HKIAC Practice: Interim Measures Arrangement

NEWS ALERT
HKIAC Publishes Information on its Practice and Experience under the Hong Kong-Mainland Arrangement on Interim Measures

The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre ("HKIAC") is pleased to publish information on its practice of processing applications under the Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (the "Arrangement").

The information is available here and includes:

• the methods of submitting an application under the Arrangement to a Mainland Chinese court;
• the process for requesting a letter from HKIAC certifying its acceptance of an arbitration ("Letter of Acceptance"); and,
• HKIAC's methods of issuing a Letter of Acceptance.

Since the entry into force of the Arrangement on 1 October 2019, HKIAC has received eleven applications under the Arrangement (as of 16 December 2019). All eleven applications were made in ongoing arbitrations seated in Hong Kong and administered by HKIAC under its Administered Arbitration Rules. Of the eleven applications, ten were made for orders to preserve assets and one was for an order to preserve evidence. All applications were made on an ex parte basis and involved applicants and respondents from Hong Kong, Mainland China and other jurisdictions. The applications were made to seven different Mainland Chinese courts. HKIAC is aware of at least four of the applications for preservation of assets having been granted to the total value of approximately RMB 1.7 billion (USD 243 million).

In each of the eleven applications, HKIAC issued a Letter of Acceptance to the applicant. In some cases, HKIAC provided a copy of the Letter of Acceptance or the applicant's application directly to the relevant court upon the court's request.

Sarah Grimmer, Secretary-General of HKIAC, says "the impact of the Arrangement has been immediate and important for applicants in HKIAC, Hong Kong-seated cases".

HKIAC also makes the following materials available on its website:

• the full text of the Arrangement in Chinese together with an English translation;
• a note of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China (the "SPC") on interpretation and application of the Arrangement (available in Chinese only);
• 12 template documents prepared by the SPC for the purposes of seeking interim measures before the Mainland Chinese courts under the Arrangement (available in Chinese only);
• qualified arbitral institutions under Article 2 of the Arrangement and their contact details;
• relevant Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese laws; and,
• links to HKIAC's publications on the Arrangement.

Media Contact
Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre
Karen Tan
Tel: (852) 2525 2381
Fax: (852) 2524 2171
Email: karen@hkiac.org