(Adopted at the Ninth Standing Committee
Session of the Eighth National People's Congress on August
31, 1994)
Table of Contents
Chapter I. General Principles
Chapter II. The Arbitration Commission and Arbitration Association
Chapter III. Arbitration Agreement
Chapter IV. Arbitration Procedure
Section 1. Application and Acceptance
Section 2. The Formation of an Arbitration Tribunal
Section 3. Hearing and Ruling
Chapter V. Request to Repeal a Ruling
Chapter VI. Execution
Chapter VII. Special Provisions for Arbitrations Involving
Foreign Concerns
Chapter VIII. Supplementary Articles
Chapter I. General Principles
Article 1. This law is formulated with a view to ensuring
fair and timely arbitration of disputes over economic matters,
safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the litigants
and guaranteeing the sound development of the socialist market
economy.
Article 2. Disputes over contracts or other disputes involving
property between civil subjects with equal status, that is,
between citizens, legal persons, and other organizations,
are subject to arbitration.
Article 3. Disputes over the following matters are not subject
to arbitration:
(1) disputes over marriage, adoption, custody, support and
inheritance;
(2) administrative disputes that by law should be handled
by administrative organs.
Article 4. Where the litigants choose to settle their dispute
through arbitration, they should reach an arbitration agreement
of their own accord. When, in the absence of an arbitration
agreement, a litigant applies for arbitration, the arbitration
commission shall not accept it.
Article 5. Where the litigants have an arbitration agreement
and one litigant brings a suit in the people's court, the
people's court shall not accept it. However, exception is
to be made when the arbitration agreement is invalid.
Article 6. The arbitration commission shall be chosen by
the litigants by agreement.
Arbitration is not subject to jurisdiction by level or territorial
jurisdiction.
Article 7. Arbitration shall be carried out on the basis
of act and in accordance with law to settle disputes in a
fair and rational manner.
Article 8. Arbitration shall be done independently, free
of interference and from administrative organs, mass organizations
or individuals.
Article 9. The system of one ruling only is practised in
arbitration. Where, after a ruling is made, a litigant files
another application for arbitration or brings a lawsuit in
the people's court over the same dispute, the arbitration
commission or the people's court shall not accept it.
Where a court repeals a ruling or orders it not to be executed
in accordance with law, the litigants may refile an application
for arbitration of the dispute pursuant with a new arbitration
agreement reached between the parties or bring a suit in the
people's court.
Chapter II. The Arbitration
Commission and Arbitration Association
Article 10. The arbitration commission may be set up in municipalities
directly under the central government or in cities where the
provincial or autonomous regional people's government is seated.
It may also be set up in other cities that are divided into
districts. It is not to be set up at all levels of administrative
divisions.
The people's government in the cities specified in the preceding
paragraph shall organize relevant departments and the chambers
of commerce to form the arbitration commission in a unified
way.
When an arbitration commission is set up, it shall register
with the judicial and administrative departments of the province,
autonomous region or municipalities directly under the central
government.
Article 11. The arbitration commission shall have the following
qualifications:
(1) its own name, domicile and articles of association;
(2) the required property;
(3) members that make up the commission; and
(4) arbitration officers retained by it.
The articles of association of the arbitration commission
shall be formulated pursuant to this law.
Article 12. The arbitration commission shall consist of one
director, two to four deputy directors and seven to 11 commission
members.
The director, deputy directors, and members of the arbitration
commission shall be held by legal, economic or trade experts
and persons with working experience. Legal, economic or trade
experts shall make up at least two- thirds of the arbitration
commission.
Article 13. The arbitration commission shall appoint fair-minded
and respectable persons as arbitration officers.
Arbitration officers shall have one of the following qualifications:
(1) have eight years of arbitration experience;
(2) have worked as a lawyer for eight years;
(3) have served as a judge for eight years;
(4) have studied law or engaged in educational work and have
a senior professional title; or
(5) have legal knowledge, worked in the fields of economics
or trade, and have a senior professional title or equivalent
professional expertise.
The arbitration commission shall compile the panel of arbitrators
by their specialities.
Article 14. Arbitration commissions are independent from
administrative organs; they are not subordinate to administrative
organs. There is no affiliation among arbitration commissions
themselves.
Article 15. The China Arbitration Association is a social
organization as a legal person. The arbitration commissions
are members of the China Arbitration Association. The articles
of association of the China Arbitration Association shall
be formulated by its national membership meeting.
The China Arbitration Association is an organization for
enforcing self-discipline among the arbitration commissions
that, pursuant to its articles of association, oversees violations
of discipline by the arbitration commissions and their members
and the administration officers.
the China Arbitration Association shall formulate arbitration
rules in accordance with the relevant provisions of this law
and the Law of Civil Procedure.
Chapter III. Arbitration
Agreement
Article 16. An arbitration agreement refers to an arbitration
clause provided in the contract or other written agreements
requesting arbitration concluded prior or subsequent to the
occurrence of disputes.
An arbitration agreement shall have the following contents:
(1) an expressed intent to request arbitration;
(2) items for arbitration; and
(3) the chosen arbitration commission
Article 17. An arbitration agreement shall be invalid in
any of the following circumstances:
(1) the items for arbitration agreed upon are beyond the
scope of arbitration as prescribed by law;
(2) a party to the arbitration agreement is a person having
no capacity or with limited capacity for civil conduct; or
(3) the arbitration agreement is imposed by one party on
the other party by means of coercion.
Article 18. Where an arbitration agreement does not specify
or clearly specify the items for arbitration or an arbitration
commission, the litigants may reach a supplementary agreement.
Where they fail to reach a supplementary agreement, the arbitration
agreement shall be deemed invalid.
Article 19. an arbitration agreement stands on its own. Modification,
rescission, termination of the contract or its being declared
invalid does not affect the arbitration agreement's validity.
The arbitration tribunal has the power to confirm the validity
of the contract.
Article 20. Where a litigant takes exception to the validity
of the arbitration agreement, he may request that the arbitration
commission make a decision or that the people's court make
a judgement.
Where one litigant requests that the arbitration commission
make a decision while the other litigant requests that the
people's court make a judgement, the people's court shall
make a judgement.
Where a litigant takes exception to the validity of the arbitration
agreement, he shall raise a challenge before the arbitration
tribunal starts the first hearing of the case.
The Second Part
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