General Principles of Governing Law in China

For foreign-related civil relations, parties concerned have rights to expressly choose the governing law unless otherwise prescribed by China law.

The followings are mandatorily governed by China Law on the premises that they are fulfilled in China:

1)  Sino-foreign equity joint ventures;

2)  Sino-foreign contractual joint ventures;

3)  Sino-foreign cooperation in exploring and exploiting natural resources.

Where the application of foreign laws will undermine social and public interests of China, China law shall apply.

Dispute Resolution Mechanism:

Negotiation, Mediation, Litigation, Arbitration, etc.

Which dispute resolution mechanism is preferable?

Considering factors: Governing Law, Cost, Convenience, Language, Location, Expertise, Enforcement, Reliability, etc.

Most Influential International Treaties

The Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (known as the New Work Convention); The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (known as CISG; the Vienna Convention); Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements

The Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, also known as the New York Convention, was adopted by a United Nations diplomatic conference on 10 June 1958 and entered into force on 7 June 1959. The Convention requires courts of contracting states to give effect to private agreements to arbitrate and to recognize and enforce arbitration awards made in other contracting states. Widely considered the foundational instrument for international arbitration, it applies to arbitrations which are not considered as domestic awards in the state where recognition and enforcement is sought. Though other international conventions apply to the cross-border enforcement of arbitration awards, the New York Convention is by far the most important.

As of January 2015, the Convention has 154 state parties, which includes 151 of the 193 United Nations member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, and the State of Palestine. Forty-six UN member states have not adopted the Convention.

The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG; the Vienna Convention) is a treaty that is a uniform international sales law developed by the United Nations on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).  As of September 2014, it has been ratified by 83 countries that account for a significant proportion of world trade, making it one of the most successful international uniform laws.

The CISG allows exporters to avoid choice of law issues, as the CISG offers "accepted substantive rules on which contracting parties, courts, and arbitrators may rely". Unless excluded by the express terms of a contract, the CISG is deemed to be incorporated into (and supplant) any otherwise applicable domestic law(s) with respect to a transaction in goods between parties from different Contracting States.

The Hague choice of court convention, formally the Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements is an international treaty concluded within the Hague Conference on Private International Law. It was concluded in 2005, but had as of 2013 not entered into force. It was signed (but not ratified) by the European Union (on behalf of all its member states except Denmark), the United States, while Mexico acceded to it. Ratification of 1 more country will trigger its entry into force.

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