The invisible seat

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clpstaff &clp articles

The landmark Ningbo decision last year saw China – for the first time and through the Zhejiang court – enforce two PRC-seated awards granted by a foreign arbitral institution. Here, the case handler analyses the arbitration proceeding, offers insights and ponders the possibility of non-Chinese arbitration institutions being able to administer in China

Although it is quite clear that Chinese law does not recognise ad hoc arbitration where the seat is in the PRC, there exists some debate over whether the type of institutional arbitration required by Chinese law in cases with a Chinese seat includes arbitration administered by non-Chinese institutions such as the ICC.

At the end of 2007, a Swiss steel company filed the applications for recognising and enforcing two ICC awards rendered in Beijing in the Ningbo Intermediate Court (Ningbo Court), ICC awards 14005/MS/JB/JEM and 14006/MS/JB/JEM respectively. The former was filed against China-Base Ningbo Foreign Trade Company and the latter was against Ningbo Arts & Crafts Import & Export Company (collectively, the “Ningbo Companies”). Both these businesses are two of the top 10 import and export companies in Ningbo.

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