The Dream Factory of China

The Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA) was officially launched in Qianhai in September 2013. Since then, it has consistently handled both foreign-related and domestic disputes. From January 2015 to August 2016, they handled 898 arbitration cases, of these, the value of claims for the domestic cases reached a total of 12.171 billion yuan (US$1.83 billion) and that of foreign-related cases reached 15.8 billion yuan.

The court also helped initiate the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Mediation Alliance, whose 14 members include mediation institutions specializing in foreign trade, financial industries as well as those serving private companies. Coordinating these institutions from the three adjoining regions, the alliance, established

Dec. 7, 2013 in Qianhai, offers professional consultation and facilitates solutions to cases.

The first dispute it handled was successfully solved at SCIA at the end of 2014. Two Hong Kong merchants who had been doing business for a long time had a dispute on overdue loans worth some 50 billion yuan. The debtor, who invested the money unsuccessfully in mainland properties, was unable to pay back, but the creditor didn’t want to sue his friend, for he wanted to retain their long-term relationship and solve the case quickly.

Law Wai-hung, president of Hong Kong Mediation Center and designated mediator of the case, consulted with the debtor and creditor respectively before holding a meeting with both present and pushing for an agreement. The attorneys for both parties in this case, the mediator and the arbitrator all came from Hong Kong.

Of the several hundred arbitrators appointed by the SCIA, more than one-third are from overseas. Of these, 146 are based in Hong Kong and 88 are Hong Kong permanent residents.

The arbitrary award issued by the court can be enforced in more than 150 countries and regions.

“SCIA has done a lot in terms of legal innovations,” said arbitrator Shu Weidong, partner of China Commercial Lam Lee Lai (Qianhai) Law Firm. “Governments and industry associations need to work together to make the efforts known and to spread the practice to other parts of China.”