CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Paul Zhou and Leslie Shen, SGLA Law Firm
foreign-related arbitration agreements, the parties may choose the governing law pursuant to Article 18 of the Law of the PRC on the Application of Laws to Foreign-Related Civil Relations. In addition to national legislation, the arbitration rules of the administering institutions constitute an impor - tant body of applicable law. The CIETAC Arbitration Rules (2024 Revision), the BAC/BIAC Arbitration Rules (2022), the SHIAC Arbitration Rules (2024) and the SCIA Arbitration Rules (2022) contain detailed pro - cedural provisions that apply in conjunction with the Arbitration Law. The 2025 Amendment gave institu - tional rules enhanced statutory recognition, providing that institutional rules supplement the Arbitration Law and, subject to mandatory provisions of the law and public policy ( gonggong liyi ), prevail over the default provisions of the statute where the parties have not agreed otherwise. 2.2 Changes to National Law The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the comprehensive revision of the Arbitration Law on 12 September 2025, follow - ing a multi-year legislative drafting process that incor - porated extensive domestic and international expert consultation. The revised Arbitration Law entered into force on 1 March 2026. The 2025 Amendment intro - duces the following material reforms: • Competence - competence ( Article 31 ):The arbitra - tion institution or the tribunal may rule on the valid- ity of the arbitration agreement, including objec - tions to its existence, validity and scope; a party challenging jurisdiction must raise the objection before the first oral hearing. This is not a tribunal- primacy (UNCITRAL Model Law) regime: under Article 31, where one party requests a decision from the arbitration institution or tribunal and the other requests a ruling from the People’s Court, the matter shall be determined by the People’s Court – that is, the doctrine operates subject to court pri - macy where parallel court proceedings exist. Court review of a jurisdictional determination is otherwise available after the award is rendered or, in foreign- related arbitrations, at an interlocutory stage in limited practice pursuant to SPC judicial interpreta - tion, rather than as an express statutory right.
• The seat of arbitration : The revised law introduces the internationally recognised concept of the “seat of arbitration” (arbitral seat), which determines the curial law and identifies the people’s court that has supervisory jurisdiction over the arbitration. Previ - ously, Chinese law employed the term “place of arbitration” without a clear distinction between the juridical seat and the physical hearing location. • Evidence - taking assistance ( Article 55 ): The parties shall furnish evidence in support of their claims. Where the tribunal deems it necessary to collect evidence, it may do so on its own initiative and, where necessary, request the relevant authorities to provide assistance in accordance with the law. The provision does not confer common-law-style powers on the tribunal – or on the court at the tribunal’s request – to order third-party document production; any compulsory document-production mechanism exists, if at all, at the level of institu - tional rules. • Expedited procedures : Expedited procedures for small-value disputes are provided by institutional rules rather than by statute. Under the CIETAC Arbitration Rules (2024 Revision), where the amount in dispute does not exceed CNY5 million (unless the parties agree otherwise), the tribunal consists of a sole arbitrator, and the award must be rendered within three months of the tribunal’s constitution. • Ad hoc arbitration ( Article 82 ):The revised law permits parties to a foreign-related maritime dis - pute or a foreign-related dispute arising between enterprises registered within free trade pilot zones or Hainan Free Trade Port to agree to ad hoc arbitration, provided that the arbitration agreement is in writing, the arbitral seat is located within the territory of China, and the arbitrators possess the qualifications required by law, and the tribunal files the parties’ names, the place of arbitration, the composition of the tribunal and the applicable arbi - tration rules with the arbitration association within three working days of its constitution. This reform fills a significant gap in the prior law, under which ad hoc arbitration was not legally recognised for commercial disputes. • Shortened time limit for setting - aside applications : Under Article 72 of the revised law, an applica - tion to set aside an arbitral award must now be
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