CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Peibing Qi, Na Gao and Shanshan Heng, Fangda Partners
Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Court Judgments and Arbitral Awards As recognition is a prerequisite to enforcement, and the recognition procedure is not subject to statutory time limits, the overall duration of recognition and enforcement proceedings for foreign judgments and arbitral awards is difficult to predict. In addition, such cases are subject to a reporting mechanism to the Supreme People’s Court, which may further extend the timeline. 9.4 Grounds for Resisting Enforcement Under the Civil Procedure Law and the New York Convention, a respondent may raise various defences against the recognition and enforcement of a foreign judgment or award, including: • the foreign body lacked jurisdiction over the dis- puted matter; • there were serious procedural defects in the foreign proceedings; • a PRC court has already rendered a judgment or ruling on the same dispute, or has already recog- nised a judgment or award from a third jurisdiction; • the foreign judgment or award violates the funda- mental principles of PRC law or public policy; and • the foreign judgment or award is not final and bind- ing. Separately, in relation to the enforcement process itself, the judgment debtor may also raise an objection to the lawfulness of the court’s enforcement actions. For example, if the enforcement court takes enforce- ment measures such as attachment against leviable property exceeding the amount in dispute, the judg- ment debtor may initiate objection proceedings.
handling, streamlining routine affairs, preventing and controlling risks, and facilitating litigation”, setting the overall direction for the integration of artificial intel- ligence into the dispute resolution landscape. 10.2 Impact Assisting Judges in Case Handling Artificial intelligence is used in similar case retrieval, generation of routine judicial documents, and tran- scription of hearing records, thereby enhancing judi- cial efficiency. Unifying Application of Law Through big data analysis, artificial intelligence assists judges in referencing adjudication outcomes in similar cases, which helps promote consistency in adjudica- As of 2025, courts across China have begun imple- menting a unified online case handling system, which facilitates the aggregation and analysis of judicial data and promotes the development of Smart Courts. 10.3 Future Local courts across China have already commenced using artificial intelligence to enhance trial efficiency. For instance, in cities such as Nantong, Suzhou, and Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province, courts have been advancing the construction of Smart Courts since late 2024, with small-scale deployment of artificial intelligence assistants. These tools assist courts in extracting salient information from case files prior to hearings, summarising case outlines and drafting judgments post-hearing, thereby improving trial effi- ciency. Artificial intelligence can effectively enhance case- handling efficiency and reduce the operational costs of the judiciary. It is therefore anticipated that both adjudicative bodies and litigants will have strong incentives to further adopt artificial intelligence-driven solutions. tive standards across different cases. Assisting Construction of Smart Courts Meanwhile, considering the potential for bias in artificial intelligence algorithms, the Supreme People’s Court explicitly stated in its 2025 Work Report (delivered in March 2026) the requirement to “develop AI-assisted
10. Dispute Resolution and AI 10.1 Regulation
Currently, there is no dedicated or systematic body of laws and regulations in China specifically govern- ing the use of artificial intelligence in dispute resolu- tion. The Supreme People’s Court, in its Outline of the Sixth Five-Year Reform Plan for People’s Courts (2024–2028), proposed “fully leveraging the role of artificial intelligence technology in assisting case
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