From Shenzhen to New York

—— the Second International Celebration of the 60 Anniversary of the New York Convention

On June 28, 2018 (local time), a commemorative conference on the 60 anniversary of the New York Convention was held at United Nations Headquarters in New York by United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). It was the world’s second special event following the conference jointly held by UNCITRAL and Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA) in Shenzhen, China, to commemorate the 60 anniversary of the New York Convention. As Shenzhen is a pioneer city in China's international arbitration, SCIA’s participation in this conference by the special invitation of Ms. Anna JOUBIN-BRET, Secretary of UNCITRAL, is of special significance. After the meeting, Secretary Anna JOUBIN-BRET expressed her special gratitude to SCIA Chairman SHEN Sibao and SCIA President LIU Xiaochun for their participation in this conference with SCIA delegation. Secretary Anna JOUBIN-BRET also expressed her appreciation of Shenzhen’s contribution to the further promotion and coverage of the New York Convention worldwide.

Secretary Anna JOUBIN-BRET taking photos with Chairman SHEN Sibao and President LIU Xiaochun

The New York Convention is short for the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. It is an international convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards signed at a United Nations conference in 1958. Under the New York Convention, arbitral awards of a signatory state can be recognized and enforced by courts of other signatory states, which makes international arbitration play a important role in the settlement of international disputes. In 1987, the New York Convention entered into force in China, and as of June 2018, there were 159 signatories to the Convention. In 1989, SCIA created a precedent for recognition and enforcement of China’s arbitral awards in foreign jurisdiction (Hong Kong) pursuant to the New York Convention; since then, China's arbitral awards have crossed the borderline and went global, and the arbitral awards of SCIA have been widely enforced abroad.

In the course of China's reform and opening-up, the New York Convention has special connections with both Shenzhen and Hong Kong. After the return of Hong Kong, the Arrangement Concerning Mutual Enforcement of Arbitral Awards between the Mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (the Arrangement), which inherits basic principles of the New York Convention, was signed by the PRC Supreme People's Court (SPC) and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government on June 21, 1999 in Shenzhen. The Arrangement was signed by Mr. SHEN Deyong, then Vice President of the SPC, and Ms. Elsie LEUNG, then Secretary for Justice of HKSAR (now SCIA Council Member) respectively on behalf of the SPC and HKSAR. According to the statistics released by HK judicial authority, SCIA has the highest number of arbitral awards enforced in HK pursuant to the Arrangement, and the enforcement of SCIA’s awards have never been refused by HK courts, indicating Shenzhen quality in China’s international arbitration and the support from HK courts for arbitration as well as the unique role of arbitration as a major channel for the settlement of cross-border disputes. On October 30, 2007, the Arrangement Concerning Mutual Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards between the Mainland and the Macao Special Administrative Region was signed by the Supreme People's Court and the government of Macao Special Administrative Region (Macao SAR). In the unique context of "one country, two systems and three jurisdictions", there has been long and lively practice of economic, trade and legal cooperation between the mainland and HK/Macao SAR based on the support for cross-border enforcement of arbitral awards, which is a basis for the continued prosperity and stability of the Guangdong-HK-Macao Great Bay Area and a reference for the development of “Belt & Road” dispute resolution mechanism. In appreciation of an important historic role played by "Shenzhen + Hong Kong" in the application of the New York Convention in China and the historic contribution from representative figures, a photo of Ms Elsie LEUNG, SCIA Council Member, was played at the conference of June 28 by UNCITRAL after consulting with SCIA. 

Ms. Elsie LEUNG

In the new era of China's reform and opening-up, the Supreme People's Court has issued a series of important measures to support the development of China's international arbitration in order to guarantee the effective application of the New York Convention in China. In order to serve and guarantee the development of "Belt & Road", in June 2015, the Supreme People's Court issued Opinion of the SPC on Providing Judicial Services and Guarantees for One Belt One Road, stating clearly "the New York Convention shall be correctly understood and applied, foreign commercial and maritime arbitral awards related to the construction of 'One Belt One Road' shall be enforced timely in accordance with laws, ...to support the development of arbitration”. Subsequently, the Supreme People's Court issued a series of views to further take a strong stance on enhancing the international competitiveness and credibility of China's dispute resolution mechanism, and actively adopt an inclusive judicial attitude in support of international arbitration, which has created an arbitration-friendly judicial atmosphere and made China a model of applying the New York Convention for the international community. In recent years, when countries such as Angola were considering acceding to the New York Convention, their delegations have visited SCIA to learn about Shenzhen practice in respect of enforcement of arbitral awards in China.

The commemorative conference coincided with the official unveiling ceremony of the SPC First International Commercial Court in Shenzhen. The international community has great expectation to China’s future application of the New York Convention, the attitudes of the newly established SPC First International Commercial Court to the New York Convention and the future interaction and cooperation between the SPC First International Commercial Court and SCIA in Shenzhen. 

Conference scenes

Conference scenes