The relevant provisions of the Supreme People's Court on the issue of submitting arbitration judicial review cases for review were adopted at the 1727th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on November 20, 2017. They are now promulgated and shall come into effect on January 1, 2018.

The Supreme People's Court

December 26th, 2017

Relevant Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on the Reporting and Verification of Arbitration Judicial Review Cases

(Interpretation [2017] No. 21)

In order to correctly handle arbitration judicial review cases, unify the judgment standards, protect the legitimate rights and interests of parties in accordance with the law, and safeguard the development of arbitration, this regulation is formulated in accordance with the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, the Arbitration Law of the People's Republic of China and other legal provisions, combined with judicial practice.

Article 1: The arbitration judicial review cases referred to in these regulations include the following cases:

（1） Apply for confirmation of the validity of the arbitration agreement case;

（2） Apply for the revocation of arbitration awards made by domestic arbitration institutions in China;

（3） Apply for the enforcement of arbitration awards from domestic arbitration institutions in China;

（4） Apply for recognition and enforcement of arbitration awards in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan region;

（5） Application for recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration awards;

（6） Other arbitration judicial review cases.

Article 2: Intermediate people's courts or specialized people's courts handling foreign-related arbitration cases involving Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan shall, after examination, determine that the arbitration agreement is invalid, refuse to execute or revoke the arbitration award of mainland China's arbitration institutions, refuse to recognize and execute the arbitration award of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan region, and refuse to recognize and execute foreign arbitration awards. They shall report to the higher people's court under their jurisdiction for verification; If the Higher People's Court intends to approve after review, it shall report to the Supreme People's Court for verification. After being reviewed by the Supreme People's Court, a ruling can be made based on the review opinion of the Supreme People's Court.

Intermediate people's courts or specialized people's courts handling non foreign-related arbitration cases involving Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan shall report to the higher people's court under their jurisdiction for verification if, after examination, they intend to determine that the arbitration agreement is invalid, refuse to execute, or revoke the arbitration award of an arbitration institution in mainland China; After being reviewed by the High People's Court, a ruling can be made based on the review opinion of the High People's Court.

Article 3: For non foreign-related arbitration cases involving Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan that are subject to judicial review as stipulated in the second paragraph of Article 2 of these Regulations, if the High People's Court intends to agree with the Intermediate People's Court or Special People's Court's determination of the invalidity of the arbitration agreement, refuse to execute or revoke the arbitration award of an arbitration institution in mainland China, it shall report to the Supreme People's Court for review in the following circumstances. After the Supreme People's Court reviews the case, it may make a ruling based on the Supreme People's Court's review opinion:

（1） The domicile of the parties involved in arbitration judicial review cases crosses provincial administrative regions;

（2） Refusing to execute or revoking arbitration awards of mainland Chinese arbitration institutions on the grounds of violating social public interests.

Article 4: For cases submitted by lower level people's courts to higher-level people's courts for review, the written report and case file materials shall be submitted together. The written report should clearly state the review opinions and specific reasons.

Article 5: If a higher-level people's court receives an application for review from a lower level people's court and considers that the relevant facts of the case are unclear, it may inquire with the parties or return the case to the lower level people's court to supplement and clarify the facts before reporting.

Article 6: The higher-level people's court shall reply to the lower level people's court with the review opinion in the form of a reply letter.

Article 7: In civil litigation cases, if a party is dissatisfied with a ruling made by a people's court regarding the validity of an arbitration agreement and refuses to accept, dismiss a lawsuit, or raise an objection to jurisdiction, and the second instance people's court intends to determine that the arbitration agreement is not established, invalid, ineffective, or the content is unclear and cannot be enforced after examination, it shall be reported to the higher people's court for review in accordance with the provisions of Article 2 of these Regulations. After review by the higher people's court, a ruling may be made based on the review opinion of the higher people's court.

Article 8: These regulations shall come into effect on January 1, 2018. In case of any inconsistency between the judicial interpretations previously issued by this court and these regulations, these regulations shall prevail.

Responsible Editor: Han Xuguang