Chen Bo
Deputy Secretary-General of china Maritime Arbitration Commission and Court of Arbitration
Vice President, Secretary General of China Maritime Law Association
Historically, Fujian was an important starting point and birthplace of the Maritime Silk Road. Under the Belt and Road Initiative, Fujian is positioned as the "core area of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road" and will continue to play its important role. Xiamen is located on the west bank of the Taiwan Strait, connecting the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta region from north to south, is an important outlet to the sea in China, the geographical location is very superior; Xiamen Port is located in the Far East to the Mediterranean, Europe, North America through the Taiwan Strait on the two major international routes, is an important hub for international shipping, is also one of the four major international shipping centers that China focuses on building. With the in-depth advancement of the construction of the national "Maritime Silk Road" and "Maritime Power", as an important fulcrum for the seamless connection between the "Maritime Silk Road" and the "Road Silk Road", Xiamen is carrying forward the great Silk Road spirit and ushering in new opportunities for open development. Globally, many internationally renowned cities have produced highly concentrated legal affairs agglomeration areas, radiating global legal service functions and nurturing a mature modern legal service industry. As one of the cities with the best business environment in China, building a high-level and international maritime commercial arbitration mechanism and a soft environment for legal services has become an indispensable part of Xiamen's deepening the practice of comprehensively governing the country according to law and the high-quality development of the city.
The China Maritime Arbitration Commission (CMARC) is the only national and international arbitration institution established within the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade on 22 January 1959 in accordance with the decision of the State Council of the People's Republic of China on November 21, 1958, and is the only national and international arbitration institution featuring the resolution of maritime, transportation and logistics disputes and covering all other commercial disputes. China Maritime Arbitration Commission is located in Beijing, with Shanghai headquarters, and branches or arbitration centers in Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Hainan, Qingdao, Dalian and Hong Kong SPECIAL Administrative Regions; among them, in order to strengthen the soft environment of Maritime and Maritime Legal Services in Fujian and provide more guarantees for the development of Fujian's open economy, China Maritime Arbitration Commission established the Fujian Branch and Fujian Free Trade Zone Arbitration Center in Fuzhou on December 29, 2015. Since its establishment, the Fujian Branch has continuously enlarged the function of public legal services, helped strengthen the risk prevention awareness of shipping enterprises in Fujian Province and the ability to apply international rules, enhanced the overall competitiveness of Fujian's maritime industry, and served the "Belt and Road" initiative and the "Marine Power" strategy. At the same time, in order to meet the needs of industry dispute resolution, the Maritime Arbitration Commission has 8 major business centers: the Maritime Mediation Center, the Logistics Dispute Resolution Center, the Fishery Dispute Resolution Center, the Aviation Dispute Arbitration and Mediation Center, the Metrology Dispute Arbitration Center, the Salvage Dispute Mediation Center, and the Construction Engineering Dispute Arbitration Center.
Handling foreign-related shipping disputes has always been the business advantage of the China Maritime Arbitration Commission, the number of maritime and maritime cases accepted ranks among the highest in the world, more than 65% of the cases accepted are foreign-related cases, and the parties involve more than 40 countries and regions in the world. In the past ten years, the China Maritime Arbitration Commission has accepted nearly 1,000 cases, with an amount in dispute of more than 10 billion yuan, involving ship construction, sale, transportation, insurance, salvage and other types of cases. In 2020, 111 cases were accepted. Among them, foreign-related cases accounted for 35% of the total number of cases received. The types of cases mainly include bill of lading transportation, crew labor, ship construction, ship collision disputes, etc., such as ship seaworthiness, fuel filling disputes and other new types of cases have emerged, and the parties come from 22 different countries and regions such as the United States, Norway, Russia, and Hong Kong.
In recent years, the China Maritime Arbitration Commission has adhered to the development concept of "big transportation, big logistics", upgraded its business, and its service scope has covered major navigable waters and major related industries, and the degree of internationalization of arbitration has been continuously improved.
Key initiatives include:
1. Innovate arbitration rules and build an international maritime arbitration service brand.
In order to meet the needs of business development, keep up with the pace of international maritime and commercial arbitration, and promote the professionalization, modernization and internationalization of arbitration, the China Maritime Arbitration Commission has revised the arbitration rules seven times since its establishment, and on the basis of summarizing its own practical experience, absorb advanced arbitration concepts to better provide arbitration services for the parties and enhance the credibility of arbitration.
The 2021 edition of the Arbitration Rules of the China Maritime Arbitration Commission came into effect on 1 October 2021, achieving a series of new breakthroughs and new highlights at the domestic level: First, further respect for the autonomy of the parties, optimize the composition of the arbitral tribunal and the recusal of arbitrators, if the parties can agree on the composition and number of arbitral tribunals, arbitrators may be selected outside the panel of institutional arbitrators, and if the parties are unable to jointly appoint the presiding arbitrator, the two arbitrators selected by the parties shall be jointly appointed The second is to effectively improve the transparency of arbitration, highlight the advantages of institutional arbitration in China, and build an organic combination of institutional management and independent adjudication of arbitral tribunals. For example, for the first time, a distinction between the case manager or case administrator and the secretary of the arbitral tribunal further clarifies the scope of responsibility between the institution and the arbitral tribunal to prevent conflicts of interest. The expert meeting system that has been effective in practice is clearly written into the rules, and stipulates that the expert opinions shall be decided by the arbitral tribunal on whether to adopt them; the third is to give the arbitral tribunal more flexible authority, strengthen its prudent adjudication obligations, promote the institutional arbitration from "heavy management" to "light management", and improve the credibility of arbitration; the fourth is to respond to changes in the times in a timely manner to meet the needs of practice, especially the profound changes brought by the new crown pneumonia epidemic to international arbitration, and technology is increasingly widely used in conventional arbitration procedures. The new rules make systematic provisions on electronic service, video hearings, electronic signatures, and network security and privacy and data protection; fifth, drawing on international experience, highlighting the characteristics of maritime arbitration systems, for example, for the first time explicitly making service to the captain of the ship concerned one of the methods of service of arbitration documents, further enriching the means of service of arbitration documents to meet the special needs of maritime arbitration practice; sixth, for the first time, the rules of evidence including witnesses, examiners or appraisers' questioning and cross-examination are provided for a more comprehensive manner. Fill in the gaps in the systematization of the existing laws and judicial practices related to the rules of arbitration evidence, so that the arbitral tribunal can correctly ascertain the facts of the case, smoothly advance the arbitration procedures, and ensure the legitimate rights and interests of the parties. Seventh, in terms of arbitration fees, it is clear that the parties may specifically agree to choose a fee method that separates the institutional management fee and the arbitrator's remuneration, so as to further integrate with international standards and increase transparency. Eighth, for the first time, it is clear that "the arbitration site law" is the benchmark and premise, and the limitation of liability clause is introduced, stipulating that unless otherwise provided by the arbitration site law, the arbitration institution and its staff, arbitrators, secretaries of the arbitral tribunal and experts appointed by the arbitral tribunal shall not be liable to the parties for arbitration-related acts.
2. Strengthen the construction of the team of arbitrators and develop synergy.
With the rapid development of the business, the China Maritime Arbitration Commission has expanded the team of professional talents in key areas in a timely manner. The new Panel of Arbitrators will be announced on 1 May 2021. There are 826 arbitrators on record, from 36 countries and regions. Among them, there are 703 arbitrators Chinese mainland, from 35 cities across the country, including 14 arbitrators from Fujian, and 123 arbitrators from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and foreign countries. This year's arbitrators are more complete in terms of professional fields and geographical distribution, and the composition ratio is more scientific, which can better meet the needs of arbitration practice.
3. Give full play to the advantages of the platform, and continuously enlarge the function of public legal services.
The first is to promote the formulation and revision of standard format contracts and serve the development of the industry. The second is to build a high-end exchange platform, the Maritime Arbitration Commission has held a number of online and offline meetings this year, including the "First China-Europe Express Rule of Law Forum", "Expert Review Meeting on Model Maritime Rescue and Salvage Contracts", "Symposium on the Stranding Incident of the Changzhi Ship", "High-level Seminar on China's Maritime Commercial Arbitration", etc., to jointly discuss the current hot spots and focus issues in the industry and interpret relevant legal issues.
Over the past 60 years, china maritime arbitration commission has relied on a professional and international team of arbitrators and rich experience in arbitration management, taken the initiative to serve the national strategy, provided arbitration legal services for the parties, and has been widely recognized by the domestic and international community for the independence, impartiality, professionalism and authority of the award, representing the international image of China's maritime arbitration. The China Maritime Arbitration Commission and the Fujian Branch will continue to give full play to the advantages of expert resource gathering to escort the construction and high-quality development of the Central Legal Affairs Area of the Silk Road.
Editor-in-charge: Wang Zixian
Review: Fang Chun Gao Qi
■ Hai Silk Central Legal District Kick-off Conference and The First Forum Held Yin Li attended and delivered a speech
■ Xiong Xuanguo stressed the effort to build the Hai Silk Road Central Legal Affairs Area into a "new model" for the rule of law in Fujian
■ Feng Guo's speech at the kick-off meeting and the first forum of the Haisi Central Legal Affairs District