On December 30, 2003, Professor Wan Exiang, the vice president of the Supreme People's Court, and the judges of the Fourth Civil Court of the Supreme Court came to the Institute of International Law of Wuhan University, where they publicly released Some provisions on the Handling of Foreign Arbitration and Foreign Arbitration Cases by the People's Court (Draft for Review), and at the same time have a discussion with the Institute of International Law scholars on the draft.

Those in the Supreme court who attended the discussion include Vice President Professor Wan Exiang, and Yu Lingyu, President of the Fourth Civil Court of the Supreme Court. In addition, there are Judge Zhang Chuandu, Vice President of the Higher People's Court of Hubei Province, and Ms. Li Yihong, President of the Forth Civil Court of Wuhan Intermediate People's Court. The teachers of the Institute of International Law of Wuhan University attended the forum are Professor Huang Jin, Vice President of Wuhan University, Director of the Institute of International Law, Executive Director Professor Xiao Yongping, Professor Guo Yujun, Associate Professor Song Lianbin, Associate Professor Du Zhihua and Ph.D students of Private International Law. The symposium was held under the auspices of Professor Huang Jin. Professor Huang Jin asked the President of Wan to first express his opinion on the publication of the draft of the judicial interpretation. President Wan first explained the reasons for release this news at the Institute of International Law of Wuhan University. As a first-class scientific research base for foreign-related arbitration in China, the Institute of International Law of Wuhan University has gathered a group of experts and scholars engaged in private international law and foreign-related arbitration, which can provide high-quality theoretical advice and legislative reference for China's foreign-related trial practice. It is of course necessary to seek opinions from experts in the academic and theoretical circles. Therefore, this time, the Institute of International Law of Wuhan University was chosen as the place of publication to enhance transparency and to solicit opinions. Then President Wan introduced some opinions on this judicial interpretation draft. Due to the limitations of China's arbitration law, many problems are difficult to break through, and the revision of the arbitration law has not been incorporated into the legislative plan. The problems that arise in the practice of real trials need to be resolved. Therefore, without involving legislative power, the court hopes to make some attempts to solve the problems that arise in practice. Of course, this draft for comments also needs to absorb the opinions of experts. You can ask Mr. Yu to introduce the relevant situation of the draft first, and then let everyone express their opinions. President Yu Lingyu summarized the relevant issues and opinions of the parties in the process of drafting the draft for comment, and highlighted the drafting situations of some articles. He introduced that the draft of the opinion was revised 9 times before and after, and it lasted for two years. The current text has a total of 40 articles. Then, President Yu highlighted the drafting ideas and opinions of some articles.

1. Judicial review of foreign-related arbitral awards and foreign arbitral awards. This mainly involves judicial review of matters such as the validity of the arbitration clause and the conditions for non-executive or withdrawal, as well as how to implement foreign rulings under the New York Convention and how to understand the relationship between the public interest and the law compulsively applicable to a country.

2. The issue of the independence of the arbitration clause. This involves the question othat whether the arbitration clause has been established when the contract is not established, as well as the effect of transfer and acceptance of the contractual rights and obligations on the transfer and acceptance of the arbitration clause. And the influence of the separation and merger of legal persons on the transfer of arbitration clauses, as well as the arbitration clauses in the bill of lading.

3. The question of the possibility of applying foreign law or Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan laws concerning foreign-funded enterprises, and choosing foreign courts or foreign arbitration institutions. Because this involves judicial sovereignty and the equal treatment of laws applied by domestic enterprises, it is not yet fully liberalized. How to understand "foreign-related", which largely determines whether the parties can choose foreign law and foreign arbitration institutions.

4. The recognition of ad hoc arbitration. The current draft of has made some attempts. However, considering the limitations of the arbitration law, it still can’t walk so far.

5. Public interest issues. There is no provision in the draft, because there is no foreign legislation trying to define it in detail, but the practice department hopes to be clear about it. Considering the use of the final safety valve which is supporting arbitration and strict control of the public interest, it is better not to regulate this provision.

After the introduction of Director Yu , Professor Xiao Yongping discussed some of his amendments to the draft and submitted his written comments to the Supreme Court. Professor Xiao first affirmed the great efforts made in the adoption of academic results in the draft. He believed that this draft has made great progress, compared with the arbitration law, and then focused on the presentation of some specific provisions and existing problems to talk about his opinions. Professor Guo Yujun also fully affirmed the results of the opinion draft and specifically expressed his views on Articles 17, 14 and 25. Associate Professor Song Lianbin has worked in the Shenzhen Branch of the China International Trade Arbitration Commission. He has extensive experience in arbitration practice and has been studying the arbitration law in academic fields. His doctoral thesis is a study on the judicial supervision of arbitral awards. Professor Song gave detailed comments on each article, pointed out the existing problems, and believed that some issues should be reflected in the opinion draft, such as how to deal with the arbitral tribunal's self-determination, the parties' multiple substantive claims and the request to confirm the validity of the arbitration clause and jurisdictional issues of simultaneous prosecution and so on. The symposium was very enthusiastic and lasted until 12:30. Everyone is welcome to comment on this opinion, which we will publish in the academic debate column.

Attachment: "Some provisions on the Handling of Foreign Arbitration and Foreign Arbitration Cases by the People's Court (Draft for Review)" (Organizer: Yuan Faqiang)