1 October 2019 was an important milestone for the Hong Kong
dispute resolution community because on that day, the
"Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered
Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of
the Mainland and of the HKSAR" (the
"Arrangement") officially came into
force. Under the Arrangement, parties to arbitrations seated in
Hong Kong may now seek interim measures from the PRC courts.
The Arrangement, signed between the Hong Kong Government and the
PRC's Supreme People's Court in April 2019, is hugely
beneficial to both local and international business parties for a
number of reasons:-
- It allows an arbitration party to
seek 3 types of interim measures from a PRC court, including (i)
preservation of assets, (ii) preservation of evidence and (iii)
preservation of conduct in accordance with the PRC laws. This is
particularly crucial for cases involving risk of dissipation of
assets and/or destruction of evidence
