On 6 Jan. 2022, in order to establish China’s first county-level one-stop dispute resolution platform for international commercial disputes, the Zhejiang Branch of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), Yiwu Primary People’s Court, Zhejiang, and the CCPIT Yiwu Committee of Zhejiang Province (CCPIT Yiwu) jointly signed the “Cooperation Agreement on One-stop Dispute Resolution through Litigation, Arbitration and Mediation” (hereinafter “the Agreement”, 關于訴訟、仲裁與調解一站式糾紛解決的合作協議) in Yiwu.
According to the World Bank, Yiwu International Trade City is the world's largest small commodities market.
Yiwu is only a county-level city, ranking at a relatively low administrative level in China. However, according to the World Bank, Yiwu International Trade City is the world's largest small commodities market.
Yiwu’s commodities are sold and shipped to the world, which gives rise to a large number of cross-border commercial disputes. This has provided the background of the Agreement.
The Agreement will witness China’s first county-level one-stop international commercial dispute resolution platform combining litigation, arbitration, and mediation.
It provides that for international commercial dispute cases falling within separate jurisdiction of those three dispute resolutions – litigation, arbitration, and mediation, the party may, where appropriate, choose one of them. Following this, the transferal will be processed until all the relevant procedures are complete. In this way, it would take the best of each dispute resolution mechanism.
Cover Photo by Aki on Unsplash
Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team
