Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T06:38:32.114Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tackling Local Protectionism in Enforcing Foreign Arbitral Awards in China: An Empirical Study of the Supreme People's Court's Review Decisions,1995–2015

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2019

Shen Wei  and
Shang Shu
Shen Wei
Affiliation:
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Law School. Email: shenwei@sjtu.edu.cn.
Shang Shu*
Affiliation:
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, College of Business Administration.
*
Email: sshang@cpp.edu (corresponding author).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In an effort to fight against local protectionism in court enforcement proceedings, China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) promulgated its “Notice on relevant issues pertaining to the people's court handling foreign and foreign-related arbitration” in 1995. Pursuant to this Notice, all Intermediate People's Courts have to report to the SPC and obtain its approval for any decision not to enforce a foreign or foreign-related arbitral award. However, the effectiveness of this internal reporting mechanism in constraining local protectionism has never been empirically tested. This study is based on 98 publicly available non-enforcement reply opinions rendered by the SPC after lower courts have made and reported preliminary non-enforcement decisions. It analyses whether these non-enforcement decisions show any pattern of local protectionism. Statistical results do not suggest that local protectionism is a major barrier hindering effective enforcement of foreign or foreign-related arbitral awards in China. We therefore contend that this internal reporting system may serve other functions by providing an alternative tool to reinforce judicial oversight in spite of China's weak appellant system. At the same time, the Chinese government seems to rely on this internal reporting system to achieve important policy goals. In this sense, analysing the functionality of this internal reporting system offers insights into this mechanism for top-level judicial control.

摘要

摘要

2017年12月，最高人民法院发布《最高人民法院关于仲裁司法审查案件报核问题的有关规定》，结束了我国对仲裁裁决司法审查程序适用超过二十年的“内外有别”双轨制。为了抵制和克服地方法院在涉外仲裁裁决执行程序中的地方保护主义，最高人民法院早在1995年就颁布了《关于人民法院处理与涉外仲裁及外国仲裁事项有关问题的通知》（以下简称《通知》）。按照《通知》的规定，待最高法院答复后，中级人民法院方可裁定不予执行涉外或外国仲裁裁决。然而，这种内部报告机制在约束地方保护主义方面的有效性还未能得到实际检测。本文基于通过公开渠道获取的98份最高人民法院不予执行复函的实证研究，探究这些不予执行裁定是否存在地方保护主义或者抑制地方保护主义的倾向。最高法院的复函是基于下级法院已经作出并逐级上报至最高法院请求批示的不予执行的初步裁定而作出的。尽管统计结果并未显示出地方保护主义是阻碍涉外或者外国仲裁裁决在我国得到有效执行的主要壁垒，但是这种内部报告机制可能还具有其他功能。例如，鉴于我国司法体系中不健全的上诉制度，它可以作为加强司法监督的一种手段；同时，政府也能通过利用该内部报告制度以实现重要的政治目标。在此层面上，剖析这种内部报告制度的功能，将有助于洞察在司法体制尚不完全独立的情形下，高级别司法控制是如何在中国发挥作用的；也有助于考察在当前司法改革的背景之下，集权化司法改革措施的有效性和不足之处。

Keywords

Chinaarbitrationlocal protectionismjudicial controlenforcement执行涉外或外国仲裁裁决内部报告制度地方保护主义中央化司法控制实证研究
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 241 , March 2020 , pp. 144 - 168
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London, 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alford, Roger, Ku, Julian and Xiao, Bei. 2016. “Perceptions and reality: the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in China.” UCLA Pacific Basin Law Journal 33(1), 1–26.Google Scholar
Bruhl, Aaron. 2012. “Elected judges and statutory interpretation.” University of Chicago Law Review 79(4), 1215–84.Google Scholar
Cheung, Christina. 2012. “The enforcement methodology of non-domestic arbitral awards rendered in the United States and foreign-related arbitral awards rendered in the People's Republic of China pursuant to domestic law and the New York Convention.” Santa Clara Journal of International Law 11(1), 237–265.Google Scholar
Chi, Manjiao. 2009. “‘Drinking poison to quench thirst’: the discriminatory arbitral award enforcement regime under Chinese arbitration law.” Hong Kong Law Journal 39(2), 541–561.Google Scholar
Clarke, Donald. 1996. “Power and politics in the Chinese court system: the enforcement of civil judgments.” Columbia Journal of Asian Law 10(1), 1–125.Google Scholar
Clarke, Donald. 2008. “Politburo proposes to centralize court funding.” Chinese Law Prof Blog, 6 December, http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/china_law_prof_blog/2008/12/politburo-propo.html.Google Scholar
Cohen, Jerome. 1997. “Reforming China's civil procedure: judging the courts.” American Journal of Comparative Law 45(4), 793–804.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dimitrov, Martin. 2016. “Structural preconditions for the rise of rule of law in China.” Journal of Chinese Governance 1(3), 470–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginsburg, Tom. 2008. “Administrative law and the judicial control of agents in authoritarian regimes.” In Ginsburg, Tom and Moustafa, Tamir (eds.), Rule by Law: The Politics of Courts in Authoritarian Regimes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 58–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glusker, Elliot. 2010. “Arbitration hurdles facing foreign investors in Russia: analysis of present issues and implications.” Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal 10(3), 595–622.Google Scholar
Gu, Weixia. 2009. “Judicial review over arbitration in China: assessing the extent of the latest pro-arbitration move by the Supreme People's Court in the People's Republic of China.” Wisconsin International Law Journal 27(2), 221–269.Google Scholar
He, Xin. 2011a. “Debt collection in the less developed regions of China: an empirical study from a basic-level court in Shanxi province.” The China Quarterly 206, 253–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
He, Xin. 2011b. “Judicial decision-making in an authoritarian regime: piercing the veil of the adjudication committee in a Chinese court.” City University of Hong Kong RCCL Working Paper No. 1, July, http://www6.cityu.edu.hk/slw/lib/doc/RCCL/RCCL_Working_Paper_Series-He_Xin%282011.07%29.pdf.Google Scholar
King, Alyssa. 2015. “Procedural perils: China's Supreme People's Court on the enforcement of awards in international arbitration.” Asian-Pacific Law and Policy Journal 17(1), 1–17.Google Scholar
Kostrzewa, Benjamin. 2006. “China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission in 2006: new rules, same results?” Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal 15(2), 519–542.Google Scholar
Li, Ji. 2017. “The power logic of justice in China.” American Journal of Comparative Law 65(1), 95–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Guixiang, and Shen, Hongyu. 2012. “Woguo chengren he zhixing waiguo zhongcai caijue de sifa shijian pingshu” (Recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards: a reflection on court practices). Beijing Arbitration 16, 1–24.Google Scholar
Liu, Zuoxiang. 2003. “Zhongguo sifa difang baohuzhuyi pipan” (An analytical critique of judicial parochialism in China). Faxue yanjiu 1, 83–98.Google Scholar
Metzger, Thomas. 1973. The Internal Organization of Ch‘ing Bureaucracy: Legal, Normative and Communication Aspects. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minzner, Carl. 2006. “Xinfang: an alternative to formal Chinese legal institutions.” Stanford Journal of International Law 42, 103–179.Google Scholar
Minzner, Carl. 2009. “Judicial disciplinary systems for incorrectly decided cases: the imperial Chinese heritage lives on.” New Mexico Law Review 39(1), 63–87.Google Scholar
Peerenboom, Randall. 2000. “The evolving regulatory framework for enforcement of arbitral awards in the PRC.” Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal 1(2), 1–70.Google Scholar
Peerenboom, Randall. 2001. “Seek truth from facts: an empirical study of enforcement of arbitral awards in the PRC.” American Journal of Comparative Law 49(2), 249–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pien, Jason. 2007. “Creditor rights and enforcement of international commercial arbitral awards in China.” Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 45(2), 586–632.Google Scholar
Pierce, John. 1992. “Philippine foreign investment efforts: the Foreign Investment Act and the Local Governments Code.” Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal 1(1), 169–197.Google Scholar
Reinstein, Ellen. 2005. “Finding a happy ending for foreign investors: the enforcement of arbitration awards in the People's Republic of China.” Indiana International and Comparative Law Review 16(1), 37–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shao, Zhuping. 2002. “Woguo fayuan zai juti anjian shang shiyong falü de qingshi yu pifu lixing sikao” (A reflection of the reply opinion system and its application in individual cases). Hunan gong'an gaodeng zhuan kexuexiao xuebao (2), 35–37.Google Scholar
Shen, Wei. 2014. “The logic (or illogic) of China's local government debts out of control – law, governance or other perspectives.” Hong Kong Law Journal 44(3), 887–916.Google Scholar
Tang, Houzhi. 1995. “Arbitration awards – challenge and enforcement.” Paper presented at the ICFAI Conference “Globalization and Harmonization of the Basic Notions in International Arbitration,” Aarhus, 1995.Google Scholar
Tanner, Murray Scot, and Green, Eric. 2007. “Principals and secret agents: central versus local control over policing and obstacles to ‘rule of law’ in China.” The China Quarterly 191, 644–670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Utterback, Meg, Li, Hongrui and Blackwell, Holly. 2016. “Enforcing foreign awards in China – a review of the past twenty years.” King and Wood Mallesons, 15 September, http://www.kwm.com/en/knowledge/insights/enforcing-foreign-arbitral-awards-in-china-20160915. Accessed 15 May 2019.Google Scholar
Wang, Shengchang. 1999. “Enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in the People's Republic of China.” ICCA Congress Series No. 9. Paper presented at International Arbitration Congress meeting on “Improving the Efficiency of Arbitration and Awards: 40 Years of Application of the New York Convention,” Paris, 3–6 May 1998.Google Scholar
Wang, Yuhua. 2013. “Court funding and judicial corruption in China.” The China Journal 69, 43–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Yuhua, 2016. “Beyond local protectionism: China's state–business relations in the last two decades.” The China Quarterly 226, 319–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Yuhua. 2018. “Relative capture: quasi-experimental evidence from the Chinese judiciary.” Comparative Political Studies 51(8), 1021–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, David A.R. 2012. “Defining the role of the court in modern international commercial arbitration.” SMU Asian Arbitration Lecture, Singapore, http://www.globalarbitrationreview.com/cdn/files/gar/articles/david_williams_Defining_the_Role_of_the_Court_in_Modern_Intl_Commercial_Arbitra.pdf. Accessed 28 August 2018.Google Scholar
Yang, Fan. 2015. Foreign-related Arbitration in China: Commentary and Cases. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Yu, Jie. 2001. “Lüe lun Zhongguo de sifa difang baohuzhuyi” (A brief discussion on local protectionism in Chinese judiciaries). 66law.cn, 4 April, http://www.66law.cn/lawarticle/2187.aspx. Accessed 2 September 2018.Google Scholar
Zhao, Xiuwen. 2010. Guoji shangshi zhongcai xiandaihua yanjiu (A Study of the Modernization of International Commercial Arbitration). Beijing: Law Press.Google Scholar