chinese-English Q&A on laws and regulations related to international trade were compiled to provide guidance for exhibitors. 

Source: Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice