[co-author: Carrie Yiu]

Summary

HKIAC recently published information regarding the processing of applications under the “Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region” signed between the Hong Kong Government and the PRC Supreme People’s Court.

Background

It has been almost a year since the ground-breaking “ Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ” between the Hong Kong Government and the PRC Supreme People’s Court (the “Arrangement”) came into force on 1 October 2019.

Under the Arrangement, any party to arbitral proceedings seated in Hong Kong and administered by a qualified arbitral institution may apply to an appropriate Intermediate People’ Court (the “IPC”) in Mainland China for interim measures in relation to the arbitral proceedings. Such application must be made in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations of Mainland China. We discussed the procedural requirements under the Arrangement in our previous blogpost “New Interim Measures Arrangement between Hong Kong and the PRC”.

Statistics released by HKIAC

The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (“HKIAC”) is one of the six qualified arbitral institutions under the Arrangement. HKIAC provided an update in December 2019 on its practice and experience under the Arrangement. Please see our discussion in our previous blogpost “Implementation of the Interim Measures Arrangement between Hong Kong and the PRC in the first quarter – a look back at those who have crossed the long-awaited bridge across the moat”.

On 27 August 2020, the HKIAC released a further update of its works under the Arrangement. We summarise the key statistics as follows:

Going forward

Statistics speak for themselves – not only has the Arrangement provided significant additional procedural weapons, it has been demonstrated that the Arrangement works in practice. It has been proven that the Arrangement secures the fruits of arbitral disputes through effective use and implementation of interim measures approved by the PRC courts.

So far, Hong Kong remains the first and only “foreign” jurisdiction in respect of which the PRC courts are empowered to grant interim measures in aid of arbitral proceedings. This confirms that Hong Kong maintains its status as an international arbitration hub, especially for PRC-related disputes.

From these statistics, HKIAC also demonstrates how an arbitral institution can facilitate the application process for interim measures before courts in PRC. By issuing the letter of acceptance within a short timeframe, HKIAC greatly facilitates the ease and speed of application to PRC courts for interim measures. The needs of the parties are addressed and the requirements under the Arrangement and relevant Mainland legislations are satisfied without delay.

As the awareness of and confidence for the Arrangement gradually build, we anticipate that the utilisation rate of the Arrangement will further grow over time.