China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and China Chamber of International Commerce, Arbitration Rules of the China Maritime Arbitration Commission (2014)

Adopted:November 4 2014

Effective:January 1 2015

Maincontents: The Rules add a provision giving partiesthe option to apply the arbitration rules of another arbitration institution(Article 4), a provision permitting the China Maritime Arbitration Commission,when necessary, to authorise the tribunal to render a decision on jurisdiction(Article 6), a provision permitting parties to agree on selecting arbitratorsnot appearing on the directory of arbitrators (Article 30), and a provisionpermitting a majority of arbitrators to continue the arbitration procedure(Article 38). They add provisions on the addition of parties (Article 18),suspension of a procedure (Article 50), consolidation of arbitration (Article19), consolidation of hearings (Article 49) and emergency arbitrators (Article27), revise the provisions on the constitution of tribunals by multiple partiesso as to maintain a balance in the selection of arbitrators by the parties(Article 33), reform the hearing method by permitting the tribunal, whilerespecting the provisions of the parties, to hear the case either by theinquisitorial method or adversarial method (Article 39), change the criterionfor the application of the summary procedure from the existing Rmb1 million toRmb2 million (Article 61) and add a special part entitled “Special Provisionsfor Hong Kong Arbitration” (Part Five). The Rues also adopt the internationallyaccepted fee method. In addition to the existing method of charging one lumpsum based on the subject matter of the dispute, as especially provided by theparties, they may also opt to apply the internationally accepted practice ofseparately charging an institution management fee and the remuneration of thearbitrators (Annex II).