On 10 July 2018, a delegation of Commercial Legal Service Center of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade visited Haikou Maritime Court. The purpose of the visit was to exchange thoughts about setting up a dispute resolution platform integrating reconciliation, arbitration and litigation and establishing a “one-stop” mechanism for resolving maritime disputes.

Zhang Shun, leader of the delegation, presented commercial legal services as a major part of the business composition of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (hereafter the Council). The council provides commercial reconciliation, general average adjustment and other commercial legal services for companies at home and abroad. Its affiliate, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (hereafter CIETAC), is one of the major standing commercial arbitration institutions around the world. It dedicates itself to resolving economic and trade disputes independently and impartially through arbitration. The Council has rich foreign-related resources and is able to provide high quality arbitration and reconciliation services. Each year it hosts an international reconciliation summit forum that is globally influential. In addition, it has set up a special trade dispute reconciliation institution respectively in Shanghai and Tianjin, promoting the establishment of a compliance system with the local governments and competent authorities. The purpose of this trip to Haikou Maritime Court was to understand the exact needs in the resolution of disputes involved in maritime trials. This would serve as a starting point and foundation for further efforts in setting up a cooperative platform.

At the meeting, Jian Wancheng, our vice president, pointed out that the Party Central Committee had assigned Hainan the important mission of setting up a free trade zone as well as gradually exploring and steadily promoting the building of a free trade port with Chinese characteristics. This had posed new challenges and opportunities for Haikou Maritime Court. The court would actively contribute to the country’s strategies. As the building of Hainan free trade zone (port) progressed, the number of cases concerning maritime disputes would show a growing trend. Haikou Maritime Court was actively exploring better means to fulfil its maritime trial function and provide maritime judicial services in support of the building of the free trade zone (port). One of these means requiring major study and discussion would be the establishment of a one-stop dispute resolution mechanism integrating litigation, reconciliation, arbitration and general average adjustment up to legal, convenient and international requirements. The court was hoping to obtain support and help from the Council in this respect.

The parties also exchanged thoughts and discussions about the following matters: setting up a trade arbitration institution in Hainan to broaden the Council’s functions; entering into an entrusted reconciliation agreement with the maritime court, in order to link litigation, reconciliation and arbitration proceedings; cooperating with the maritime court in hosting high-standard exhibitions and forums in Hainan in relation to the resolution of maritime disputes; setting up a platform to ascertain foreign laws, especially laws concerning maritime affairs in countries bordering the South China Sea.