PRC Court Recognises An English Court Judgment For The First Time

On 17 March 2022, the Shanghai Maritime Court of PRC (the "SMC") issued a milestone ruling ((2018) Hu 72 Xie Wai Ren No.1) with the approval by the Supreme People's Court of the PRC (the "SPC"), allowing for the recognition and enforcement of an English Court judgment based on the principle of reciprocity for the first time (the "Recognition Ruling").

The English Judgment

Our previous blog here sets out the background to the underlying dispute which led to the English Court judgment in question (the "English Judgment"): Spar Shipping AS v Grand China Logistics Holding (Group) Co Ltd [2016] EWCA Civ 982. The case concerned the termination by a shipowner, Spar, of three long-term charter parties on the ground that the charterer failed to pay hire on time. Spar then sued the charterer under the guarantees for (i) the balance of unpaid hire under the charters; and (ii) damages for loss of bargain in respect of the unexpired term of the charters.