How to change the judgment of the country into a world "passport"? Many parties jointly discuss the recognition and enforcement of foreign civil and commercial judgments

China News Service Quanzhou, October 27 Title: How to change the judgment of the country into a "passport" for the world? Many parties jointly discuss the recognition and enforcement of foreign civil and commercial judgments

Author Xie Yanbing

Quanzhou, Fujian, the world's marine trade center in Song and Yuan China. From October 26 to 27, the Maritime Silk Road (Quanzhou) International Forum on Judicial Cooperation was held here. Representatives from 21 countries and 3 international organizations discussed international judicial cooperation in a combination of online and offline methods.

How can people from different jurisdictions turn their own judgments into a "passport" to the world? Representatives of all parties discussed "recognition and enforcement of foreign civil and commercial judgments".

The vision of all parties: to build legal bridges between countries along the "Belt and Road"

Based on the principle of State sovereignty in international law, a judgement rendered by a court of a State is enforceable only in that State and must be recognized and enforced by that State if it is to be effective in another State. In other words, the recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments is of great significance for international civil and commercial litigation.

With the continuous deepening of the "Belt and Road" construction, cross-border transactions and investments between equal civil and commercial entities will increase significantly, and international civil and commercial disputes will also increase. How to promote the cross-border recognition and enforcement of civil and commercial judgments, fairly and efficiently resolve cross-border economic and trade disputes, and change domestic judgments into world "passports" has become a proposition faced by judicial organs of various countries.

Hamid Abdnabawi, first president of the Supreme Court of Morocco and representative of the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Judicial Powers, responded to this proposition in his keynote speech at the forum, saying that the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" initiative connects China and the world by investing in infrastructure construction in countries along the Silk Road. This initiative will inevitably require the support of judicial cooperation and the establishment of legal bridges between countries along the Belt and Road to protect investment and trade and improve the effectiveness of the enforcement of judgments and judicial rulings.

In an exclusive interview with China News Agency, President of the Civil Tribunal of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia, I Gusti Agung Sumanash also pointed out the importance of communication and cooperation between the judicial organs of various countries, "helping to coordinate the judicial procedures of various countries, promoting the settlement of disputes, and also contributing to policy communication."

In his speech, President of the High Court of Justice of the Federative Republic of Brazil and Chairman of the Federal Judicial Council, Humberto Martins stressed that the establishment of legal bridges is "of vital importance for economic development and the internationalization of investment on a global scale".

China Practice: A total of 1,142 civil and commercial judgments of foreign courts were recognized and enforced in the past three years

Some commentators have pointed out that in recognizing and enforcing the civil and commercial judgments of foreign courts, China has always woven "bonds" and carved "channels". In recent years, Chinese courts have been committed to promoting international judicial cooperation in the recognition and enforcement of judgments by fulfilling their international treaty obligations, advocating the principle of "presumption of reciprocity", signing memorandums of understanding, and participating in the formulation of the Hague Judgment Convention.

Zhou Qiang, Chief Justice of China and President of the Supreme People's Court of China, said in his keynote speech that the Supreme People's Court of China has issued two opinions on providing judicial services and guarantees for the construction of the "Belt and Road", guiding the trial practice related to the construction of the "Belt and Road" and promoting the mutual recognition and enforcement of judicial judgments in countries along the route.

Tao Kaiyuan, vice president of the Supreme People's Court of China, used a set of data to show China's achievements in recent years in the forum's symposium: At present, China has signed bilateral judicial assistance agreements involving civil and commercial matters with 39 countries, and 38 of them have entered into force, of which 34 stipulate the conditions for recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments; from 2018 to 2020, courts across the country accepted 1301 applications for recognition and enforcement of civil and commercial judgments of foreign courts, and concluded 1226 cases, of which 1226 were concluded. 1,142 cases were recognized and implemented, involving more than 30 countries.

The reporter searched the case and found that in 2020, the "Picteau Fine Arts Co., Ltd. case" heard by the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court recognized and enforced the judgment of the Southern District Court of Seoul, South Korea; in 2019, the "Gulf Development Group Co., Ltd. Case" heard by the Wenzhou Intermediate People's Court in Zhejiang Province recognized the civil judgment made by the High Court of the Republic of Singapore.

Tao Kaiyuan said that chinese courts have recognized and enforced commercial judgments of courts in Singapore, the United States and other countries according to the principle of reciprocity, and the judgments of Chinese courts have also been recognized and enforced by courts in Germany, Singapore, the United States, Israel and other countries, creating a healthy and good cross-border enforcement environment for judgments.

Joint initiative: "This requires us to work together, not to go it alone"

At present, the cross-border enforcement of court decisions between States is fragmented and uneven. "Different jurisdictions apply different rules and the guiding principles are not always clear." Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Singapore, Maida Shun, said so.

In his keynote address, I Gusty Argon Sumanash agreed that the priority now is to build consensus among stakeholders, engage in regular dialogue, and agree on common goals and means to achieve them.

In terms of specific ways of international judicial cooperation, Mei Dashun proposed three ways: accession to international conventions, the conclusion of non-binding instruments, and indirect cooperation through participation in the work of regional and international legal bodies. "We are all defenders of the rule of law. This requires us to work together, not to go it alone. ”

Facing the future, Zhou Qiang said that Chinese courts are willing to work with all parties to continue to strengthen judicial exchanges and cooperation, improve the case exchange and sharing mechanism, the law application exchange mechanism, the judge training cooperation mechanism, etc., enhance the understanding and trust of each other's legal systems, build a new type of international judicial cooperation platform, and jointly serve to promote the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind. (End)

Source: China News Network