The Dream Factory of China

The number of Macao-related commercial cases accepted by the Qianhai Cooperation Zone People’s Court has been increasing steadily in recent years, thanks to the extraterritorial law ascertainment and application mechanism established by the court.

Statistics provided by the court show that from 2015 to this November, the Qianhai court heard 7,650 commercial cases involving Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. The Macao-related cases accounted for 1.22 percent, or 93 cases, and the total amount involved reached 345 million yuan (US$ 49.4 million). More than half of the cases were related to private lending.

The court applied the laws of the Macao SAR in the trials of two of the 93 cases.

A staff member of the Qianhai court said that two defendants in two of the cases were Macao residents and both cases involved the property relationships between husband and wife. Thus, the law of the common residence of the couples (the law of Macao) was applied in accordance with the law.

It was the first time that the court has applied the law of Macao for trials. The two cases were also typical for the court to actively apply extraterritorial laws in cases involving other jurisdictions.

In the two trials, assisted by the extraterritorial law ascertainment and application mechanism, the judge ascertained and accurately applied the relevant laws of the Macao SAR, which protected the legitimate rights and interests of all parties on an equal footing, reflected the openness and tolerance of the socialist judicial system and provided judicial guarantees for the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the pilot demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Additionally, the Diversified Dispute Resolution Center established by the Qianhai court also hired five Macao-based mediators, four of whom are from Macao universities and have doctoral degrees.

Since they were appointed in 2018, the Macao mediators have participated in the mediation of 31 cases. Most of the cases were related to the financial field, with private lending disputes accounting for a large proportion, and there were also a small portion of disputes over sales contracts and equity transfer contracts.