• Document Number：No. 21 [2009] of the Civil Division IV of the Supreme People’s Court
• Area of Law： Foreign Affairs
• Level of Authority： Documents of Judicial Interpretation Nature
• Date issued：05-14-2009
• Effective Date：05-14-2009
• Status： Effective
• Issuing Authority： Supreme People's Court

Official Reply of the Supreme People's Court on Designating the Intermediate People's Court of Chenzhou City, the Intermediate People's Court of Shaoyang City and the Yuelu District People's Court of Changsha City, Hunan Province as Courts of First Instance with Jurisdiction over Foreign-Related Civil and Commercial Cases
(No. 21 [2009] of the Civil Division IV of the Supreme People's Court on May 14, 2009)
Higher People's Court of Hunan Province:
Your Request of the Higher People's Court of Hunan Province for Instructions on Issues concerning Designating the Intermediate People's Court of Chenzhou City, the Intermediate People's Court of Shaoyang City and the Yuelu District People's Court of Changsha City, Hunan Province as Courts of First Instance with Jurisdiction over Foreign-Related Civil and Commercial Cases (No. 64 [2009] of the Higher People's Court of Hunan Province) has been received. In the spirit of Article 1 of the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Some Issues concerning the Court Jurisdiction over Foreign-Related Civil and Commercial Cases and Article 1 of the Notice of the Supreme People's Court on Strengthening the Court Jurisdiction over Foreign-Related Commercial Cases, upon deliberation, the following official reply is hereby made:
The Intermediate People's Court of Chenzhou City and the Intermediate People's Court of Shaoyang City are hereby designated as courts of first instance with jurisdiction over civil and commercial cases involving a foreign country, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan.
You shall determine the territorial jurisdiction of the Intermediate People's Court of Chenzhou City and the Intermediate People's Court of Shaoyang City as courts of first instance over civil and commercial cases involving a foreign country, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan.
You are hereby authorized to designate the Yuelu District People's Court of Changsha City as a court of first instance with jurisdiction over civil and commercial cases involving a foreign country, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan.
For civil and commercial cases involving a foreign country, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan tried by the Yuelu District People's Court of Changsha City as a court of first instance, appeals shall be under the jurisdiction of the Intermediate People's Court of Changsha City.
Annex:
Request of the Higher People's Court of Hunan Province for Instructions on Issues concerning Designating the Intermediate People's Court of Chenzhou City, the Intermediate People's Court of Shaoyang City and the Yuelu District People's Court of Changsha City, Hunan Province as Courts of First Instance with Jurisdiction over Foreign-Related Civil and Commercial Cases
(No. 64 [2009] of the Higher People's Court of Hunan Province on April 2, 2009)
Supreme People's Court:
In accordance with the provisions of Article 19 of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and Article 1 of the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Some Issues concerning the Court Jurisdiction over Foreign-Related Civil and Commercial Cases, jurisdiction over foreign-related civil and commercial cases is centralized to the people's courts of economic and technological development zones established with the approval of the State Council, the intermediate people's courts of capitals of provinces, capitals of autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the intermediate people's courts of special economic zones or cities under separate state planning; however, the Supreme People's Court may designate other qualified intermediate people's courts to exercise jurisdiction over foreign-related civil and commercial cases. Currently, in Hunan Province, except the Intermediate People's Court of Changsha City, the Intermediate People's Court of Zhangjiajie City, the Intermediate People's Court of Yongzhou City and some other intermediate people's courts, most intermediate people's courts and grassroots courts do not have jurisdiction over foreign-related civil and commercial cases. Early this year, this Court conducted in-depth investigation and research with regard to the operation and distribution of foreign-funded enterprises as well as foreign-related trial work throughout Hunan Province. Through the investigation and research, this Court has found that as the regional economy gradually develops and the international financial crisis spreads to the inland, the number of foreign-related cases in this province is on the rise. The lack of jurisdiction of some local courts over foreign-related cases has made their work relatively difficult, which is particularly true in Chenzhou area, Shaoyang area, and Yuelu District of Changsha City.
In order to enhance and further implement trial mechanisms, relieve the pressure on foreign-related trial work in this province, further improve trial efficiency, and provide stronger judicial guarantee for the economic development in this province, this Court hereby files a request for designating the Intermediate People's Court of Chenzhou City, the Intermediate People's Court of Shaoyang City and the Yuelu District People's Court of Changsha City of this province as courts of first instance with jurisdiction over foreign-related civil and commercial cases, with the following reasons:
I. Chenzhou City, Shaoyang City, and Yuelu District of Changsha City are important industrial, commercial and tourist cities in this province, and maintain relatively prominent positions in this province in terms of foreign-related economic level.
Chenzhou City is located halfway between two groups of cities, the Golden Triangle formed by Changsha City, Zhuzhou City and Xiangtan City and the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong Province. With its unique geographic location and rich mineral resources, it is a leader in this province for economic growth. It ranks among the top three in this province in terms of large- and medium-sized enterprises. There are over 130 foreign-funded enterprises in Chenzhou City. Foreign capital actually used amounts to 390 million U.S. dollars, and domestic capital introduced amounts to 13.71 billion yuan. Import and export volume in foreign trade totals 570 million U.S. dollars and volume of export amounts to 530 million U.S. dollars. The nonferrous metals industrial park established with the approval of Hunan provincial government as part of the Chenzhou City export processing zone has succeeded in introducing 65 projects. At the end of 2008, the State Council approved the park to add the bonded logistics function, extending the policies and operation functions of the bonded logistics park to the export processing zone, which will certainly attract more advanced manufacturing enterprises and modern productive service enterprises to the park. Last year, the park achieved a total of 135 million U.S. dollars in import and export and 28.6 million U.S. dollars worth of trade volume. Chenzhou City has rich tourist resources. Tourist attractions including the East River and Mangshan Hill are famous in the world, attracting a large number of international tourists.
Shaoyang City is a populous city in central Hunan, with relatively developed commerce and service sectors. It is also an old industrial base of this province. As the regional economy develops, the city's internationally-oriented economy has seen rapid growth. There are currently over 60 foreign-funded enterprises in Shaoyang City, and this number tends to increase every year.
Yuelu District of Changsha City is the district under Changsha City with the largest area and the largest registered population. The Changsha National High-tech Industrial Development Zone within the district is among the first group of state-level high-tech industrial development zones approved by the State Council. There are over 1,600 various types of enterprises in the zone, among which 812 are high-tech enterprises and 196 are foreign-funded enterprises, and international civil and commercial exchanges are quite frequent in the zone.
II. As the local economy gradually develops, the awareness of rights protection increases in the general public, and the international financial crisis spreads to the inland, the number of foreign-related civil and commercial cases occurring within the territorial jurisdiction of the Intermediate People's Court of Chenzhou City, the Intermediate People's Court of Shaoyang City and the Yuelu District People's Court of Changsha City is on the rise every year. However, because these courts do not have jurisdiction over foreign-related civil and commercial cases, foreign-related disputes within their territorial jurisdictions have to be litigated in courts elsewhere, which has caused a greater litigation burden and inconvenience to relevant enterprises, organizations and individuals and is adverse to the parties' positive exercise of procedural rights and to the local economic development.
III. The Intermediate People's Court of Chenzhou City, the Intermediate People's Court of Shaoyang City and the Yuelu District People's Court of Changsha City have relatively strong judicial resources, well-trained judges, high-quality trials of cases, and rich experience in civil and commercial trials. All these three courts have established a Civil Division III. Conditions are now ripe in terms of institutional setup, staffing and other aspects, and they have possessed the ability preliminarily required for hearing foreign-related civil and commercial cases. Moreover, the Party committees, people's congresses and governments of their territorial jurisdictions truly understand the great significance of the foreign-related trials conducted by these courts, consider it as a major event contributing to the improvement of investment environments in the respective territories, promoting the opening up of their cities and facilitating the development of internationally-oriented economies, and attach great importance to and support these courts' foreign-related civil and commercial trials.
The intended scope of jurisdiction of the Intermediate People's Court of Chenzhou City, the Intermediate People's Court of Shaoyang City and the Yuelu District People's Court of Changsha City as courts of first instance over foreign-related civil and commercial cases is: foreign-related contract and tort dispute cases, letters of credit dispute cases, cases involving an application for revocation or recognition and enforcement of international arbitration awards, cases involving examination of the validity of foreign-related arbitration clauses in civil and commercial matters, and cases involving an application for recognition and enforcement of civil and commercial judgments and rulings of foreign courts.
If the above Request for Instructions is approved by you, this Court will follow the spirit in your reply, guide the Intermediate People's Court of Chenzhou City, the Intermediate People's Court of Shaoyang City and the Yuelu District People's Court of Changsha City in accepting foreign-related civil and commercial cases as courts of first instance, effectively conduct trial supervision and guidance with regard to the foreign-related civil and commercial cases in this province, and further enhance the level of development of foreign-related economy and level of protection thereof in this province.
Please reply to the above Request for Instructions.