Recently, the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, acting on a property preservation application submitted by a party to the South China International Arbitration Commission (HK), made a decision for interim measures in accordance with the provisions of the Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region” (hereinafter referred to as the Arrangement). This marked the first instance where the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court issued an order to preserve property under the Arrangement for an arbitration case administered by SCIAHK.
On 2 April 2019, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) of the People’s Republic of China and the Department of Justice (DoJ) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) signed the Arrangement in the HKSAR. The general principle of the Arrangement is to enable law courts in the Chinese mainland to similarly order interim measures for arbitral proceedings in Hong Kong same as such for those in the Chinese mainland. According to the Arrangement, parties to Hong Kong arbitral proceedings seated in Hong Kong, administered by arbitral institutions or permanent offices recognized, may apply to the Intermediate People’s Courts in the mainland for interim measures. These measures include property preservation, evidence preservation, and conduct preservation, based on the respondent’s place of residence, or location of property or evidence. Reciprocally, parties to mainland arbitral proceedings may apply to the courts in Hong Kong for injunctions and other interim measures.
On the day the Arrangement was signed, Vice-president of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) Mr Yang Wanming, stated that unlike other bay areas across the world, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area（GBA）has a unique characteristic of “one country, two systems, three jurisdictions.” This foreshadows that legal disputes involving different jurisdictions are inevitable during the development of the GBA, regional legal conflicts exist as objective reality, which calls for a sense of urgency to deepen inter-regional judicial assistance. The Arrangement is a practical method to support the development of Hong Kong’s legal services industry and to support to develop Hong Kong into an international legal and dispute resolution service center in the Asia Pacific region. It embodied a closer inter-regional judicial assistance under the backdrop of “one country, two systems” and judicial wisdom contributed by legal professionals from both regions to implementation of the policy of “one country, two systems” and enrichment of its practices. The former Secretary for Justice, Ms Teresa Cheng, SC, commented that the Arrangement provided a clear and effective legal mechanism for parties to Hong Kong arbitral proceedings to apply for interim measures to the People’s Courts in the Chinese mainland. It also confirmed that parties in Chinese mainland arbitration proceedings could apply to the Hong Kong Courts for interim measures according to existing laws. This would further enhance the competitiveness of the international arbitration services of the HKSAR.
SCIAHK is recognized and announced by SPC and DoJ as an arbitration institution that meets the provisions of Article 2(1) of the Arrangement - an arbitration institution "established in the HKSAR or having their headquarters established in the HKSAR, and with their principal place of management located in the HKSAR." With the approval of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, SCIAHK was established in Hong Kong by the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (also known as South China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, hereinafter referred to as the “SCIA”), making it the first independent arbitration institution established outside the jurisdiction of Chinese mainland by a mainland institution.
《Following the entry into force of the Arrangement, the SCIAHK and the SCIA have held several professional seminars in Mainland and Hong Kong, dedicated to promoting the implementation of the Arrangement in practices by the legal communities in both regions. On 14 October, 2022, the SCIAHK & SCIA as “Twin Cities, Two Centers” and DoJ co-hosted a seminar themed “Recent Development and Implementation of Arrangement Concerning Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings.” The Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC, stated at the seminar that the Arrangement significantly enhance Hong Kong's preponderance as a leading legal and dispute resolution center in the Asia Pacific region and encouraged parties to international contracts with mainland elements to choose Hong Kong as the arbitration seat.
Meanwhile, the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, for the first time, decided to order preservation measures for an arbitration case administered by the SCIAHK according to the Arrangement. This exemplified a step forward in the practice of convergence of rules and connection of legal mechanisms between Shenzhen and Hong Kong for the respective jurisdictions under the “one country, two systems” framework.
Posted on 29 May 2024
