WORKS OF CIETA

Work of CIETAC in 1994-1995

1.Admission and Conclusion of Cases

(1) 1994

    In 1994, CIETAC took cognizance of 829 cases, an increase of 70% over 1993, among which CIETAC (Beijing) admitted 600 cases, CIETAC (Shenzhen) 141 cases and CIETAC (Shanghai) 88 cases; and CIETAC concluded 574 cases, an increase of 95.5% over 1993, among which CIETAC (Beijing) concluded 430 cases, CIETAC (Shenzhen) 87 cases and CIETAC (Shanghai) 57 cases. Among the cases admitted by CIETAC, disputes arising from equity and contractual joint ventures amounted to 48.3%, which was a remarkable increase; disputes arising from international general sale of goods still occupied a fairly large proportion; the rest kinds were disputes arising from leasing, loaning, construction, real estate, securities and so on. All these cases admitted by CIETAC involved parties from 37 countries and regions, among which parties from Hong Kong and Macao amounted to 49.4%, Taiwan Province 1.6%, the U.S.A. 11% and other countries and regions 38%.

(2) January to June of 1995

    From January to June of 1995, CIETAC took cognizance of 430 cases, an increase of 37% compared with the same time of last year, among which CIETAC (Beijing) admitted 327 cases, CIETAC (Shenzhen) 54 cases and CIETAC (Shanghai) 49 cases; and CIETAC concluded 398 cases, an increase of 60%. During this period, CIETAC had 816 penning cases, among which CIETAC (Beijing) had 667 cases, CIETAC (Shenzhen) 79 cases and CIETAC (Shanghai) 70 cases. Apart from the above achievements, CIETAC adopted measures to strengthen the clear work on the long-pending cases admitted before 1993 and in the first half year of 1994. As a result, only 39 cases admitted before the end of 1993 and 37 cases admitted during January to May of 1994 are still pending, which shall be cleared before the end of this year.

2. the Characteristics of Hearing

    CIETAC's hearing on the foreign arbitration cases showed the following characteristics over the past one year.

1) the speed of hearing has been considerably quickened.

    With a premise of ensuring the quality of hearing, arbitrators and secretaries of the Secretarial of CIETAC made their own sense of time limit for hearing strengthened and their cooperation became more harmonious, which speeded up the carrying of arbitration proceedings. As the Arbitration Rules of CIETAC that became effective from June 1 of last year provides that an arbitration tribunal shall render an arbitral award within 9 months after the tribunal is formed and CIETAC may ratify to postpone this time limit if necessary, statistics on practice shows that 95% cases admitted by CIETAC can be accomplished within 9 months, a lot of cases have been finished even within around 6 months and most of the cases applied to Summary Procedure can be rendered awards within 3 months after the formation of a tribunal. Apart from the above point, the secretaries and the other working staffs of the Secretariat of CIETAC should be specifically praised for their responsible and steady attitude toward work, who always put their extra hours into work and always worked overloadedly.

2) The number of cases that arbitrators from Hong Kong and foreign countries were formed into an arbitration tribunal to hear remarkably arised.

    As to the most of the cases in which the tribunals were formed during the period from 1994 to the first half of this year and in which the parties have appointed arbitrators from America, Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, oral hearings have been held and the arbitral awards have been rendered. All the work done above has produced a positive effect on promoting the understanding and cooperation between Chinese and foreign arbitrators, speeding up the realization of modernization and internationalization and publicizing China's policy of economic reform and opening to the outside world. A lot of arbitrators after hearing think that the Chinese arbitrators with whom they have cooperated are first class arbitrators and the service provided by CIETAC is also first class and practice of arbitration in China is consistent to the practice of the international commercial arbitration institutes on the one hand, meanwhile it has its own characteristics on the other hand and above all it is handled truly independently and impartially.

3) the cases admitted are becoming more and more complicated and the degree of difficulty of the cases is increased.

    Among the cases admitted by CIETAC, disputes especially arising from equity and contractual joint ventures, compensation trade and general sale always involved very wide fields and embodied very complicated questions. As to some of the questions, law hasn't been made yet or can't provide definite answers yet, therefore it is very difficult for the tribunal to define the responsibility of breach and the cases needed to be discussed jointly by the tribunal for several times or be submitted to the Expert Consulting Committee for their opinions. The situation always led to the suspension of the time limit for the hearing and some awards can only be rendered in accordance with the opinions of the majority of the tribunal.

4) the number of objection to the jurisdiction of CIETAC and the venue of admission of the disputes haven't declined

    In the year 1994, the Arbitration Commission made 25 decisions on jurisdiction, and 10 resolutions on the objection to acceptance suits of the cases. From January to the end of June of 1995, the Arbitration Commission has already given 15 decisions on jurisdiction. The Arbitration Commission adopted careful measures in handling the objections to jurisdiction raised by the parties, and at the same time paid great attention to coordinate with the court of law. If it is within the jurisdiction of the Arbitration Commission, the Commission will make it clear; if the arbitration clause between the parties is ambiguous, the Commission will suggest them to improve the clause or reach a new written arbitration agreement; if the parties have not agreed to arbitration Commission, the parties will be suggested to seek other resolutions to settle their disputes. With regard to the objections to acceptance situs, the Arbitration Commission may render decisions according to Article 12 of the Arbitration Rules.

3. Amending the Arbitration Rules and Improving the Administration

    In order to meet the needs of China's reform and opening policy and the realization of modernization and internationalization of foreign-related arbitration in China, after a comparatively long time of research and investigation and repeated amendments to the draft rules, and with the adoption from the Standing Committee of the China Chamber of International Commerce (China Council for the Promotion of International Trade) on March 17, 1994, a new Arbitration Rules, which embodies the principle of party's autonomy and further refers to the common practice in the world, came into force from June 1, 1994. At the same time of implementing the new Rules, the Arbitration Commission enlarged its appointments of arbitrators, and made a new Panel of Arbitrators. These two measures produced positive influence both home and abroad and were well received. Also China's legislation in arbitration took reference from our Arbitration Rules, which certainly extended the influence of the Arbitration Commission and promoted the further development of foreign-related arbitration work.

    On May 6, 1994, the Commission Members' Meeting of the Arbitration Commission adopted the Resolution on Implementation of the Arbitration Rules and Speeding up the Case Handling Procedures, as well as amended the Arbitrator's Code of Ethics and the Secretary's Code of Conduct. Besides, the Commission established the systems of the Chairmen's meeting, the Secretaries-General's meeting, the arbitrators' seminar, the arbitral tribunal's deliberation and the experts consulting meeting, etc.

    The establishment and implementation of these regulations and systems have brought positive effects to standardize and guarantee the organization work of the Arbitration Commission, the arbitration procedure management and independent and impartial trying of the case, and have accelerated the process of modernization and internationalization, therefore our foreign-related arbitration work has "caught the pace of the world standard", as commented by Mr. Plantey, Chairman of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration(ICCA). In June of 1994, Dr. Herreman, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Council of International Trade Law(UNCITRAL), said that the arbitration work of China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission(CIETAC) was quite fruitful. The Arbitration Commission is also highly appraised by the parties at home in China.

4. Enforcement of the Arbitration Awards

    As far as we know, to the arbitration awards rendered by the Arbitration Commission, most of the parties could execute the awards voluntarily; in case a small number of parties would not carry out the awards by themselves, the opposite parties could apply to the competent court which has the jurisdiction for mandatory enforcement. So far, CIETAC awards have been recognized and enforced in China, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Germany, France, the United States, Canada and etc.

    Regarding the arbitral awards which have been applied for enforcement in China, in general, the People's Court can effect the mandatory enforcement in accordance with the law to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the parties and guard the sanctity of the law. However, it is true that a few cases have been refused enforcement due to the procedural questions existed, and it is equally true that a small number of local People's Court have improperly refused enforcement of the arbitral awards. We must pay great attention to these phenomena. On one hand, the arbitration tribunals shall handle the cases strictly in conformity with the arbitration proceedings to guarantee the quality; on the other hand, we must strengthen our coordination with the law courts. It is said that the People's Supreme Court would adopt according measures to promote the enforcement of arbitral awards. We believe that the phenomena of improper refusal for enforcement of the arbitral awards will surely be changed little by little.

5. Research and Publicizing Work, Foreign Contacts and Cooperations

    In order to develop both theoretical and practical research work of arbitration, since 1994, the Arbitration Commission, making full use of its accumulated experiences and materials over the years, edited and published respectively the Second Volume of External Arbitration and Law, Year Book of Foreign-Related Arbitration in China(1993-1994), Comprehensive Study of the Arbitration Law of the People's Republic of China, Journal on Arbitration and Law(1-6 in 1994, 1-3 in 1995), Bulletin of Arbitration Research Institute(1-7 in 1994, 1-4 in 1995). International Arbitration in the People's Republic of China, the first English monograph in the world introducing the foreign-related arbitration in China, was recently published by a foreign publishing house. And the English version of Collections of Arbitral Awards will soon be published. In addition, the Arbitration Commission has carried out some subject research work, such as to look at the questions existed in the foreign economic and trade transactions from foreign-related arbitration, the investigation on enforcement of the foreign-related arbitral awards, and the problem of mutual enforcement for arbitral awards rendered in mainland China and Hong Kong special administrative region, and etc.

    In June of 1994, the Arbitration Commission together with International Council of Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) successfully co-sponsored in Beijing the 1994 International Conference on Commercial Arbitration. In August, the 1994 Seminar on Arbitrators' Practice was held in Beijing. In March this year, the Arbitration Commission organized the Presiding Arbitrators Seminar for the first time.

    With respect to the development of foreign contacts and cooperations, in January of 1994, we hosted Dr. Herreman, Executive Secretary of UNCITRAL. In March, the Commission sent its representatives to Hong Kong to attend the Seminar on International Arbitration co-sponsored by International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre. We also received Mr. Plantey, Chairman of ICCA, in our Shenzhen Sub-Commission. In April, we had a British lawyers delegation visiting our Commission. In July, the Commission sent persons to the United States to participate in the Arbitration Seminar sponsored by American Private Judgement Centre in Duke University. And in the same month, a Swedish delegation visited Beijing. In November, delegates from the Commission attended the 12th ICCA International Conference on Commercial Arbitration in Vienna and Seminar on Arbitration in Asia-Pacific Region held in Japan. In June, 1994, the Arbitration Commission signed bilateral cooperation agreements with the arbitration institution of Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Thailand respectively.

6. Taking an Active Part in Domestic Arbitration Legislation and the Reorganization of Domestic Arbitration Institutions

    Since 1991, the experts concerned of Arbitration Commission had been working hard for the drafting of the Arbitration Law and had put forward many important proposals for the legislation of arbitration. After the Arbitration Law was promulgated in 1994, they began to participate in the drafting of the plan for reorganization of domestic arbitration institutions and the model arbitration rules, charter of association and the ethical rules of the arbitrators. In March this year, the Arbitration Commission, together with the Legal Work Committee of the People's Congress and the Legal Bureau of the State Council, held the Experts Seminar on Arbitration Law and the Seminar on Arbitration Law to promote the publicity of the Arbitration Law and the development of the reorganization work of domestic arbitration commission.

1. Quantum of Cases Admitted and Concluded

2. Types of Disputes(Taking CIETAC Beijing Headquarters as an Example)

(1) Types of Disputes Admitted

(2) Types of Disputes Concluded

(3) Conclusion Forms

3. Characteristics

    The cases entertained by CIETAC in 1995 are characterized as follows:

1. Disputes involved are of wider range. The disputes not handled before crop up and are on the increase. The caseloads of disputes concerning real estates, securities, intellectual property rights, credit, guarantee and leasing increases in 1995 while the number of cases of disputes concerning equity joint ventures and contractual joint ventures decreases a little bit.

2. The disputed amount is growing. For instance, CIETAC Beijing Headquarters receives five cases, each of which the disputed amount of claim in more than RMB 100 million Yuan, the biggest one amounts to Japanese Yen 5.7 billion.

3. The disputes involved become more complicated in nature, with more and more legal issues and other professional problem. The proportion of successful conciliation has dropped 7.4% compared with that of 1994.

4. The nationalities of parties become more diversified. The parties come from a greater variety of countries and regions, the number of which reaches 45 in 1995.

Working in 1996

1. The caseload declined a little, and the number of cases concluded surpassed the number of newly accepted cases

    In 1996, CIETAC took cognizance of 778 cases, among which 543 were admitted by the Beijing Headquarters, 147 by the Shenzhen Sub-commission and 88 by the Shanghai Sub-commission. Compared with the caseload of 902 in 1995, the number of cases newly admitted declined a little. However, the claiming amount increased to RMB 1.4 billion.

    Among the case admitted by CIETAC, disputes arising from general sales of goods were 427, amounting to 54.88%; disputes arising from equity and contractual joint ventures were 259, amounting to 33.29%; and there were other disputes concerning leasing transaction, construction contracts, decoration projects, real estate, industrial property, security, processing production and compensation trade, etc. Parties in disputes involved 47 countries and regions, of which about 47.3% came from Hong Kong and Macao, and 4.6% from Taiwan.

    In 1996, CIETAC totally concluded 797 cases, among which CIETAC (Beijing) concluded 569 cases, CIETAC (Shenzhen) 151 cases and CIETAC (Shanghai) 77 cases. Of all these cases, 636 cases were concluded by the rendering of an award, amounting to 79.82%, while 48 cases by a consent award and 113 cases by withdrawal of parties, constituting 6.02% and 14.16% respectively.

    It should be noted that, for the first time, the number of cases concluded in 1996 surpassed the number of cases newly admitted. This not only indicates that we have great achievements in clearing the long-pending cases admitted before, but also shows that we have strictly adhered to the time limit for proceedings stipulated in the Arbitration Rules, and have speeded up the arbitration proceedings remarkably.

2. Strengthen the procedural management and improve the quality of case-handling

    In order to improve the quality of case-handling, CIETAC took effective measures to strengthen the procedural management. In 1996, CIETAC Beijing, the headquarters, CIETAC Shenzhen and CIETAC Shanghai sub-commissions, in order to meet the requirements of the Arbitration Act and the Arbitration Rules, drafted new model procedural letters, unified the arbitration conducts, strengthen the supervision and management over procedure and increased the working efficiency.

    In 1996, CIETAC issued such rules as the Provisional Regulations on Investigation and Obtaining Evidences outside Beijing, and the Rules on the Actual Expenses for Non-local arbitrators to Hear Case in Beijing, improved financial management, and adopted measures to bring into play the initiatives of arbitrators and staff members of the Secretariat for hearing cases.

    So as to improve the quality of arbitral awards, the new Rules of CIETAC forms an examination system of the drafted award, i. e. the drafted awarded shall be submitted to CIETAC for examination before arbitrators sign it. Examination groups of the drafted award were formed in CIETAC (Beijing) and its two Sub-commissions accordingly. The groups strictly control the procedures, so as to avoid or decrease the problems and flaws which may arise in an award. CIETAC made full use of its Expert-consulting Meeting. The Expert-Consulting Meeting were held regularly to study the difficulties in the arbitration practice, and made its suggestions on specific cases for the reference of the arbitration tribunal without interfering the independence of arbitrators. The regular meetings were held six times by CIETAC in 1996, and ten times or so in small scale and irregularly, producing productive results. In general, due to the hard work of the arbitrators, experts and staff of the CIETAC Secretariat, the quality of foreign-related arbitration case-handling were effectively ensures, and the impartiality of our arbitration were widely accepted by the society as well as both domestic and foreign parties

3. progress in research and publicity work

    The year of 1996 is the 40 th anniversary of the establishment of CIETAC. On April 2, 1996, CIETAC held a Symposium to commemorate its 40th anniversary in the Great People's Hall. Mr. Wang Hanbin, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Mr. Ren Jianxin, Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China, the Honorary Chairman of CIETAC, and many consultants, committee members and arbitrators of CIETAC attended the Symposium. Mr. Wang Hanbin and Mr. Ren Jianxin made important speeches and highly appraised CIETAC's achievements and contributions to China's arbitration cause. Such famous international arbitration institutions as WIPO Arbitration Center, International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), ICC International Court of Arbitration, Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, London Court of International Arbitration, American Arbitration Association, Hong Kong International Arbitration Center, sent messages and letters of congratulation to CIETAC. And such newspapers as the People's Daily, the Legal Daily and the International Commerce made special report on the Symposium. The grand Symposium further enlarged CIETAC's influence both at home and abroad, and encouraged us to devote more efforts to develop China's arbitration cause.

    In 1996, CIETAC edited and published six issues of Journal on Arbitration and Law, ten issues of bulletin of Arbitration Research Institute, Year Book of Foreign Related Arbitration in China, and carried out some subject researches on important issues, such as the mutual enforcement of arbitral awards between the mainland and Hong Kong after the return of Hong Kong to China on July 1, 1997, and the possible ways to settle economic and trade disputes between the mainland and Taiwan.

    CIETAC made arbitration and China's Arbitration Act widely known in such press media as CCTV, and at the same time present itself to the society. Some staff members of the Secretariat were invited to made speeches in colleges, universities and foreign trade enterprises, to promote arbitration and its usage. In the meantime, staff of CIETAC made careful researches and published tens of papers in foreign academic publications.

4. Achievements in training

    In October, 1996, CIETAC held the 1996 Seminar on the practice of arbitrators. About 150 arbitrators from different parts of China attended the Seminar. At the Seminar, the importance of independence and impartiality of arbitrators was emphasized, and profound discussions were made on such issues as skills in hearing and how to decide on damages.

    CIETAC pays high attention to the training of its staff members of the Secretariat. A seminar was held among the staff members of the Secretariats of the CIETAC Headquarters and its two Sub-commissions, at which discussions on issues arising from arbitration proceedings were carried out. The Secretariat very often invited some domestic and foreign experts and scholars to give lectures to the staff members as well.

    In order to foster arbitrators reserve, the China Commercial Arbitration Training Center was set up under the sponsorship of the Arbitration Research Institute of CIETAC and the Business Management Institute of MOFTEC. The first Arbitration Training Session was held in August 1996. Nearly 100 lawyers and practitioners in the legal fields from Asian-pacific region as well as different parts of China were present for the training. They highly appraised the works of the Center. This further enlarged CIETAC's influence both at home and abroad.

5. Further enlarge foreign exchange and cooperation

    In the middle of July 1996, CCPIT/CCOIC sent a delegation to Russian Federation and Mongolia, and signed the Cooperation Agreement between Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Russian Federation and CCPIT/CCOIC on Commercial Arbitration, the Arbitration Cooperation Agreement between CIETAC and Mongolian Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Conciliation Agreement (draft) between CCPIT/CCOIC and Mongolian Chamber of Industry and Commerce. These agreements are important to the economic and trade relations between China and Russia and Mongolia. They provide an effective way for settling economic and trade disputes between parties from China and the above two countries, and create favorable conditions for promoting the wholesome developments of mutual economic and trade relationship.

    In October 1996, CIETAC sent a delegation to Seoul to attend the Midterm International Conference of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration. The subject report on combination of arbitration and conciliation raised by our delegation was well received.

    In the end of November and the early December 1996, CIETAC organized an arbitration investigation group to visit Sweden and France, which helped to absorb foreign arbitration institutions' management experiences and the arbitration practices, introduced and publicized China's arbitration laws and practices. This deepened the mutual friendship and cooperation between China and the two countries.

    Additionally, CIETAC hosted personnel in the fields of law and arbitration coming from Swiss, Australia, Sweden, Korea, Japan, United States, etc, exchanged experiences and drew on each other's merits.

1.Admission and Conclusion of Cases

    From 1995 to 1997, CIETAC totally took cognizance of 2404 cases and concluded 2301 cases, which set a record in its history. The number of cases admitted annually continuously ranked the first position among all international commercial arbitration institutions of the world for this three years. In 1997, CIETAC totally admitted 723 cases, among which 490 were admitted by the Beijing headquarters, 123 by the Shenzhen Sub-commission and 110 by the Shanghai Sub-commission. Compared with the 778 admitted cases in 1996, the number of cases newly admitted declined a little.

    Among the cases admitted by CIETAC in 1997, disputes arising from general sale of goods were 387, amounting to 53.45% of the total; disputes arising from equity and contractual joint ventures were 245, amounting to 33.84%; and there were other disputes concerning leasing transaction, construction contracts, decoration, real estate, intellectual property, agency and compensation trade, etc. Parties in disputes came from 44 countries and regions, of which about 41.57% came from Hong Kong and 12.29% from U.S.A. The other countries and regions in order of number of disputes involved are South Korea, Japan, Tai wan, Singapore, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and Russia, etc.

    In 1997, CIETAC concluded 764 cases, among which CIETAC headquarters (Beijing) concluded 558 cases, CIETAC (Shenzhen) 121 cases and CIETAC (Shanghai) 85 cases. Of all these cases, 606 cases were concluded by the tribunal's rendering of an award, amounted to 79.2% of the total; 117 cases by withdrawal pursuant to agreements of parties and 41 cases by consent awards based on conciliation, constituting 15.31% and 5.37% respectively. By the end of 1997, CIETAC had totally 684 pending cases.

    Like the circumstance in 1996, the number of cases concluded in 1997 surpassed the number of cases newly admitted in the year. CIETAC has already finished its work in clearing the long-pending cases admitted before. And most of the cases could be concluded within 9 months after the date of the formation of the arbitration tribunal according to the time limit set in the Arbitration Rules. We have speeded up the arbitration proceedings with the quality of case-handling ensured.

    CIETAC's handling of cases in 1997 showed the following characteristics:

1) The types of disputes and the scope involved in cases became more extensive. Though disputes arising from general sale of goods and equity and contractual joint ventures still occupy a considerable percentage, the number of such new kinds of disputes concerning credit, leasing transaction, real estate, intellectual property, share transfer, contract management, agency and compensation trade increased.

2) The claiming amount has increased. Compared with the caseload of 778 in 1996, the caseload of 723 in 1997 declined a little. However, the claiming amount increased to RMB 4.22 billion.

3) The cases became much more difficult. Not only more and more complicated legal issues were involved, but more professional matters showed out in some cases as well. Many specific problems were submitted to experts for their appraisal or suggestions, and more and more legal and procedural issues were submitted to the Expert-Consulting Meeting for discussion.

4) The procedural problems of some cases tended to be more complicated. The number of challenges raised by parties or their arbitration agents as to jurisdiction, qualification as principal or the arbitration site also increased. And such issues as the difficulty in serving documents or initiative delay in procedure happened some times.

2. Improving working condition and perfecting working system

    On July 1, 1997, CIETAC moved to its new office building. At the beginning of 1998, Shanghai Sub-commission started its work in a new office building and Shenzhen Sub-commission will also make its office removal soon. At the same time, CIETAC had its working equipment modernized, with each staff member having a micro-computer. CIETAC is also putting efforts to conduct its management through computer network.

    According to the Arbitration Rules, CIETAC established and perfected a review system of the form of the drafted award in order to strictly control the arbitration proceedings, avoid or decrease the problems and flaws which may appear in an award as much as possible so as to improve and guarantee the quality of arbitral awards. In the meantime, CIETAC made full use of its Expert-Consulting Meeting. The regular and irregular Expert-Consulting Meeting were held seventeen times in 1997, at the request of the arbitration tribunal on those substantive or procedural difficulties in the arbitration practice, which made its suggestions for the reference of the arbitration tribunal. The works of the Expert-Consulting Meeting play a positive and important role in improving and guaranteeing the quality of arbitral awards.

3. Great achievements in professional training

    In order to promote the summarization and exchange of working experiences among arbitrators, and strengthen the training of arbitrators, CIETAC holds the Seminar on the practice of arbitrators every year. The subjects for discussion of the 1997 Seminar were the regulations and standards of the arbitrators' conduct and some arbitration procedural difficulties. Most arbitrators made profound discussions on how to be independent and impartial when hearing cases.

    CIETAC, on one hand, invites some experts or professors to give lectures to the staff members of the Secretariat as well as sending persons abroad for training, on the other hand, holds an annual seminar of the staff members of the Secretariats of CIETAC headquarters and its two Sub-commissions. Those seminars also strengthened the training of the secretaries of the arbitration cases. The staff members made discussions on matters they met in arbitration proceedings, from which improving their own vocational quality and working ability. The Seminar is also positive to coordinate and unify the exact arbitration conducts of the secretariats of CIETAC and its two submissions.

    In 1996, CIETAC, in the name of the Arbitration Research Institute of CIETAC, together with the Business Management Institute of MOFTEC, set up the first arbitration training organization in the Asian-Pacific region, i.e. the China Commercial Arbitration Training Center. The Center is geared to the needs of the Asian-Pacific region. On the basis of high quality training, the Center holds one Arbitration Training session every year. About 80 students received training in every session. The Center makes its active contributions to forester the reserve of arbitrators, arbitration agents and legal consultants for companies. Its works were highly appraised. The next Training Class will be held in Xia Men at the end of May, 1998.

4. Publicity and Research

    During the period of the 13th Committee, we strengthened the publicity and research work, further enlarged the influence of CIETAC both at home and abroad.

    The Journal on Arbitration and Law and the Bulletin of Arbitration Research Institute edited and published by CIETAC regularly, have introduced in time the information of arbitration and legal circles as well as other relevant important activities, and have provided a place for arbitration or legal practitioners to discuss and exchange opinions on some theoretical and practical issues. Additionally, CIETAC made China's Arbitration Act and some relevant knowledge and arbitration cases widely known by such newspapers as the People's Daily , the China Daily, the International Business, the China Trade News and the China Economy and Trade Magazine, as well as such press media as the broadcasting stations and the TV stations, and publicized CIETAC as well. Staff of CIETAC made careful researches and published books or subject articles in Hong Kong or foreign countries. In 1998, CIETAC started a special column in the International Business for publishing articles concerning arbitration and making subject researches.

    CIETAC actively sent representatives to attend both international and domestic conferences to enlarge the influence of CIETAC. They participated in some relevant international conferences and made subject speeches. CIETAC also sent persons to attend such meetings held in China as the Seminar on China's Commercial Law hosted by ICC China, the Seminar on ICC Model International Sales Contracts, the Annual Meeting on China's International Private Law and the Annual Meeting on International Economic Law, etc.. Through attending these meetings, CIETAC promoted the exchange with both international and domestic legal circles, arbitration circles and some other relevant circles, and enlarged the influence of CIETAC both at home and abroad.

5. Enlarge to Engage Arbitrators

    In consideration that the parties from more and more countries and regions are involved in the arbitration conducted by CIETAC, and in order to modernize its arbitration and provide for parties with an extensive choice of arbitrators, CIETAC enlarged and revised its Panel of arbitrators last year, including 27 new domestic arbitrators and 51 new foreign arbitrators. At present, there are totally 418 arbitrators, including 281 Chinese arbitrators, amounted to 67%, 137 arbitrators from Hong Kong and foreign countries, amounted to 33%. There are a certain number of cases of which the arbitration tribunal was constituted with foreign or Hong Kong arbitrators for every year. Some of them were chosen as the presiding arbitrators of the arbitration tribunal. We believe that more and more foreign arbitrators or arbitrators from Hong Kong region will be appointed as an arbitrator to hear cases admitted by CIETAC in the future.

6. Foreign Exchange and Cooperation

    From 1995 to 1997, CIETAC signed arbitration cooperation agreements with the Cairo Regional Arbitration Center of Egypt, the Industrial and Commercial Chamber of Russian Federation, the Mongolian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Arbitration Institute of Croatian Chamber of Industry and Commerce as well as the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. In accordance with the above Agreements, CIETAC will strengthen exchange and cooperation with these institutes on international arbitration, and promote the wider usage of arbitration. At present, CIETAC is carrying out negotiations with Kazakhstan Chamber of Industry and Commerce and some other relevant organizations for the signing of cooperation agreements.

    In 1997, CIETAC held two international arbitration seminars together with other international arbitration institutions. On October 6th, 1997, the Seminar on International Arbitration of China and Sweden co-sponsored by CIETAC and the Arbitration Institute of Stockholm Chamber of Commerce was held in Beijing. More than one hundred representatives from domestic organizations, big companies and law firms attended the Seminar. The Seminar put emphasis on the features and problems of the international arbitration proceedings of the two countries and produced good result. Many newspapers made subject reports on the Seminar. On October 28, the Seminar on how to help French enterprises to settle their commercial disputes in China co-sponsored by CIETAC and France-China Economic Association was held in Paris. The speeches on how to conduct arbitration, conciliation and litigation procedure made by our representatives were well received.

    During the 13th Committee, CIETAC hosted for hundreds person-times the personnel in the fields of law and arbitration coming from United States, Britain, Sweden, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and the European Union, etc., made discussions on matters concerning arbitration and exchanged experiences.

7. Exchange and Cooperation with the People's Courts

    CIETAC strengthened its cooperation with the People's Courts of the place where CIETAC is located, made discussions and researches on the issue of setting aside or enforcing an arbitral award, and improved the mutual understanding and communication. In 1997, CIETAC sent representatives to attend or independently hosted seminars or forums, and have already reached common understandings on such issues as the effects of some arbitration clauses with the personnel from the relevant department of the People's Courts.

    The enforcement of arbitral awards is always one of the deep concerns of the parties to arbitration or the relevant organizations. In order to find out the enforcement of the arbitral awards made by CIETAC in China, the Arbitration Research Institute of CIETAC sent investigation letters to more than 300 intermediate or high Courts of the country last year. In light of the reply received so far, most of the arbitral awards had been enforced in general, only a very small percentage of awards were refused enforcement or set aside. This shows that our arbitration is of good quality and the People's Courts give great support to foreign-related arbitration. However, among the awards refused enforcement or set aside by the People's Courts, some did have mistakes, while some were rejected or set aside only because that the People's Courts did not fully understand arbitration, or the Courts interpreted the laws too strictly, or even because the Courts were influenced by local protectionism. Therefore, we shall, on one hand further perform our works and improve the quality of arbitral awards, on the other hand communicate and cooperate with the Courts.

1. Admission and Conclusion of Cases

    During the year 1998, CIETAC took cognizance of 678 cases of which 451 were heard by its Beijing headquarters and 116 and 111 by its Shenzhen and Shanghai sub-commissions respectively. Compared with the 723 cases admitted in 1997, the number of cases has slightly dropped. On the other hand, in terms of claiming amount, the period of 1998 leads by a big margin, reaching 6.115 billion RMB. Compared to the 4.22 billion RMB record of 1997, this number has added an extra 44.9%.

    Among the cases admitted by CIETAC Beijing headquarters and its sub-commissions, disputes arising from general sale of goods amounted to 219, or 32.3% of all cases; and that from joint ventures totaled 225, accounting for 33.2% of the total caseload. The rest covered disputes concerning financing and leasing, construction projects, real estate, agency and processing with provided materials, processing with provided samples, assembly with provided parts and compensation trade, etc. The parties involved came from 47 countries and regions, those from Hong Kong accounting for 41% and those from the US for 8%. Other countries with considerable involvement are, in order of number of disputes, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Australia, the region of Taiwan, Germany, Canada, the UK, Switzerland, Russia, Italy, and New Zealand, etc.

    For the period of 1998 the Commission concluded 736 cases, out of which 508 were concluded by the Beijing headquarters and 118 and 110 by its Shenzhen and Shanghai sub-commissions respectively. The number of cases resolved continues to surpass the number of cases admitted. Of the total, 590 cases or 80% were concluded with the tribunal rendering an award; 45 or 6% with a consent award based on the settlement agreement; and 105 or 14% with withdrawal by the parties.

    In 1998 the Arbitration Commission made 42 decisions on jurisdiction, 8 on qualifications of the principal, 7 on the withdrawal of an arbitrator, and 3 on place of arbitration. The overall number of oral hearings arranged by the Beijing headquarters and the Shenzhen and Shanghai sub-commissions surpassed 900. The number of cases in which involve foreign arbitrators was 35. The occasions of providing consultation opinions, oral or written, were more than ten thousand. More than 700 awards have been scrutinized.

    CIETAC's work on handling cases during 1998 showed the following characteristics:

1) The number of newly admitted cases has slightly decreased. Due to the multi impacts of the Asian economic crisis, the number of foreign-related cases received by those domestic local arbitration institutions, as well as the number of foreign arbitration institutions interested in the development of the Far East, the caseload of CIETAC in comparison to 1997 has slightly decreased.

2) The claiming amount has increased rapidly. The claiming amount of the cases has risen by a big margin, the overall amount reaching 6.115 billion RMB, which sets a record in the history of the Commission.

3) The degree of complication of the cases has increased. Not only complicated legal issues are touched upon in a number of cases, but the degree of difficulty of the questions requiring consultation with specialists has increased also. The objections to jurisdiction and to qualification of principal raised by the parties become more frequently, while the issues concerning difficulty on service of documents, delay in proceedings by the parties take place now and then. More and more substantive and procedural legal matters need to be submitted for discussion to the expert consultative committee.

4) The practice of choosing an arbitration site has been relaxed. The implementation of the new arbitration rules of May 1998 allowed the parties in a case to appoint the place of arbitration. Now, options are not only limited to Beijing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai but could include other places, thus adding some convenience in handling cases and saving time and expenses.

5) After the implementation of the new arbitration rules, the Commission broadened its scope of acceptable cases. As a result, new categories of cases have been added to the pool. At present, the admission of cases over disputes between foreign invested enterprises in China and other Chinese legal persons develops positively.

    In general, despite the numerous challenges, the work of the Commission for 1998 not only has not decreased but has actually expanded. In the domestic and international commercial arbitration setup CIETAC continues to take an important position, which only shows that our arbitration work has proved trust-worthy and successful.

2. Revision of the Arbitration Rules and Improving the Case Management

    On April 10 th 1998, during the first plenary session of its 14 th Committee, the revision draft of the 1995 Arbitration Rules was discussed and was submitted to the China Council for Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT)/ China Chamber of International Commerce (CCOIC) for further discussion and approval. On May 6 th 1998 the newly revised arbitration rules were adopted by CCPIT/CCOIC, and became effective as from May 10 th 1998.

    The currently effective new arbitration rules constitute the fifth set of arbitration rules used by CIETAC, and the second revision following the enactment of the Arbitration Act. The present revision of the rules is aimed specifically to suit the changed international and domestic picture of arbitration after the implementation of the Arbitration Act. A guiding principle of the current revised arbitration rules is to continue to implement the Arbitration Act in accordance with the doctrine of the parties' autonomy and with regard to the requirements of modern commerce. While maintaining the general frame of the 1995 Arbitration Rules, essential adjustments, alterations and additions are made to some articles within the Rules in order to promote a comprehensive development of the work of CIETAC.

    The major revision of the arbitration rules was to broaden the scope of cases to include disputes arising between foreign investment enterprises in China as well as between foreign investment enterprises and other legal or physical persons and/or economic organizations. Another category of cases includes disputes arising from project financing, bidding and tender, construction and other activities involving Chinese parties utilizing capital, technology or service from foreign or international organizations or from the Hong Kong SAR, Macao and Taiwan regions, which the parties are willing to submit to CIETAC for arbitration. In addition to the above, the new rules introduce revisions in relation to questions concerning the applicability of the arbitration rules, the proper courts, the site of arbitration, settlement, the applicability of the summary procedure, and the effectiveness of arbitral clauses in special circumstances.

    The revised CIETAC rules have already been in smooth practice for eight months. During this time-period, regarding the broadened scope of cases, the Commission has received 33 related cases. Improving the arbitration procedure, the new arbitration rules are setting up a fine base for CIETAC's growth towards a new level.

    In order to ensure and coordinate a smooth practice of the new rules and to improve the quality of case handling, CIETAC adopted specific measures. The Commission established a system of regulations to improve the management of cases, and intensified the work related to the arbitration procedure. It arranged the publication of a volume containing English and Chinese versions of the new rules; composed a Panel of Arbitrators and an Arbitration Fee Schedule to be used only with special categories of cases defined in the new rules; formulated the "Important Points during the Arbitration Procedure" and other regulations and systems; adopted measures that would sufficiently call for more initiative in the work of arbitrators and members of the Secretariat; organized discussions specifically aimed at introducing the new rules, moreover formulated a corresponding set of in-office rules. In order to improve the quality of its awards, CIETAC continues to work on the method of scrutinizing the draft awards. In addition, it amply uses the work of the Expert-Consulting Committee to call for its convention and discussion of difficult questions in the arbitration practice. Under the condition that the independence of the tribunal shall not be influenced, these expert consultative opinions adopted at the meetings could be provided to the tribunals for reference. In 1998 CIETAC called for the help of the Expert-Consulting Meeting eight times in the process of which were raised a number of beneficial ideas. As a result of the hard work of the arbitrators, the expert body and the members of the Secretariat, with the concern and support from various social departments, the quality of the arbitration cases has been guaranteed, and the impartiality of CIETAC arbitration has been generally approved by the society as well as foreign and domestic parties.

3. Publicity and Research

    To correspond to the implementation of the new arbitration Rules, in 1998 the Commission concentrated its efforts on publicizing and researching the new rules and the Arbitration Act. It worked on the broad dissemination of related information in China and abroad. These efforts opened up a new field in our publicity and research work.

    During 1998 CIETAC organized seminars in the following cities: Qingdao, Dalian, Nanjing, and Chengdu. The meetings invited erudite arbitrators and experts to give specialized lectures on theoretical and practical issues concerning the Arbitration Act, the contract law, the corporate law, as well as established international practice related to arbitration. These meetings introduced the new arbitration rules and the theoretical and practical side of the work of the Arbitration Commission. The participants included several hundred professionals in the legal and economic fields from all parts of the country, including the Hong Kong SAR. The event drew the attention of the media and enjoyed the support of related local departments, people's courts, and foreign-related corporate enterprises. Through these venues our publicity work achieved commendable results. These activities helped for the better understanding of the work of the Commission, popularizing its functions and setting the conditions for more parties to seek its services.

    Additionally, the Commission also sent staff members to visit the representative offices of those foreign chambers of commerce in Beijing, contacted with the commercial attaches of the respective foreign embassies in China, and exchanged ideas with the legal departments of some of the large-scale foreign trade corporations. These were also excellent ways of introducing the Chinese arbitration system and the CIETAC rules, and gathering opinions.

    Through the China Central Television, China Daily , Legal Daily , and China Political Consultative Conference Daily among others, the Commission extensively publicized arbitration. We sponsored a specialized column in International Business Daily called "Foreign-related Arbitration and Conciliation" which has already come out in 26 issues. It is our hope to earn the interest and approval of the readership by introducing the new developments in the work of CIETAC through more lively, varied means, publishing articles of practical and theoretical nature and reviewing specific examples of our work. Through compiling "Analysis of Typical Cases in International Commercial Arbitration" and "Papers on International Commercial Arbitration" among others we aimed at deepening the theoretical research on arbitration. The Commission also published its regular editions "Journal on Arbitration and Law" in six issues and "Bulletin of the Arbitration Research Institute" in seven issues.

    Our active participation in domestic and international conferences helped publicize CIETAC's name. Delegates of the Commission participated in the domestic academic research conferences and practice discussion seminars such as the Annual Conference of the Association of International Economic Law. As for international conferences, among those were the 14th ICCA Congress, UN conference in memorizing the 40th anniversary of the New York Convention, and the 1998 international congress on commercial law of the Japan Asia-Pacific Law Association, where our representatives made speeches. Participation contributed positively to publicity, strengthening the exchange and cooperation, and further upgrade the position of CIETAC in the international community.

    In November 1998 CIETAC sent a delegation to Hong Kong for a series of arbitration events aimed at publicity and exchange. Jointly with three Hong Kong institutions a specialized lecture series was held under the title "Using Arbitration in Resolving Commercial Disputes". Our representatives attended the breakfast party organized by the British Chamber of Commerce, the arbitration seminar by the Hong Kong India Chamber of Commerce, as well as the 1998 Conference on International Dispute Resolution of the Hong Kong SAR. The delegation took the chance to introduce to the participants the advantages of resolving commercial disputes through arbitration in China, the practice of CIETAC, implementation of its new rules, the mutual enforcement issues of arbitral awards between Hong Kong SAR and mainland. By doing so we extended the influence of CIETAC and at the same time got informed of certain trends in the development of international arbitration.

    To sum up, in 1998 the Arbitration Commission invested great efforts for wider publicity. These activities further expanded CIETAC's international and domestic presence and proved beneficial for the development of its work.

4. Broadening of Professional Training

    In September 1998 CIETAC held its '98 practice seminar in order to promote training and the summarization and exchange of work experience among arbitrators. The Seminar continued to emphasize on strict adherence to the Code of Ethics and on the independence and impartiality of the arbitration procedure. The arbitrators involved in active and detailed discussions of these topics. During the seminar, invited specialists from the Legal work Committee of the National People's Congress and People's Courts introduced the draft of the Contract Law and the hearing reform in the People's Court system. This helped arbitrators understand better the latest developments in legislation and judicature. The seminar provided environment for exchange of opinions on questions of arbitration procedures and substance. As an event, it was highly effective and achieved its objectives.

    CIETAC also provides for the training of its secretariat staff. In August 1998 it convened a seminar on the new arbitration rules for those involved in the work of the secretariats in Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai. The discussion concentrated around the new problems that have appeared in managing cases and pointed out the new requirements to the secretariats. Namely, those were: strict adherence to the law and the stipulated procedure for managing cases; impartiality of work and correctness in the relations with parties of a case; emphasis on learning and improving work skills; productivity of work; and improving attitude, quality and speed of service. During the seminar, the participating staff-members discussed in detail the relation between the courts and the arbitration institution, the cognizance and management of domestic cases, objections to an award and other theoretical and practice-related issues. They exchanged experience and coordinated knowledge and experience to help the improvement of quality and level of work.

    The China Commercial Arbitration Training Center was established through the joint efforts of CIETAC's Arbitration Research Institute and the Business Management Institute of MOFTEC to foster the reserve of arbitrators, arbitration agents and legal consultants and to publicize arbitration. After two successful years, in 1998 the Center continued with its third international commercial arbitration training session, which was held in May 1998 in the city of Xiamen, Fujian province. With more than 60 participants from the fields of law and trade from the mainland China, Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan, the event is considered a success.

5. Further Broadening Foreign Exchange and Cooperation

    In October 1998, after negotiations CIETAC and the Arbitration Court of the Spain Chamber of Commerce formally concluded an arbitration cooperation agreement. The two parties agreed to publicize arbitration, strengthen cooperation and exchange in joint efforts. The signing of the agreement has created better conditions for the healthy development of the cooperation between the arbitration institutions of China and Spain.

    In May 1998 CIETAC invited the Arbitration Court of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce to visit China. This was the first step of friendly exchange and cooperation after the signing of the agreement between the two parties. Jointly with the China People's University, CIETAC and the Croatian delegation held a seminar under the title "Arbitration in China and Croatia." The questions analyzed among others included: global development of arbitration; arbitration procedures of the Croatian and Chinese arbitration institutions; general situation of the arbitration work in the two countries and current practical problems; and Chinese arbitration law and legal system. The seminar satisfied the initially set up objectives for academic exchange.

    Along the same line, CIETAC received fourteen other delegations from the Hong Kong SAR, the United Nations, USA, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Russia, Ukraine, and others. The representatives participated in the Sino-Australian Wool Standard Contract negotiations. Consultations were held with the Singapore International Arbitration Center with positive results achieved on the issue of the Summary Arbitration procedure in cases involving bank loans.

    In addition, CIETAC strengthened its studies on issues related to the Hong Kong SAR and the region of Taiwan, and assisted related departments to organize seminars and forums in this field. The positive efforts of the Arbitration Commission made a breakthrough in appointing arbitrators from the region of Taiwan. In a recently dispatched document, related governmental department gave their approval for the commencement of the appointment work. This will bring about the positive influence on the development of economic relations across the Strait, on the promotion of direct communication and the unification of the country. Presently, the Commission has attached emphasis to put it into effect.

    During the period of 1998 CIETAC further promoted its communication and exchange with related institutions. In order to improve the quality of work on cases involving foreign-invested enterprise disputes, CIETAC and the related department of MOFTEC organized a symposium dealing with the legal issues of foreign-invested enterprises and the practice of arbitration. In September CIETAC in cooperation with the Supreme Court held a symposium on foreign-related arbitration and judicial supervision. Representatives from the Intermediate People's Courts of more than ten regions in the country participated in the symposium. The meeting developed discussions on the problems of the validity of the arbitration agreement, interim measures in arbitration, enforcement and setting aside of an award, and others. These exchanges helped for a better understanding between the Commission and the participating institutions, and for coordination of thinking and knowledge on basic questions. Such kind of work certainly contributed to the smooth development of arbitration.

    In the year 1999, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) Beijing Headquarters and its Shenzhen and Shanghai Sub-Commissions, in line with the work policy adopted by the First Session of the 14 th Committee of CIETAC, have conscientiously implemented the Arbitration Act; taking case-handling as the center further developed the arbitration scope; continued to improve the quality of case-handling by further enhancing the procedure management, speeding up the conclusion of cases and strengthening personnel training; increased efforts in publicity and investigation work as well as foreign exchange and contacts so as to expedite the modernization and internationalization of China's foreign-related economic and trade arbitration. In general, new achievements have been made in all aspects.

1. Caseload and Conclusion of Foreign-Related Arbitration Cases

    During the period 1999, the total caseload of CIETAC is 669 cases, in which Beijing Headquarters took cognizance of 428 cases while Shanghai Sub-Commission 130 cases and Shenzhen Sub-Commission 111 cases. The disputing amount reaches RMB 6.89 billion Yuan, including RMB 4.58 billion Yuan for Beijing Headquarters, RMB 0.99 billion Yuan for Shanghai Sub-Commission and RMB 1.32 billion Yuan.

    In 1999, CIETAC concluded altogether 706 cases, among which Beijing Headquarters concluded 459 cases, Shanghai Sub-Commission 120 cases and Shenzhen Sub-Commission 127 cases. For all the concluded cases, 456 cases were concluded by rendering an award, in which 365 is by the Beijing Headquarters, 78 by Shanghai Sub-Commission and 103 by Shenzhen Sub-Commission. 51 cases were concluded by consent award in accordance with the settlement agreement reached by the parties, including 24 cases for the Beijing Headquarters, 16 cases for Shanghai Sub-Commission and 11 for Shenzhen Sub-Commission. And 109 cases were withdrawn by the parties, among which 70 cases for the Beijing Headquarters, while Shanghai Sub-Commission 26 cases and Shenzhen Sub-Commission 13 cases.

    For all the arbitration cases accepted by CIETAC during the year 1999, 326 cases involve general sale of goods, accounting for 48%; 211 cases involve joint-venture and cooperation contracts, accounting for 31%; others cover disputes of leasing and loan, construction project, real estate, agency, processing with provided materials, processing with provided samples, assembly with provided parts and compensation trade, and etc. The parties to the cases are from 43 countries and regions. 247 cases or 36% of the caseload involve Hong Kong SAR, 44 cases or 6% involve the U.S.A., and other countries and regions with considerable involvement are, in order of number of disputes, Korea, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan Region, Australia, Germany, U.K. and etc.

    In 1999, CIETAC took cognizance of 609 foreign-related cases, out of which Beijing Headquarters accepted 399 cases, 107 and 103 for Shenzhen Sub-Commission and Shanghai Sub-Commission respectively.

    Concerning the case-handling work of 1999, the following features could be summarized:

(1) The caseload has slightly decreased. Due to the influences of domestic economic and trade situation, domestic local arbitration commissions' acceptance of foreign-related arbitration cases, in addition to that of the expansion to Asia area by foreign arbitration institutions, the caseload of CIETAC in 1999 dropped 1% compared with that of 1998.

(2) The claiming amount continued to increase rapidly. Although the caseload dropped a little bit, the amount in dispute has risen greatly, reaching RMB 6.89 billion Yuan, which is a new record high.

(3) The complexity of the cases augmented. Many of the cases not only involve complicated legal issues, but also the difficulties in specific professional fields of certain cases have increased. Quite some of the professional issues demand expert evaluation and consulting opinions. There are more and more jurisdictional objection and principal qualification objection. Problems such as service difficulty and parties' delay of procedure took place now and then. More and more substantive and procedural legal questions need to be submitted for discussion by the Expert Consultative Committee.

2. Admission and Conclusion of Domestic Arbitration Cases

    In order to implement the spirit of the Arbitration Act, fully realize the principle of parties' autonomy, and promote the development of the arbitration cause, in 1998 CIETAC amended the former Arbitration Rules. According to the Arbitration Act and the amended Arbitration Rules, the Arbitration Commission has formally took cognizance and concluded a number of "foreign-oriented" arbitration cases between domestic legal persons.

    During 1999, CIETAC (including the Beijing Headquarters and its two sub-commissions) altogether admitted 60 domestic arbitration cases, namely Beijing Headquarters 29 cases, Shanghai Sub-Commission 27 cases and Shenzhen Sub-Commission 4 cases. So far no such things as being decided by the Court for setting-aside, non-enforcement or remission for re-arbitration have occurred.

    The characteristics for the handling of domestic arbitration cases are as follows: Firstly, the types of the disputes vary much and cover wide fields. The disputes arising from house and equipment leasing contracts, site leasing contracts, labor contracts, office building management contracts, bidding and tendering contracts, contracting contracts and so on account for large percentage. It is noticeable that almost all of the admitted domestic cases are under the category of Article 2 paragraph 2 Item (3), while the disputes listed under Item (4) have seldom been submitted; Secondly, large portion of the domestic cases are of small claiming amounts, but the complexity of the disputes are not lower than that of the foreign-related cases.

3. Establishment of the CIETAC Liaison Offices

    For developing the business scope of arbitration, promoting the wide application of arbitration, and further improving the publicity, contact and consulting services of CIETAC, on June 1 st 1999, CIETAC decided to set up five liaison offices in Dalian, Fuzhou, Changsha, Chengdu and Chongqing respectively to be the professional publicity and contact organizations of the Arbitration Commission. They should be under the direct leadership of the Arbitration Commission with regard with the professional work. Till now these five liaison offices have all been officially opened to business. In accordance with the work rules of the liaison offices, these offices are not allowed to get involved with the charging, case admission and handling work, could not charge the parties for consulting services, nor could the personnel of these offices work as agent for arbitration cases accepted by the Arbitration Commission or its sub-commissions. The Arbitration Commission opened training session to the working personnel of the liaison offices, established the management system and compiled publicity brochure for these liaison offices. With the cooperation between the Arbitration Commission and its liaison offices, these liaison offices have developed business efficiently.

4. Enlargement of List of Arbitrators

    In order to strengthen the construction of a team of arbitrators, maintain exuberant vitality of the Arbitration Commission, CIETAC after strict examination according to the relevant provisions, accomplished the enlargement of its Panel. The Arbitration Commission newly appointed 58 domestic arbitrators, 18 foreign arbitrators, 4 arbitrators from Taiwan region and 1 from Macao SAR. Till now, the number of arbitrators of CIETAC increases to 490 from the 418 of the 1997 Panel of Arbitrators. Besides, CIETAC issued a special Panel of Arbitrators for wool disputes in conformity with the requirements by the standard wool contract between China and Australia and New Zealand, which is composed of 23 Chinese and foreign arbitrators.

5. Publicity and Research

    In the year 1999, the Arbitration Commission continued its efforts in publicity and research work, and opened a new phase in this field.

    Regarding the investigation and research work, CIETAC, according to the spirit of the Notice on Conclusion of Arbitration Clause into the Insurance Policy issued by the China Insurance Supervision and Management Committee, with the wish to develop arbitration into the financial field, sent three investigation groups respectively to Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen to visit the People's Insurance Corporation, the Pacific Insurance Company and Peace Insurance Company. Negotiations between the parties were made concerning the method to amend and include arbitration clause into the Insurance Policy, which showed preliminary fruits. In addition, CIETAC initiated the studies for the application of summary procedures in the field of bank loans, and in cooperation with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre turned out the draft Arbitration Rules for Summary Procedure Applied to the Bank Loan Disputes. Studies also has been made to the drafting of the form contracts of the China Chamber of International Commerce, and a draft of the Contract for International Sale of Goods has been put forward.

    With respect to publicity and publications, CIETAC edited and published a book named Comments on Typical International Economic and Trade Arbitration Cases; sponsored a specialized "Arbitration and Conciliation" column in International Business Daily for 20 issues during 1999; edited and published 2 volumes of China Foreign-Related Arbitration Yearbook , 6 issues of Journal on Arbitration and Law , 10 issues of the Bulletin of the Arbitration Research Institute ; and CIETAC increased its popularity through the important media such as China Central Television, Beijing Television, the CCPIT Business Guide , China Law and China Reform Daily .

    The Arbitration Commission in 1999 held the seminar on uniform contract law in Beijing and the seminar on INCOTERS in Hainan. Representatives were sent to participate the demonstration meeting for the Yellow River Xiao-Lang-Di Project, as well as the negotiations for wool trade form contract organized by the International Wool Organization.

6. Foreign Exchange and Personnel Training

    During 1999, CIETAC continued to develop its cooperation and contacts with other international arbitration institutions. In March and April, CIETAC co-sponsored with the ICC International Court of Arbitration and the London Court of International Arbitration respectively to hold conferences on international arbitration. The Arbitration Commission also provided assistance to the ICC International Court of Arbitration to conduct oral hearing in Beijing. In May, at the invitation of the American Arbitration Association, CIETAC sent a delegation to the United States for the purpose of publicity and exchange. With the cooperation of the American Arbitration Association seminars were held in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, by which broadening the publicity and enhancing the cooperation and exchange between the Chinese and American parties.

    In 1999 CIETAC sent delegates to participate actively in different important conferences both at domestic and international levels and delivered speeches. In China, they are namely the Conference of China International Economic Law, Annual Congress of the China International Private Law Association, National Experience Exchange Meeting of the Arbitration Commissions, Work Exchange Meeting of the Arbitration Commissions in 15 Cities, Exchange Seminar for the Chinese and Japanese Legal Experts, Meeting on Sports Arbitration, Workshop on the Wool Standard Contract and etc. While for international conferences, they are the Annual Conference of the Asia-Pacific Bar Association (Thailand), the 10 th Plenary Member Congress of the International Federation of Commercial Arbitration Institutions (United States), Conference on International Arbitration (Lebanon), World Arbitration Conference (Panama), Seminar on ICC INCOTERMS (Paris), Seminar on International Arbitration (U.K.) and etc. These help a lot to publicize the arbitration system of China, strengthen exchange and cooperation, as well as further upgrade the position of CIETAC in the international community.

    Moreover, CIETAC received many foreign delegations from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, North Korea and delegations from the Hong Kong SAR, and accepted 4 foreign trainees in 1999.

    Concerning the personnel training, for the sake of summarizing and exchanging case-handling experience among the arbitrators, and improving the professional training and team construction of the arbitrators, in September 1999, CIETAC held its annual Seminar on the Practice of Arbitrators. In August, CIETAC convened a seminar for the secretaries of the secretariats in Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai. For the training of candidate arbitrators, arbitration agents and legal counsels of companies and enterprises, and popularizing arbitration, the China Commercial Arbitration Training Centre, co-sponsored by the Arbitration Institute of the Arbitration Commission and the MOFTEC Institute of Business Management, successfully held the 4 th training session of international commercial arbitration in Shanghai.

    CIETAC has signed cooperation agreements on arbitration with the following international arbitration institutions and organizations :

Year The other party to the cooperation agreements

1974 Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (by exchanges of letters)

1980 National Industrial Property Rights Bureau of France

1981 Italian Arbitration Association

1984 Arbitration Institute of Stockholm Chamber of Commerce

1984 Commercial Arbitration Committee of the Republic of Ghana

1991 Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre

1992 International Commercial Arbitration Centre of British

1992 Belgium Domestic and International Arbitration Research and Practice Centre

1992 Singapore International Arbitration Centre

1992 Korean Commercial Arbitration Board

1994 Chamber of Economy of the Republic of Austria

1994 Arbitration Institute of Bonn the Federal Republic of Germany

1994 Arbitration Association of Switzerland

1994 Arbitration Bureau attached to Thailand Department of Justice

1995 Cairo Regional Arbitration Center of Egypt

1996 The Mongolian Foreign Trade Arbitration Court

1996 The Industrial and Commercial Chamber of Russian Federation

1997 The Permanent Court of Arbitration attached to the Croatian Chamber of Commerce

1997 The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

1998 The Permanent Arbitration Court attached to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia

1998 Spanish Arbitration Court of the High Council of Chambers of Commerce

1999 The Arbitration Court of the Economic Chamber of the Czech Republic and Agricultural Chamber of the Czech Republic

1999 Hong Kong Institute of Arbitration Limited

2000 Indian Council of Arbitration and Tribunal of Arbitration of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry