Tried the country's first dispute case involving a railway bill of lading, affirmed that the railway bill of lading has the function of endorsement and circulation; continuously improved the mechanism for ascertaining foreign laws, and standardized the rules for ascertaining and applying foreign laws; the "one-stop" dispute resolution mechanism for foreign-related commercial affairs has been selected by the State Council for free trade The Fourth Batch of "Best Practice Cases" in the Pilot Free Trade Zone issued by the Office of the Ministry-Level Joint Meeting of the Pilot Free Trade Zone, and the Highlights of the People's Court Service Guarantee Free Pilot Zone Construction... Chongqing Liangjiang New District People's Court (People's Court of Chongqing Pilot Free Trade Zone) [Hereafter referred to as Liangjiang New District (Free Trade Zone) Court] is the first professional court in the country covering the entire Free Trade Zone. Although it has only been established for more than four years, it has already handed over an impressive report card.
The court of Liangjiang New District (Free Trade Zone) is based on Chongqing's "two points" positioning, "two places" and "two high" goals, in terms of the rule of law escorting the construction of the new land-sea channel in the west, serving Chongqing to build a domestic cycle and a domestic and international dual cycle strategic hub, etc., Improve various mechanisms for foreign-related commercial trial work, accelerate the modernization of the trial system and trial capabilities, and create a "Chongqing sample" for the construction of free trade zone courts.
Actively explore land-based international trade rules
"This court believes that the railway bill of lading is an innovative document issued by market players in the international cargo transportation and international trade relying on the China-Europe Railway Express to meet the financing needs of land trade and improve the efficiency of land trade transactions. It is a practical product of the development of Shanghai trade to a certain stage..." In June 2020, the court of Liangjiang New District (Free Trade Zone) made a first-instance judgment on the country's first case involving a railway bill of lading dispute, supporting it to confirm that the ownership of the goods belongs to the holder of the bill of lading and to withdraw cargo claims.
In February 2019, Yingsa (Chongqing) Trading Co., Ltd. imported automobiles (hereinafter referred to as Yingsa Company) agreed with the carrier and financing guarantor that the freight forwarder will issue a railway bill of lading to the foreign exporter as the delivery certificate. After the goods arrived in Chongqing, Yingsa Company delivered the railway bill of lading to Chongqing Fuqi Automobile Sales Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Fuqi Company) which signed the sales contract with it. However, Fuqi Company was rejected by the carrier when it took delivery of the goods with the railway bill of lading, so it sued the carrier. The court of Liangjiang New District (Free Trade Zone) held that the plaintiff had the ownership of the goods under the railway bill of lading, and ruled that the defendant should deliver the vehicle to the plaintiff.
The emergence of this case is actually a new problem brought about by the rise of China-Europe freight trains and other land trade activities. For a long time, ocean shipping has always occupied a monopoly position in international trade and international cargo transportation, and the proportion of land-based international trade is very low. "According to international practice, only ocean bills of lading can be used as documents of title, while the property of international railway bills of lading has not been generally recognized." said Jia Ke, the presiding judge of the case and vice president of Liangjiang New District (Free Trade Zone) Court, " The opening of the China Railway Express has changed this situation. The transportation period of the China Railway Express is about 20 days, which is half the time compared with sea transportation. Compared with traditional railway transportation, it has a longer period of time, which makes financing, settlement, resale There is a market demand for functional transport documents."
In fact, as early as March 2017, the development of international railway transport was written into the overall plan of the Chongqing Free Trade Zone. In August 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Overall Plan for the New Western Land-Sea Corridor", formally proposing the concept of "railway bill of lading", and planning to "promote and improve the international railway bill of lading financing project, so that it can play a better role in international trade" . As the departure station of China Railway Express (Yuxinou), Chongqing took the lead in exploring the use of railway bills of lading during the operation of China Railway Express.
"The important significance of the judgment result of this case is that it recognized the legality of the railway bill of lading from the legal level, and preliminarily clarified the relevant rules of the railway bill of lading transaction, which is beneficial to the regulation of the railway bill of lading transaction behavior and the promotion of land international trade rules. Build," Jaco said.
The courts of Liangjiang New District (Free Trade Zone) have not stopped exploring foreign-related commercial trials.
"Chongqing is the departure station of the China-Europe Railway Express (Yuxinou) and the logistics and operation organization center of the Western New Land-Sea Corridor. It passes through many countries. In order for the judgment results of the Chinese court to be recognized by the relevant parties, it is necessary to fully understand and ascertain the relevant countries. This is also one of the major difficulties in foreign-related commercial trials by courts in various trade zones across the country.” Jia Ke said.
To this end, the Court of Liangjiang New District (Free Trade Zone) and the ASEAN-Legal Research Center of Southwest University of Political Science and Law jointly issued the "Guidelines for the Law Ascertainment Mechanism of Countries Along the New Land-Sea Corridor", which is helpful for improving the cooperation mechanism for ascertaining extraterritorial laws and standardizing the ascertainment and application of extraterritorial laws. It is of great significance to fill in the gaps in domestic ASEAN countries' extraterritorial laws.
In 2022, the Liangjiang New District (Free Trade Zone) court will use foreign law for the first time to hear contract disputes involving countries along the “Belt and Road”. This practical exploration has been affirmed.
Exploring the "one-stop" multi-dispute resolution mechanism
As mentioned above, there is a common problem internationally in the trial of foreign-related commercial disputes, that is, due to the differences in laws and regulations in various countries, the judgment results may not be recognized or difficult to implement, so arbitration or mediation is a common way to resolve foreign-related commercial disputes practice.
The "Opinions of the Supreme People's Court on Deepening the Comprehensive and Supporting Reform of the Judicial System of the People's Courts - The Fifth Five-Year Reform Outline of the People's Courts (2019-2023)" also clearly stated that "promoting mediation and arbitration institutions to actively participate in the International Commercial Court of the Supreme People's Court" Commercial dispute resolution mechanism, perfecting the 'one-stop' international commercial dispute resolution platform that connects mediation, arbitration and litigation."
To this end, the Liangjiang New Area (Free Trade Zone) Court is actively exploring the construction of a "one-stop" multi-dispute resolution mechanism. ”), the Belt and Road International Commercial Mediation Center signed the "Chongqing Pilot Free Trade Zone Litigation, Arbitration and Mediation One-stop Dispute Resolution Mechanism Cooperation Agreement", and CIETAC Southwest Branch, China (Chongqing) Pilot Free Trade Zone Commercial Mediation Center, etc. The institution's domestic and foreign arbitrators and mediators introduce dispute resolution, and start the construction of a foreign-related commercial dispute resolution mechanism integrating litigation, arbitration and mediation.
The court has also promoted the implementation of the "Mainland + Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan + foreign" mediator 1+X working model, relying on the resource advantages of cooperative institutions, to provide parties with a roster of Chinese and foreign mediators with professional knowledge in multiple fields to meet the needs of different parties in dispute resolution .
From litigation to arbitration or mediation, the parties concerned are often most worried about the loss of litigation costs. For this reason, the Liangjiang New District (Free Trade Zone) court has also explored the establishment of a transfer mechanism for litigation fees, arbitration fees and mediation fees. The worries of the parties have been solved.
The entrusted contract dispute case between Russia EL Company and Chongqing KH Travel Agency is the first foreign-related commercial dispute "litigation docking" case in the country, and it is also a typical case of the court's successful use of the "one-stop" dispute resolution mechanism. After accepting the case, the Court of Liangjiang New District (Free Trade Zone) made both parties agree that the case would be arbitrated by CIETAC Southwest Sub-committee on the premise of fully respecting the wishes of the parties. EL Company submitted an application for withdrawing the lawsuit to the People's Court. At the same time, the Southwest Branch of CIETAC filed an application for arbitration. The People's Court approved the withdrawal of the lawsuit and transferred the case materials to the Southwest Branch of CIETAC. CIETAC Southwest Branch actively organized mediation between the two parties, and finally resolved the dispute through arbitration mediation.
According to reports, since the establishment of this mechanism, the Court of Liangjiang New District (Free Trade Zone) has also researched and formulated supporting measures such as the "Regulations on the Management of Litigation and Mediation Docking Work", "Working Rules for Litigation and Arbitration Docking", "Guidelines for Non-docking Procedures for Foreign-related Commercial Disputes and Litigation" to ensure The mechanism is running. Up to now, the "one-stop" dispute resolution platform has successively absorbed more than ten mediation institutions and arbitration institutions.
In August 2022, the Chongqing International Commercial "One-stop" Multi-dispute Resolution Center jointly established by Chongqing Higher People's Court and several units was officially unveiled at the Legal Service Center in the Upper Yangtze River, marking the "one-stop" foreign-related commercial disputes created by the court. "The dispute resolution mechanism was officially transferred to the physical operation.
In addition, the Liangjiang New District (Free Trade Zone) Court also supports major mediation organizations to participate in the diversified resolution of conflicts and disputes, actively explores commercial mediation organizations to implement a market-based charging model, and builds a commercial mediation market based on the principles of openness, fairness, voluntary compensation, and honesty. The new mechanism of standardized operation.
Jia Ke introduced that due to factors such as economy and location, Singapore and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China have well-developed legal service industries and are international arbitration centers with unique advantages. Chongqing, which is committed to building a new inland opening up, can also learn from it.
"Chongqing is the departure station of the China-Europe Railway Express (Yuxinou) and the logistics and operation organization center of the Western New Land-Sea Corridor. ) The deepening of the cooperation in the Strategic Interconnection Demonstration Project will inevitably make Chongqing an international 'optimal place' for foreign-related commercial dispute resolution, and help Chongqing create a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, ruled by law, and internationalized." Jia Ke said .
