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Translated by Gao Zheng, June 2018

On May 31st, the 5th China Free Trade Zone Justice Forum jointly hosted by Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.4 of the Supreme People’s Court, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court and the People's Court of the Pudong New Area of Shanghai Municipality was grandly held.

The theme of this forum was “Business Environment and Judicial Competitiveness of the Free Trade Zone”. People who attended the forum were as follows: Liu Xiaoyun, President of the Shanghai High People’s Court, Wang Shumei, Vice President of Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.4 of the Supreme People’s Court, Chen Libin, Chairman of the Legal Committee of Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress, Huang Xiangqing, President of Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court, Chen Xinyuan, Vice President of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Lu Fangzhou, Deputy District Head of the People's Court of the Pudong New Area of Shanghai Municipality, Yin Yong, President of the People's Court of the Pudong New Area of Shanghai Municipality, etc. More than 130 experts and scholars participated in this forum, including experts from courts in Zhejiang, Hainan, Guangdong, Chongqing, Liaoning, and Shanghai, Legal Daily, People's Court Press, People's Judicature Magazine, Shanghai Commercial Mediation Center, Shanghai International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, and scholars from universities such as Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, East China University of Political Science and Law, Ningbo University and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

The opening ceremony of the forum was presided over by Huang Xiangqing, President of Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court. Huang Xiangqing expressed his warm welcome and heartfelt thanks to experts and scholars from all over the country who have been engaged in the study of the rule of law of the Free Trade Zone. He hoped that the in-depth discussions at this forum could effectively push forward the legal construction and judicial guarantee work in the Free Trade Zone.

Professor Chen Xinyuan, Vice President of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, extended a warm welcome to leaders and experts from all over the country. He pointed out that in the past four years, the forum has focused on the major proposition of the rule of law in the Free Trade Zone and has made concerted efforts in judicial guarantees, providing positive and effective intellectual support for the central and local governments to promote relevant reforms. Chen Xinyuan stated that in the past few years, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics has actively responded to reform of the Pilot Free Trade Zone, which has been a major national strategic need. In accordance with the general requirements for meeting country’s urgent needs, becoming world-class, using advanced systems, and making outstanding contributions, SUFE has focused on the implementation of the innovative research tasks in the fields of investment, trade, finance, legal administration and other fields and has achieved some leading results in the country. In this regard, he expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the people's courts at various levels and related organizations that have long been concerned about and supported the development of various undertakings in SUFE and law schools.

Lu Fangzhou, Deputy District Head of the Pudong Government and Deputy Director of the Administration of Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, expressed warm congratulations on the opening of the forum on behalf of the Administration of Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone. He pointed out that this year is the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up, and the fifth year of the construction of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone as well. In accordance with the deployment of the central government and the municipal government, this year Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone will strive to complete all the tasks of the 3.0 plan, continue to focus on the key work of Three Areas And One Bridgehead, and strive to achieve new achievements in deepening the construction of free trade zone. Lu fangzhou stressed that the goal of the construction of Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone has always been to take the lead in forming a legal, international, and convenient business environment. The construction of business environment of the Pilot Free Trade Zone cannot be separated from the guarantee and support of the judicial system. He said that the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone will fully absorb the research results of this forum so as to speed up the construction of the business environment in Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone with a broader perspective and more pragmatic measures.

Chen Libin, Chairman of the Legal Committee of Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress, pointed out that the theme of the annual forum has always been judicial guarantees for the Pilot Free Trade Area, which fully embodies people’s courts’ action self-consciousness and concept self-consciousness to guarantee the implementation of the national strategy and reflects people’s courts’ practice rationality in active implementation of judicial guarantee function in the Free Trade Zone. The theme of this year’s forum is Pilot Free Trade Zone, Business Environment, and Judicial Competitiveness, focusing on the judicial functions of optimizing and promoting the country’s and cities’ competitiveness. The forum will provide a good platform for judges, scholars and experts of related departments to jointly exchange experience in judicial guarantees and jointly study the new issues of judicial guarantees in the Free Trade Zone. Chairman Chen Libin spoke highly of the successful cooperation mode between the Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. He said that the Municipal People’s Congress and the municipal government are initiating the revision of the regulations of the Free Trade Zone, and hoped that scholars who are engaged in the legal construction of the Free Trade Zone and the courts and judges that are closely related to the legal guarantees of the Free Trade Zone could give positive attention and provide advice and suggestions to jointly promote the improvement of the legal guarantees of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.

Wang Shumei, Vice President of Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.4 of the Supreme People’s Court, expressed warm congratulations on the successful holding of the forum on behalf of the Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.4 of the Supreme People’s Court. She pointed out that the business environment in China has been improved and optimized to some extent, but there is still much room for improvement. Therefore, the People's Court shall provide judicial services and guarantees for the optimization of the business environment of the Pilot Free Trade Zone from three aspects: Firstly, to make far-reaching plans in high position, and actively make advice for the construction of the Pilot Free Trade Zone; Secondly, to emancipate the mind and have courage to break through and to support innovation in the Pilot Free Trade Zone; Thirdly, to adapt to local conditions and advance with the times to meet the developmental needs of the Pilot Free Trade Zone. At present, the construction of the Pilot Free Trade Zone has entered a new stage. President Wang Shumei hoped that this forum could take a new starting point, study new issues, meet new challenges, and strive to optimize the business environment and enhance the judicial competitiveness in the Pilot Free Trade Zone.

Liu Xiaoyun, President of the Shanghai High People’s Court, warmly welcomed the experts, scholars, and judiciary colleagues who attended the forum. Focusing on the objectives of establishment of the Pilot Free Trade Zone, he introduced the Shanghai court system and the work it has done in establishing and improving the service and guarantee system, innovating the trial system and working mechanism, and innovating non-litigation dispute resolution mechanisms in the Pilot Free Trade Zone. President Liu Xiaoyun pointed out that the Shanghai court system will regard judicial services and guarantees for the construction of the Free Trade Zone as one of the important contents of the comprehensive reform of the judicial system. It will further update the judicial concept, intensify reforms and innovations, improve and perfect the systems and mechanisms that are consistent with the rules of trials and that meet the judicial requirements for the construction of the Free Trade Zone, and give full play to the role of the judicial supports and guarantees for reforms and innovations in the Free Trade Zone. He said that the Shanghai court system will take the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Pilot Free Trade Zone as a new starting point, conscientiously study and absorb the achievements of this forum, summarize the experience of the trial work in the Free Trade Zone, and further improve the judicial service and guarantee mechanism and make new contributions to innovation and development of Shanghai Pilot Trade Zone.

This forum was divided into a keynote speech panel and four thematic discussion panels.

The keynote speech panel was presided over by Song Xiaoyan, Dean of SUFE School of Law. Chen Meng, the Deputy President of the Shanghai High People’s Court, reviewed the course of the Shanghai Court’s service and guarantee for the Free Trade Zone for more than four years in the keynote speech. He systematically summed up the experiences of the Shanghai Court’s service and guarantee for the construction of the business environment in the Free Trade Zone from these aspects: innovation of trial system and mechanism, innovation of foreign trial mechanism, innovation of diversified dispute resolution mechanism and active cooperation with transformations of government functions. Lu Zuxin, President of the Chongqing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court, pointed out in the keynote speech that the court should base on needs and find the focus of improving judicial competitiveness. And the court could strengthen the foundation of enhancing judicial competitiveness by establishing specialized adjudication institutions, constructing scientific adjudication mechanisms, and improving the application of extraterritorial laws, etc. Tang Liming, Vice President of the Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court, explained in the keynote speech the importance of serving and guaranteeing the business environment in the Free Trade Zone and enhancing the judicial competitiveness of the courts, and stated that the Shanghai No.1 Intermediate Court will continue to explore ways to guarantee the business environment and enhance judicial competitiveness of the Free Trade Zone by creating judgments with international influence, giving full play to the advantages of the Smart Court, and advancing the construction of diversified dispute resolution mechanisms. The Vice President of Dalian Intermediate People’s Court Gao Feng pointed out in the keynote speech that how to cultivate and reserve a batch of professional judges that are compatible with the internationalization, openness, and innovative characteristics of the Free Trade Zone as soon as possible has become a basic issue that the courts must face. He believes that a long-term mechanism for the allocation of human resources in the court should be formed by improving the court talent exchange mechanism, exploring professional talent selection mechanism, establishing specialized trial institutions and strengthening exchanges and cooperation among courts so as to enhance judicial competitiveness. Yin Yong, President of the People's Court of the Pudong New Area of Shanghai Municipality, pointed out in the keynote speech that the relevant courts in the Free Trade Zone must perform well in foreign-related trials in order to respond to the judicial needs of investors and traders at home and abroad. He believed that the court should use fair and efficient foreign-related trials to serve Free Trade Zone’s opening up, enhance foreign-related trial capabilities to create an excellent legal environment in the Free Trade Zone and highlight the normative guidance and demonstration role of foreign-related case adjudication. Zhang Bin, Vice President of Shenzhen Qianhai Cooperation District Zone People's Court,introduced Qianhai Court's experience in serving and guaranteeing the construction of business environment in the keynote speech from such aspects as the persistence in legalization security, the construction of a specialized trial mechanism, the establishment of a judicial institutional mechanism consistent with the developmental needs of the Free Trade Zone, the establishment of diversified settlement mechanisms and platforms for international commercial disputes in Dawan District. Kuangli, Head of the Trial Team of The People’s Court of Hengqin New Area, Zhuhai, described the basic conditions of the Hengqin Court’s advancing the special reform of the courts in the Free Trade Zone, and analyzed legal application conflicts in the Free Trade Zone trial from the aspects of conflicts between policy and law, conflicts between different laws in ascertaining extraterritorial laws, and conflicts between effective judgments in parallel lawsuits. Zheng Shaohua, Assistant Principal of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, explained the background of the promoting judicial competitiveness in the Free Trade Zone era in the keynote speech. He analyzed the key elements of judicial competitiveness and the relevance of the business environment and judicial competitiveness in the Free Trade Zone, and shared his suggestions for improving the business environment and judicial competitiveness of Shanghai Free Trade Zone.

The panel discussion on “Contract Implementation and Judicial Competitiveness in the Free Trade Zone” was hosted by Tang Bo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of East China University of Political Science and Law. Cao Kerui, President of Free Trade Zone Tribunal of the People's Court of the Pudong New Area of Shanghai Municipality, Zhao Xiuju, Associate Professor of KoGuan School of Law, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Ye Mingyi, Professor of SUFE School of Law made presentations. In his speech, President Cao Kerui believed that in order to improve the convenience of litigation, it is necessary to make appropriate and scientific changes to the traditional modes and processes of litigation operations. Creating future-oriented smart courts is a concrete practice of this kind of reform. He specifically shared the experience in and future plans for the construction of a smart court in the People's Court of the Pudong New Area of Shanghai Municipality. Associate Professor Zhao Xiuju used detailed data to introduce China's current four dispute resolution frameworks and their operating conditions which include litigation, arbitration, notarization, and mediation. He analyzed the interaction between the four frameworks as well. Professor Ye Mingyi explained the connection between the judicial settlement of the contract disputes and the business environment, and systematically analyzed the textual content of the Supreme Court’s guidance from such aspects as freedom of contract, contractual justice, contractual responsibility, and overlap between the Civil Law and the Administrative Law. Pan Yunbo, President of Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.2 of the Shanghai High People’s Court, commented on the thematic discussions and shared his views on this topic from the contract implementation and the judicial competitiveness of the Free Trade Zone combined with the World Bank report.

The panel discussion on Shareholder Rights and Judicial Competitiveness in the Free Trade Zone was presided over by Zhang Wei, Director of the Shanghai Commercial Mediation Center. Shi Yang, President of Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.4 of Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court, Hu Gairong, Professor of East China University of Political Science and Law, and Ge Weijun, Deputy Dean of SUFE School of Law made speeches. Shi Yang put forward suggestions on the judicial service and guarantee for the construction of business environment in terms of the confirmation of the commercial contracts effectiveness, the trial of shareholder rights dispute cases, the demonstration effect of quality cases, and the construction of multiple linkage mechanisms in connection with trial practices. Combined with typical cases, Professor Hu GaiRong cut in from indicators in the World Bank reports on the protection of investor rights and shared the views on the judicial protection of shareholder profit distribution rights. Professor Ge Weijun analyzed the three-level meanings of judicial protection of shareholder's rights. Combining with judicial interpretations, he reviewed the legislative process of the protection of shareholder rights, and put forward his legislative prospects in light of practice. Dong Maoyun, Professor from Ningbo University, commented on the thematic speeches and elaborated his views on the position of judicial power in the protection of shareholder rights and the relationship between judicial power and legislative power.

The panel discussion on “Financial and Intellectual Property Case Trial and Judicial Competitiveness in the Free Trade Zone” was presided over by Yang Zhongxiao, Dean of Wenbo College of the East China University of Political Science and Law and Director of the Development Planning Department. Shan Suhua, President of Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.6 of Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court, Song Xiaoyan, Dean of SUFE School of Law, and Gong Xiaoyan, Vice President of the Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.3 of the People's Court of the Pudong New Area of Shanghai Municipality made speeches. Shan Suhua analyzed the relationship between the financial regulatory rules and the judicial adjudication rules under the new asset management regulations from three aspects: the emphasis of the regulatory rules in the new asset management regulations, the focus of the adjudication rules in commercial adjudication, and the impact of financial regulatory rules on judicial adjudication rules. Professor Song Xiaoyan pointed out in her speech that the prevention of financial risks is often carried out from the perspective of public law, but the approaches to prevent financial risks by Civil and Commercial Law have bright prospects rather than being unattainable. Taking internet finance as an example, she explained how to use contract types as the center to carry out risk control through the analysis of issues such as inter-agency contractual obligations, effectiveness of guarantees, and claims splitting and transfer. Judge Gong Xiaoyan analyzed the characteristics of intellectual property rights cases concerning the Free Trade Zone in combination with the trial practice, and introduced the experiences of judicial services and guarantees for the business environment in the Free Trade Zone from these aspects: fairly protecting the rights of various market entities, strengthening the awareness of judicial services, and improving the working mechanism of intellectual property trials. Zhang Hengzhu, President of the Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.4 of Zhejiang High People’s Court, commented on the thematic speeches and shared his views on confirming the validity of financial behaviors and the institutional role of Civil and Commercial Laws in the Internet finance field.

The panel discussion on “Recognition, Implementation of Arbitral Awards Concerning the Free Trade Zone and the Application of Foreign Law” was presided over by Zhou Jiepu, Professor at SUFE School of Law and Deputy Director of the Free Trade Law Research Center. Ma Yi, Deputy Director and Secretary General of Shanghai International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission and Shanghai International Arbitration Center, Judge Wang Hao of Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.3 of the Hainan High People’s Court, and Judge Ren Mingyan of the Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.4 of Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court made speeches. Ma Yi introduced the recognition and implementation of Chinese arbitral awards in the United States combined with two specific cases. He believed that China’s arbitration institutions need to provide further legal services for Chinese companies going abroad, and the legal community should also pay attention to the issue of extraterritorial recognition and enforcement of Chinese verdicts. Judge Wang Hao introduced the Chinese court’s recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration awards through detailed data, analyzed the reasons for refusing to recognize or enforce them, and elaborated on the relationship between the recognition of arbitration awards and public policies. Judge Ren Mingyan introduced the practice of Shanghai courts in recognizing and implementing foreign arbitral awards and some explorations that Shanghai courts made in interpreting and applying the New York Convention, and shared personal views on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. Chen Li, Deputy Dean of School of Law of Fudan University, commented on the thematic speeches and focused on his view on the application of the law in the effectiveness of the arbitration agreements and the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal.

The theme of this forum was “Business Environment and Judicial Competitiveness of the Free Trade Zone”. Highly practical and timely, the forum focused on judiciary functions of the optimizing and promoting the national and regional competitiveness. Experts and scholars attending the meeting have conducted enthusiastic and fruitful exchanges and discussions. The closing ceremony of the forum was presided over by Yin Yong, President of the People's Court of the Pudong New Area of Shanghai Municipality. Song Jianli, Judge at deputy director level of Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.4 of the Supreme People’s Court, and Song Xiaoyan, Dean of SUFE School of Law, summed up the forum and expressed sincere thanks to representatives present at the forum. The one-day 5th China Free Trade Zone Justice Forum ended successfully.

(Original News:http://law.shufe.edu.cn/show.aspx?info_lb=12&flag=12&info_id=3881)