Beijing International Commercial Tribunal (BICT) recently held its first open circuit trial at the International Commercial Arbitration Center in Beijing.
The hearing, which involved the confirmation of the validity of a foreign-related arbitration agreement, marked the full commencement of the BICT's circuit trial program and accelerated the development of the International Commercial Arbitration Center.
Facing an arbitration claim in Beijing initiated by a Shanghai-based investment fund, ECS Company, registered in an archipelago, filed for confirmation that the relevant arbitration agreement was not binding upon it. During the trial, the collegial panel focused its review and inquiry on key issues such as the governing law of the arbitration agreement and the interpretation of its core provisions. Following a recess for deliberation, the court rendered a judgment in open court, dismissing ECS's application based on the principle of the severability of the arbitration clause.
At a subsequent symposium centered on judicial support for the development of the International Commercial Arbitration Center, Zhang Guoqiang, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice, said that over the past three years, significant progress has been made in the center's establishment. This first circuit trial by the BICT marks the first formal event since the physical platform was launched, demonstrating the operational efficiency of the center's full-chain dispute resolution mechanism.
Li Yingxin, vice-president of the Beijing No 4 Intermediate People's Court, said that as the court with centralized jurisdiction over foreign-related trials and arbitration judicial review cases within Beijing, the Beijing No 4 Intermediate People's Court has continuously standardized arbitration judicial review procedures and unified review standards in recent years, making many beneficial explorations and achieving significant results in areas such as arbitration mechanism development, international alignment of arbitration and creating a favorable arbitration environment. The court will inject new impetus into the internationalization of arbitration in Beijing by improving the diversified dispute resolution mechanism of litigation, arbitration and mediation.
The new court was set up as a division under the Beijing No 4 Intermediate People＇s Court, as the intermediate court has specialized in handling capital-related commercial disputes involving overseas litigants since 2018...
