Notice of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial and Enforcement of Civil and Commercial Cases Involving Foreign Elements

最高人民法院关于审理和执行涉外民商事案件应当注意的几个问题的通知

Promulgating Institution:   Supreme People's Court

Document Number:    Fa [2000] No. 51

Promulgating Date:    04/17/2000

Effective Date:    04/17/2000

Revision History：     

颁布机关：   最高人民法院

文   号：   法[2000]51号

颁布时间：   04/17/2000

实施时间：   04/17/2000

To high people's courts of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government:

In order to handle civil and commercial cases involving foreign elements in a timely and fair manner, promote foreign economy and trade, investment, and other important economic activities, and meet the demand of the new situation of China's entry in the World Trade Organization, we hereby issue this Notice as follows in respect of the issues to be noted for consideration in the trial and enforcement of civil and commercial cases involving foreign elements:

   各省、自治区、直辖市高级人民法院:

   为了依法及时、公正地处理好涉外民商事案件,促进我国对外经济贸易和招商引资等重大经济活动,适应即将加入世贸组织的新形势,现就审理和执行涉外民商事案件中应当注意的问题通知如下:

1. The procedures for examination of civil and commercial cases involving foreign elements shall be strictly implemented so as to protect the litigation right of the parties concerned. People's courts at all levels must strictly comply with the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and the provisions on jurisdiction over cases issued by the Supreme People's Court and issued by the high people's courts upon its approval and must conduct careful examination of the civil and commercial cases involving foreign elements filed with them respectively. If any such case falls within the scope of acceptance of cases by people's courts, complies with the provisions on hierarchy-based jurisdiction, territory-based jurisdiction, and exclusive jurisdiction, and satisfies the requirements of filing an action specified in the law, the relevant people's court shall initiate the case promptly within the specified time limit and shall not delay the case or shift responsibility onto others. If any such case does not fall within the scope of acceptance of cases by people's courts, the relevant people's court shall notify the parties concerned in a timely manner to take other remedial methods and shall not abuse jurisdiction in violation of the law or waive jurisdiction without reasons. Where a contract involving foreign elements contains an arbitration clause or the parties thereto reach a written arbitration agreement subsequently, a people's court shall not accept a case involving such contract; if a people's court intends to render a decision to invalidate the arbitration agreement in a contract involving foreign elements based on the application of a party concerned and pursuant to the provisions of laws, the people's court shall first report such decision level by level to reach the Supreme People's Court, and the arbitration agreement may not be determined invalid until the Supreme People's Court replies for approving such decision. Litigation documents of a civil or commercial case involving foreign elements must be served legally; where the litigation documents are served by public notice, the service shall strictly comply with the provisions of Article 84 of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and that notice shall be simultaneously published in the People's Court Daily or a publicly issued newspaper at the provincial level or above and the bulletin board of the court accepting the case.

    一、严格执行涉外民商事案件审查程序,切实保护各方当事人的诉讼权利。各级人民法院要严格遵守《中华人民共和国民事诉讼法》和最高人民法院及其批准的高级人民法院有关案件管辖的规定,对诉至法院的涉外民商事案件认真进行审查。对属于人民法院受理范围、符合级别管辖、地域管辖和专属管辖规定并符合法律规定的起诉条件的,应当在法定期限内及时立案,不得拖延、推诿;对不属于人民法院受理范围的要及时告知当事人采取其他救济方式,不得违法滥用管辖权或无故放弃管辖权。对涉外合同中订有仲裁条款或者当事人事后达成书面仲裁协议的,人民法院不予受理;根据当事人的申请,依照法律规定,拟裁定涉外合同仲裁协议无效的,应先逐级呈报最高人民法院,待最高人民法院答复同意后才可以确认仲裁协议无效。涉外民商事案件法律文书的送达手续必须合法;如用公告方式送达,必须严格按照《中华人民共和国民事诉讼法》第八十四条规定办理,并应当在《人民法院报》或省级以上对外公开发行的报纸上和在受案法院公告栏内同时刊登。

2. Conflict rules shall be strictly observed in the application of the civil and commercial laws for handling cases so as to protect the lawful rights and interests of both foreign and Chinese parties in a public, fair, timely and equal manner and in accordance with the law. When trying a civil and commercial case involving foreign elements, a people's court at any level must adhere to the principles of state sovereignty and independent trial in accordance with the law to ensure the procedural and substantive justice in respect of the handling of the case. Unless otherwise specified in laws, all civil and commercial cases involving foreign elements shall be tried publicly, and news media are allowed to report the trial with responsibility on the part of the news media. In trying a case, a people's court must ascertain the facts of the case objectively and comprehensively, apply the laws correctly and appropriately, and resolve the substance of the case impartially and legally, and shall correctly choose the governing law according to the relevant provisions or as agreed by the parties concerned except for the three types of contracts set forth in Paragraph 2 of Article 126 of the Contract Law of the People's Republic of China which must be governed by the laws of China; the international treaties acceded to by China shall take precedence in application excluding the clauses for which China has declared its reservations, and international practices may be taken as reference at the same time. Any litigation document shall be clear in writing, with rigorous logic, standard format, and incisive argument.

    二、严格依照冲突规范适用处理案件的民商事法律,切实做到依法公开、公正、及时、平等地保护国内外当事人的合法权益。各级人民法院审理涉外民商事案件时,要坚持国家主权原则和依法独立审判原则,保证案件处理的程序公正和实体公正。涉外民商事案件除法律另有规定的以外一律公开审理,允许新闻媒体自负其责地进行报道。审理案件必须做到认定事实客观、全面,适用法律准确、适当,实体处理公正、合法,除《中华人民共和国合同法》第一百二十六条第二款规定的三类合同必须适用中国法律外,均应依照有关规定或者当事人约定,准确选用准据法;对我国参加的国际公约,除我国声明保留的条款外,应予优先适用,同时可以参照国际惯例。制作涉外法律文书应文字通畅,逻辑严密,格式规范,说理透彻。

3. The provisions on enforcement of effective legal documents of a civil or commercial case shall be strictly observed maintaining the judicial authority of the State. In the course of strengthening the enforcement work, people's courts at all levels shall realize the importance of the enforcement work involving foreign elements from the point of defending the State's judicial image and the dignity of the legal system, and further strengthen the enforcement of cases involving foreign elements. Attention should be paid to the method of enforcement, and effort should be made to promote efficiency and effect of enforcement. An arbitration award involving foreign elements or a foreign arbitration award shall be examined and enforced in accordance with the relevant international treaties, the provisions on enforcement involving foreign elements under the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, the Opinions of the Supreme People's Court on Certain Issues Concerning the Application of the "Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China" and the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Certain Issues Concerning Enforcement Work of People's Courts (Trial), as well as the notices of the Supreme People's Court (Document No.: (Fa) Jing Fa [1987] No. 5; Fa Fa [1995] No. 18; Fa Shi [1998] No. 28; Fa [1998] No. 40). If a people's court at any level intends to apply the provisions of Article 260 of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and the relevant international treaties to refuse to enforce an arbitration award involving foreign elements, vacate an arbitration award involving foreign elements, or refuse to admit and enforce an award of a foreign arbitration institution, such matter shall be reported level by level to reach the Supreme People's Court for examination and no decision on the matter may be rendered and distributed before the receiving the reply from the Supreme People's Court.

    三、严格遵守涉外民商事案件生效法律文书的执行规定，切实维护国家司法权威。各级人民法院在强化执行工作过程中，应从维护国家司法形象和法制尊严的高度认识涉外执行工作的重要性，进一步加强涉外案件的执行，要注意执行方法，提高执行效率，注重执行效果。对涉外仲裁裁决和国外仲裁裁决的审查与执行，要严格护照有关国际公约和《中华人民共和国民事诉讼法》、最高人民法院《关于适用<中华人民共和国民事诉讼法>若干问题的意见》、《最高人民法院关于人民法院执行工作若干问题的规定（试行）》中有关涉外执行的规定和最高人民法院（法）经发〔1987〕5号通知、法发〔1995〕18号通知、法释〔1998〕28号规定及法〔1998〕40号通知办理。各级人民法院凡拟适用《中华人民共和国民事诉讼法》第二百六十条和有关国际公约规定，不予执行涉外仲裁裁决、撤销涉外仲裁裁决或拒绝承认和执行外国仲裁机构的裁决的，均应按规定逐级呈报最高人民法院审查，在最高人民法院答复前，不得制发裁定。

   （注：根据2008年12月16日发布的最高人民法院关于调整司法解释等文件中引用《中华人民共和国民事诉讼法》条文序号的决定，本条已被修改为:“严格遵守涉外民商事案件生效法律文书的执行规定，切实维护国家司法权威。各级人民法院在强化执行工作过程中，应从维护国家司法形象和法制尊严的高度认识涉外执行工作的重要性，进一步加强涉外案件的执行，要注意执行方法，提高执行效率，注重执行效果。对涉外仲裁裁决和国外仲裁裁决的审查与执行，要严格依照有关国际公约和《中华人民共和国民事诉讼法》、最高人民法院《关于适用〈中华人民共和国民事诉讼法〉若干问题的意见》、《最高人民法院关于人民法院执行工作若干问题的规定（试行）》中有关涉外执行的规定和最高人民法院（法）经发〔1987〕5号通知、法发〔1995〕18号通知、法释〔1998〕28号规定及法〔1998〕40号通知办理。各级人民法院凡拟适用《中华人民共和国民事诉讼法》第二百五十八条和有关国际公约规定，不予执行涉外仲裁裁决、撤销涉外仲裁裁决或拒绝承认和执行外国仲裁机构的裁决的，均应按规定逐级呈报最高人民法院审查，在最高人民法院答复前，不得制发裁定。”）

4. People's courts at all levels must strengthen the study of international treaties, international practices, and other international economic and trade rules and improve the level of examination of civil and commercial cases involving foreign elements. In the event of a significant disagreement over the application of law, the disagreement shall be resolved by in accordance with the Notice of the Supreme People's Court on Establishing the System for Report of Significant and Important Cases Involving Economic Disputes (Document No.: Fa Jing Han [1989] No. 4). Judicial officers must strictly observe the relevant disciplines and shall not receive any foreign party or other relevant personnel without permission. They must strictly carry out the system of withdrawal and shall not get in touch with either party or its interested person alone. Any formal inquiry by a representative of a diplomatic organ of the country where the foreign party in a case involving foreign elements belongs to shall be handled by the court that has accepted the case, and the relevant information shall be reported to the court at higher level in a timely manner.

    四、各级人民法院要加强对国际条约、国际惯例等国际经贸规范的学习,不断提高审查涉外民商事案件的水平。对在适用法律上有重大争议的,应按最高人民法院《关于建立经济纠纷大案要案报告制度的通知》(法经函〔1989〕第4号)执行。审判人员要严格遵守审判纪律,不得私自接待国外当事人或其他有关人员;严格执行回避制度,不得单独接触一方当事人及其关系人;对于涉外案件外国当事人所在国家外交机构代表的正式询问,应由受案法院负责接待,有关情况应及时报告上级法院。