Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Promoting the Construction of the

International Commercial Arbitration Center

(Adopted at the 8th Session of the Standing Committee of the 16th Shanghai Municipal

People's Congress on November 22, 2023)

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1

With a view to promoting the construction of the international commercial arbitration center, strengthening the guarantee of and service under the rule of law in matters involving foreign elements, and creating a first-class, market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment, these Regulations are formulated in accordance with the Arbitration Act of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as "the Arbitration Act") and other relevant laws and administrative rules, and in light of the actual circumstances of this Municipality.

Article 2

This Municipality shall optimize the environment for the development of arbitration, propel the opening up of arbitration services, and cultivate first-class international arbitral institutions, so as to boost the brand image of Shanghai-based arbitration with credibility, influence, and competitiveness in the global market, and to accelerate the construction of a globally-oriented Asia-Pacific arbitration center, which boasts an arbitration system in line with the international standards, as well as highly concentrated arbitration resources and provision of comprehensive and soundly functioning arbitration services.

Article 3

Shanghai Municipal People's Government shall strengthen its leadership over the promotion of the construction of the international commercial arbitration center and coordinate work on the major issues thereof.

The municipal administrative department of justice shall be responsible for guiding and supervising the municipality-wide arbitration and for coordinating the work related to the construction of the international commercial arbitration center.

The municipal departments of development & reform, finance, human resources and social security, economy and informatization, education, financial regulation, commerce, transportation, intellectual property administration, market regulation, public security, housing administration, etc., and the relevant district people's governments, shall, according to their respective functions and duties, strengthen coordination and cooperation to implement and improve the work related to the construction of the international commercial arbitration center.

Article 4

This Municipality shall optimize and improve a budgetary allocation scheme for the construction of the international commercial arbitration center to support the development of the arbitration industry, to cultivate qualified arbitration professionals, and to develop arbitral institutions, with the fiscal funding playing a guiding and stimulating role.

Article 5

The people's courts shall provide support, in accordance with law, for the innovation in arbitration, optimize the judicial supervision and facilitating mechanism for arbitration, improve the standards for judicial review of the arbitration cases, strengthen the construction of platforms and informatization, and facilitate the interaction between arbitration and litigation, so as to provide quality and efficient judicial support for the construction of the international commercial arbitration center.

Article 6

This Municipality shall provide support for the establishment of a league of integrated development of arbitration in the Yangtze River Delta, which is encouraged to cooperate in the field of arbitration with those in the other regions of the country.

This Municipality shall promote collaboration and cooperation in the field of international commercial arbitration, and enhance the exchange of information and personnel with overseas arbitral institutions and the relevant international organizations by means of hosting international arbitration forums, participating in the rule-making processes, and establishing cooperative mechanisms.

Chapter II Capacity-Building of Institutions and Personnel

Article 7

The arbitral institutions in this Municipality (hereinafter referred to as "the arbitral institutions") are non-profit legal persons rendering arbitration services, which are organized in accordance with law and established subject to registration with the municipal administrative department of justice, and included in the legal-person database of and administered by this Municipality.

The arbitral institutions independently shall carry out arbitration in accordance with law and administer their arbitration services on their own.

Article 8

The arbitral institutions shall formulate their articles of association in accordance with law, build and improve a corporate governance structure where the decision-making, executive, and supervisory processes are separated from one another with effective checks and balances to be achieved.

The arbitral institutions are entitled to autonomy in their decision-making and administration in terms of finance, human resources, funds, remunerations, and other aspects in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State and this Municipality.

Article 9

The arbitral institutions are, on the condition that the laws on data security and the principle of confidentiality in arbitration are complied with, encouraged to strengthen intelligent arbitration and green arbitration, improve the informatization-based system for managing arbitration cases, optimize the online arbitration procedures and workflow, and integrate online and offline arbitration, so as to provide high-quality, efficient, and facilitated services for settling commercial disputes with the help of the emerging information technologies, including big data, cloud computing, block-chain, artificial intelligence, etc.

Article 10

The arbitral institutions are encouraged to engage the overseas professionals as members of their decision-making bodies, arbitrators, and arbitral secretaries in order to elevate the level of internationalization of the institutional administration and the capacity of the arbitration practitioners.

The arbitral institutions are supported in their establishment of overseas branches or offices to expand the scope of their international arbitration services and enhance their capability to provide arbitration services for settling disputes involving foreign elements.

Article 11

The arbitral institutions shall adopt and improve the measures on the appointment of arbitrators, improve the mechanisms on such matters as the qualification examination, administration and supervision, assessment-based rewards and punishment, and withdrawal of the arbitrators, strengthen the training for the arbitrators in order to enhance their professional capacity, case-handling ability, and work ethics, and explore the possibility of establishing an ethics committee to reinforce the integrity of the arbitrators.

The arbitral institutions shall appoint arbitrators in accordance with law and create a roster of arbitrators in different areas of specializations. The arbitral institutions may specify, in their arbitration rules, the rules on the selection of arbitrators who are not included in the roster, in accordance with which the parties may select arbitrators who are not included in the roster but otherwise qualified in accordance with the Arbitration Act.

Article 12

The arbitral institutions shall strengthen the training of the arbitral secretaries with regard to their professional expertise and ethics, establish a classified and tiered administration system and a mechanism on rank promotion, assessment, and evaluation thereof, so as to advance the professionalization and specialization of such arbitral secretaries.

Article 13

The arbitral institutions are supported in their adoption of an arbitration fee system which suits the national conditions, is in line with the international standards, and keeps up with the development trend, in order to set up an arbitrator-remuneration system with competitive advantages in the international market.

Article 14

The arbitral institutions each shall set up an arbitration development fund in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State and this Municipality, with a proportion of the net profits thereof invested mainly for researching on the legal system of arbitration, participating in the formulation of the rules on international arbitration and mediation, and the international commercial laws, and training and bringing in top arbitration professionals so as to support the development of arbitration.

The arbitral institutions shall expressly specify, in their articles of association, the purposes and the conditions of use of the funds, and the decision-making mechanism thereof.

Article 15

The arbitral institutions are encouraged to reduce, exempt, or defer the fee payment for their services rendered to those who are impacted by an emergency such as a natural disaster or a public health event.

The arbitral institutions are encouraged to provide pro bono consultant services concerning commercial dispute settlement and legal risk prevention.

Article 16

The leading overseas arbitral institutions or other dispute settlement institutions may, upon registration with the municipal administrative department of justice and filing with the administrative department of justice of the State Council for the record, establish branches in this Municipality to provide arbitration services in such fields involving foreign elements as international commerce, maritime affairs, and investment.

This Municipality shall optimize such establishment and registration procedures and simplify the formalities to provide support for the leading overseas arbitral or other dispute settlement institutions to establish branches (hereinafter referred to as "the overseas arbitral branches").

Chapter III Innovation in the Arbitration Mechanism

Article 17

The arbitral institutions are supported to research and draw on the advanced experience of international arbitration, and, based on the national conditions, to formulate and implement the arbitration rules which are in line with the internationally accepted rules and fit in with the needs of development of the arbitration services, and to further improve such arbitration rules in a timely manner.

Article 18

The arbitral institutions shall ensure that their arbitral tribunals may independently carry out arbitration in accordance with law, regulate the arbitrator-selection procedure and the conflict-of-interest review system, improve the rules for appointing arbitrators, and perfect the system of disclosing the conflict of interest and challenging the interested arbitrator(s).

The arbitral institutions shall, in line with the principle of confidentiality in arbitration, improve the relevant rules and procedural guidelines, and, upon the parties' consent, publish the abstracts of arbitral awards that are accessible to the public free of charge with data-masking treatment of sensitive or confidential information in order to enhance the predictability of arbitral awards.

The arbitral institutions are supported to optimize their arbitration procedures and workflow to expedite and simplify the arbitration proceedings so as to raise the speedy settlement rate of arbitration cases.

Article 19

The arbitral institutions are supported to build brand images in providing professional arbitration services and making specific rules of arbitration, and elevate the level of professionalization of arbitration, in such fields as maritime affairs and commerce, aviation and shipping, intellectual property, construction engineering, ecological and environmental protection, financial securities and futures, as well as in the digital economy and in the cross-border investment, transactions and logistics, and other fields.

Article 20

This Municipality shall, by following the State deployment, explore the possibility that the parties may agree to have their disputes in the fields of commercial or maritime affairs where foreign elements are involved settled through ad hoc arbitration in Shanghai by designated arbitrators in accordance with the specific arbitration rules.

The arbitration services carried out in accordance with the provisions of the preceding Paragraph shall be provided in line with the principles of honesty and good faith, impartiality and independence, and autonomy of the will, and may not harm the national interests, public interests, or the legitimate rights and interests of any third party, and may not violate any mandatory provision of law or administrative rules. The specific procedures for implementation thereof are to be made by the municipal administrative department of justice.

The arbitral institutions and the overseas arbitral branches are encouraged to provide services such as assisting in the constitution of the arbitral tribunals upon consent or request of the parties.

Article 21

Prior to filing of an application for arbitration or during the course of an arbitral proceeding, the parties may, in accordance with law, request the people's court to allow for asset preservation, evidence preservation, and other measures taken to ensure that the arbitration proceedings will be initiated and advanced, the facts determined, or an arbitral award enforced.

During the course of an arbitral proceeding, the parties may also request the arbitral tribunal to take the measures provided in the preceding Paragraph, and the tribunal may, in light of the circumstances of the case, submit its recommendation to the people's court with jurisdiction in this Municipality. The said people's court will make a ruling after reviewing the recommendation and then enforce the ruling in accordance with law.

Article 22

For an arbitration case with the seat of arbitration to be Shanghai under the administration of an arbitral institution or an overseas arbitral branch, where a party to the arbitration or the representative thereof is unable to collect evidence on its own due to an objective reason, and where the arbitral tribunal also has difficulties in investigating and collecting the evidence, the people's court in this Municipality may provide support upon request of the arbitral institution or branch if it is necessary to collect the evidence and if the evidence is located or can be collected in this Municipality.

Article 23

The arbitral institutions and the arbitrators shall strengthen their capacity of identifying and preventing against sham arbitrations.

The people's courts shall distinguish and deal with sham arbitrations in the process of judicial review in accordance with law.

Chapter IV Supervision and Facilitation

Article 24

For a case involving a foreign element arbitrated by an arbitral institution or by an overseas arbitral branch in this Municipality, or a case arbitrated pursuant to Article 20 of these Regulations, a judicial review of the enforceability of the relevant arbitration agreement and the application for setting aside the relevant arbitral award will be conducted by the people's court in this Municipality in accordance with law.

For a case involving a foreign element arbitrated by an arbitral institution or by an overseas arbitral branch in this Municipality, or a case arbitrated pursuant to Article 20 of these Regulations, where the domicile or property of a party against whom enforcement is sought is located in this Municipality, the people's court in this Municipality shall, in accordance with law, conduct a judicial review on whether the relevant arbitral award shall be enforced; where the domicile or property of the party against whom enforcement is sought is not located in this Municipality, the case will be dealt with in accordance with the other relevant laws.

Article 25

The municipal administrative department of justice shall guide and supervise the arbitration in this Municipality, improve the quality and efficiency of their administration, and strengthen the credibility of the arbitration in this Municipality by means of exploring a series of measures, including carrying out assessment on a regular basis, setting up a mechanism of supervision and examination on the registered particulars of the arbitral institutions, and guiding the establishment and use of the arbitration development funds.

The municipal administrative department of justice shall supervise the arbitral institutions and urge them to take corrective measures concerning their misconduct, such as violating the provisions on registration administration and providing arbitration services in violation of the provisions. Any organization or individual that finds an arbitral institution in violation of the provisions on registration administration may report to the municipal administrative department of justice for them to check and handle such misconduct in a timely manner.

Article 26

The arbitral institutions and overseas arbitral branches shall set up and improve an internal supervision mechanism to strengthen the supervision and administration over the arbitrators, the arbitral secretaries, and the other personnel involved in arbitration.

The arbitral institutions and overseas arbitral branches shall disclose for public supervision the information such as the arbitration rules, the roster of arbitrators, the workflow of the arbitration services, and the fee standards, and publish annual arbitration reports, releasing such matters as the number of cases arbitrated, the average length of time for settling a case, and the statistics on the gender of arbitrators, except for the information involving the State secrets, business secrets, or personal privacy.

Article 27

The arbitration association of this Municipality shall strengthen the self-discipline and credibility of the arbitration industry, implement supervision over the arbitration industry, regulate the industrial order, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the arbitral institutions and their practitioners.

The overseas arbitrators appointed by the arbitral institutions, and the overseas arbitral branches are encouraged to voluntarily apply for joining the arbitration industry association of this Municipality.

Article 28

The regions such as the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, Lin-gang Special Area, and Hongqiao International Central Business District are supported to improve the spatial layout for arbitral institutions based on their respective functional orientations and development needs in order for the arbitration to play a role in servicing and safeguarding the construction of the international economic center, financial center, trade center, shipping center, and technological innovation center in this Municipality.

The district people's governments and the relevant administrative committees are encouraged to formulate policies and measures to promote the development of arbitration and to support qualified organizations and institutions by securing the sites, the professionals, etc. for them.

Article 29

The arbitral institutions are supported, to the extent of facilitating the smooth progress of the processes such as service of documents, adoption of preservation measures, and investigation and collection of evidence, to have connectivity with the information system of the people's courts and other related departments.

Article 30

This Municipality shall explore the ways to establish a mechanism for settling commercial disputes involving a foreign element, in which mediation, arbitration, and litigation are linked up and the parties are guided to choose a suitable approach to settle their disputes.

The arbitral institutions and the overseas arbitration branches are encouraged to join in the international commercial dispute settlement platform set up by this Municipality where one-stop, internationalized, and facilitated dispute settlement services are rendered.

The arbitral institutions and the overseas arbitration branches are encouraged to adopt mediation, negotiation, expert evaluation, and other approaches linked up with arbitration to settle disputes in order to increase the voluntary settlement rate and voluntary enforcement rate of arbitration cases.

Article 31

This Municipality shall support the financial institutions to provide fast and convenient foreign exchange services for the international arbitration carried out by the arbitral institutions and the overseas arbitration branches, the arbitrators, and other arbitration practitioners.

Qualified foreign arbitration practitioners may open multi-currency free trade accounts in accordance with law, and enjoy domestic financial services related to their employment and life in the Mainland of China and cross-border financial services related to their overseas medical care, children's education, etc.

Article 32

The foreign arbitrators, foreign parties or their representatives, and witnesses who come to this Municipality to participate in an arbitral proceeding, or any foreigner who comes to this Municipality to attend an arbitration-related activity such as a conference, a visit, or a collaborative activity, may, in accordance with law, apply for a port visa with a notice of hearing, an invitation letter, or otherwise a document issued by an arbitral institution or an overseas arbitral branch.

A domestic arbitration practitioner appointed by an arbitral institution or an overseas arbitral branch to go abroad to participate in an arbitration-related activity such as an arbitral proceeding or an arbitration-related conference, visit, or collaborative activity, may, in accordance with the relevant provisions, enjoy the convenience of facilitated service in their exit and entry document processing.

Article 33

The administrative department of justice shall make arbitration an important part in their publicity of the rule of law and the basic legal education program in order to promote arbitration and raise the public awareness and the influence of arbitration, which, in turn, contributes to creating an environment where people understand, trust in, and prefer to choose arbitration to settle their disputes.

The arbitration industry association of this Municipality is encouraged to strengthen its relationship with the other relevant industry associations, chambers of commerce, and the economic and trade organizations and to promote collaborations with the domestic and foreign arbitral institutions as well as the relevant international organizations in order to popularize the culture of arbitration.

Article 34

The arbitral institutions and the overseas arbitral branches are supported to promote arbitration and their brand-building and to guide business entities to choose arbitration to settle their disputes.

Business entities are encouraged to choose the arbitral institutions and the overseas arbitral branches to arbitrate their disputes and to choose Shanghai as the seat of arbitration.

The competent department of the industries, and the various industry associations are encouraged to list arbitration as an option for dispute settlement in their model contracts.

Article 35

This Municipality shall build a database of experts in the field of international arbitration and provide intelligence support for promoting the construction of the international commercial arbitration center.

The qualified arbitration practitioners in this Municipality are supported in their application for the programs designed for the relevant talents and enjoy favorable policy support. The departments of public security, human resources and social security, housing administration, etc., shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions, provide support to such arbitration practitioners in their application for such matters as household registration, work and residence permits, and housing and social security.

Article 36

This Municipality shall reinforce the efforts to cultivate the talents urgently needed in arbitration, the interdisciplinary talents in the fields where foreign elements are involved, and the young reserve talents.

The arbitration industry association of this Municipality is encouraged to conduct professional training and collaborations with the higher education institutions, other industry associations, and chambers of commerce, at home and abroad, and the relevant international organizations, to enhance the capacity-building of arbitrators and the other arbitration practitioners.

The arbitral institutions are encouraged to establish training bases for cultivating the arbitral talents in the field where foreign elements are involved to research on the arbitration theories, conduct relevant professional training, collaborations, and seminars, and to send outstanding arbitral talents abroad to take part in the exchange programs, internships, and training programs, or hold posts in the leading foreign arbitral and other dispute settlement institutions, and the relevant legal service providers and international organizations.

The higher education institutions, industry associations, chambers of commerce, and the like institutions in this Municipality are supported in their cultivation of arbitration professionals in such fields as authentication and appraisal, ascertainment of foreign laws, and handling of maritime accidents.

Chapter V Supplementary Provisions

Article 37

The arbitral institutions shall explore, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State, the application of arbitration and the other dispute settlement mechanisms and international practice, and render relevant services for preventing and settling the disputes arising from the overseas investments made by the Chinese enterprises.

Article 38

These Regulations shall be effective as of December 1, 2023.