Jan. 2015, CIETAC

Welcome to CIETAC (China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission). If you (your company) are going to claim against a business partner or have your business disputes resolved by means of arbitration, please be aware of the following:

How to Start Arbitration at CIETAC

I.  Generally, there must be a CIETAC arbitration clause in the contract or a separate arbitration agreement between you or your company with the other disputing party.

II.  When applying for arbitration, you are kindly requested to submit the following documents:

A.  the Written Application for Arbitration (including documentary evidences，esp. the contract containing the arbitration clause or the separate arbitration agreement);

The Summary Procedure shall apply to a case if the amount claimed does not exceed 5,000,000 RMB unless otherwise agreed by the parties; or if both parties have specially agreed to apply the Summary Procedure. In such a case, three sets of written Application for Arbitration are required. In other cases, five sets of written Application for Arbitration are required.

If more than one Respondent is listed, one more set of written Application for Arbitration is required for each additional Respondent.

Please submit the originals of the Written Application for Arbitration, with stamps and/or authorized signatures. As for documentary evidences, you may only submit the photocopies when applying for arbitration, and bring the originals of the evidence to the oral hearing for examination at a later stage.

B.  an original of the Power of Attorney, if you have engaged any arbitration agent to act on your behalf;

C.  an original of the certificate of the legal representative and a copy of the business license if the Claimant is a company, or a copy of the ID document if the Claimant is a natural person; and

D.  two originals of the Written Application for Protection of Property/Evidence, if you apply for interim measures of protection of property or evidence, together with one more set of written Application for Arbitration. Please also inform CIETAC/CMAC in writing which specific court of law your Written Application for the Protection of Property/Evidence should be forwarded to, and provide its address, post code, telephone number and other contact details etc.

III.  Please also be reminded that all documents should be in a clean and tidy form, paged and bound together.

IV.  Please advance an arbitration fee deposit to the Arbitration Commission according to the Arbitration Fee Schedule of the CIETAC/CMAC Arbitration Rules, which amount will be specified in the CIETAC/CMAC’s written reply to your Application for Arbitration. In principle, the arbitration fee shall be borne by the losing party, subject to the award by the Arbitral Tribunal.

V.  For further enquiries, you’re welcomed to contact us (Tel: +86 10 82217788, Fax: +86 10 82217766), visit us in person, or visit our official website www.cietac.org for further information.