Mutual Assistance Gets Closer

On April 2, 2019, the Supreme People's Court and the Department of Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (the HKSAR) signed the Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (the Arrangement) (关于内地与香港特别行政区法院就仲裁程序相互协助保全的安排) in the HKSAR. The Arrangement is the seventh judicial assistance arrangement between the Mainland and the HKSAR since the return of Hong Kong in 1997. It is also the first document signed by the Mainland and other jurisdictions concerning judicial support and assistance in court-ordered interim measures in aid of arbitral proceedings, an important development in closer judicial cooperation between the Mainland and the HKSAR.