35 Anniversary of Shenzhen International Arbitration and 60 Anniversary of the NY Convention

 

 

On the night of May 14, 2018, Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) held a commemorative event for the 60^th anniversary of the New York Convention and the 35^th anniversary of Shenzhen International Arbitration. Ms. Anna JOUBIN-BRET, Secretary of UNCITRAL, Mr. ZHANG Yongjian, Chief Judge of the Civil Adjudication Tribunal No. 4 of the PRC Supreme People’s Court and more than 150 guests from France, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and China have attended the event.

 

Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (also known as South China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, hereinafter, the “SCIA”), born out of China's reform and opening-up and the construction of Special Economic Zones, was established in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in 1983. Professor LI Xueling, one of the SCIA founders, reviewed the establishment of the international arbitration institution in Shenzhen at the beginning of China’s reform and opening-up with deep emotion.

 

Over the past 35 years, Shenzhen international arbitration has been committed to making continued exploration, pioneering endeavors and innovations to resolve commercial disputes independently, impartially and efficiently, giving impetus to Shenzhen’s development, the cooperation among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao and China's reform and opening-up.

 

The New York Convention, born in 1958, is short for the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. The convention has special significance for Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. In 1989, SCIA created a precedent for overseas enforcement of China’s arbitral awards in accordance with the New York Convention. This award is a milestone for China’s international arbitration. Ever since, China's arbitral awards have gone global. In 1999, the PRC Supreme People's Court and the HKSAR Government signed the Arrangements for Mutual Enforcement of Arbitral Awards between the Mainland and the Hongkong Special Administrative Region (the Arrangements) in Shenzhen. The Arrangements inherits the spirits of the New York Convention and conforms to the needs of "One Country, Two Systems", playing a unique role in maintaining the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and the smooth progress of China’s reform and opening-up.

 

 

Mr. SHEN Sibao, Chairman of SCIA and Mr. LIU Xiaochun, president of SCIA said in their remarks that SCIA would further strengthen its international cooperation, benchmark itself against global leading standards and build a hub of international arbitration, assuming more responsibilities in the development of new international economic and trade rules and orders, contributing China’s wisdom and China’s solutions as well as Shenzhen practice.