The Belt and Road Commercial Court-Connected Mediation Center of Shenzhen Qianhai Cooperation Zone People’s Court (Qianhai court) has introduced a cross-border mediation mechanism in which disputes can be solved in accordance with international standards with the help of specially-invited mediators.
In a case concerning a contract dispute in which both parties were Hong Kong-based companies, the court launched cross-border mediation according to the wishes of both parties. The case was commissioned to a law firm and specially-invited mediators in collaboration with the mediation center, and thereafter the conciliation was held in Hong Kong following the local methodology for facilitative mediation. As the parties involved could actively state opinions and make decisions during the mediation, while the mediators only structured the process to assist the parties in reaching a resolution, the dispute was smoothly resolved based on mutual understanding and agreement.
The Belt and Road Commercial Court-Connected Mediation Center of Qianhai was jointly founded by the Qianhai court and some 30 pundit organizations at home and from abroad in January, 2018. The center accepted 3,824 cases in the same year, among which 1,583 cases have been successfully mediated with 166 of them concluded by mediators from Hong Kong.
(Wang Haolan)
