CIETAC Opens Doors to Financial Arbitration

By Franki Cheung, Partner, Deacons, Hong Kong

The China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), China's oldest and most well-known arbitration body, recently released the Financial Disputes Arbitration Rules (Financial Arbitration Rules). The new rules became effective on May 8 2003. Issuance of the rules comes amid growing competition between Chinese arbitration institutions. According to statistics at hand, China's 133 arbitration institutions in 2002 heard a total of 17,959 cases, an increase of 48% over 2001. However, the 2002 annual report of CIETAC shows that CIETAC did not profit from the upsurge in cases: it accepted 684 cases in 2002, compared with 731 cases accepted the year earlier. The decline was mainly attributable to a drop in the number of foreign-related cases, which fell from 553 in 2001 to 468 last year. Domestic cases rose from 178 to 216 cases in the same period. On the positive side, the value of the amounts in dispute in CIETAC cases last year rose by about 6.9% to a total of Rmb11.283 billion despite the drop in the number of cases overall.

With reforms implemented in recent years, most domestic arbitration bodies in China can now hear foreign-related cases. CIETAC is no longer the sole venue that can arbitrate this type of dispute. Confronted with growing competition, CIETAC has over the years made various attempts to expand its jurisdiction. In 1998, the CIETAC Arbitration Rules were amended to permit CIETAC to hear cases involving foreign-invested enterprises. In 2000, CIETAC's jurisdiction was further expanded by a new amendment that permitted CIETAC to hear domestic disputes. CIETAC has also tried to diversify into new territory by becoming involved in other forms of alternative dispute resolution. In 2000 it established a Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre that is authorized to resolve disputes involving Internet domain names in China.