The International Arbitration Review: Sixth Edition – China Chapter

I INTRODUCTION

The Civil Procedure Law and the Arbitration Law of China regulate arbitrations seated in China. China is pro-arbitration and arbitration is preferred to litigation, which suffers from inefficiency, administrative interference and local protectionism. Because the Arbitration Law requires arbitrations seated in China to be administered by a Chinese arbitral institution, a number of prominent arbitral institutions have emerged. Competition among these institutions to be the best has been fierce to date. Importantly, while the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) has traditionally been the preferred arbitral institution for foreign-related disputes, and has continued to strive to do so with the announcement of its new rules on 1 January 2015, it faces serious challenges from its split-off Shanghai sub-commission, now formally known as the Shanghai International Arbitration Center (SHIAC), which has been able to take