Mediation in China: Towards a Modernised and Harmonised Framework for International Commercial Mediation

(2015) 19 Vindobona Journal of International Commercial Law and Arbitration 55-78

University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 2015/037

24 Pages Posted: 12 Aug 2015 Last revised: 4 Jul 2016

See all articles by A. K. C. Koo

A. K. C. Koo

University of Oxford - Faculty of Law

Date Written: June 30, 2015

Abstract

As China’s international trade in goods led the world in 2013 and ranked number two if trade in services was included, its economic activeness provides a fertile ground for cross-border commercial mediation. A comparative analysis of the mainland’s, Hong Kong’s and Macao’s dominant mediation rules in their respective legal context will suggest that intraregional cooperation could strengthen China’s position as an attractive forum to foreign parties for international commercial mediation than maintaining the status quo. This article first describes the rules and laws applicable to international commercial mediation in mainland China and its two special administrative regions. It then explains the extent to which such rules and laws address pressing procedural problems differently or whether they generate largely similar results under different labels. It concludes by arguing that regional resemblances and disparities prompt modernisation and harmonisation in light of the unformulated policies of keeping the parties’ freedom of action intact and maintaining the need for flexibility, and that the Conciliation Rules, the Model Law, recent deliberations of the UNCITRAL Working Group on Arbitration and Conciliation, and up-to-date mediation rules of global mediation service providers could provide helpful resources for improvements.

Keywords: International Commercial Mediation, Mediation Rules, Harmonisation, China

JEL Classification: K49

Suggested Citation

Koo, A. K. C., Mediation in China: Towards a Modernised and Harmonised Framework for International Commercial Mediation (June 30, 2015). (2015) 19 Vindobona Journal of International Commercial Law and Arbitration 55-78, University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 2015/037, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2642279

A. K. C. Koo (Contact Author)

University of Oxford - Faculty of Law ( email )

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