Conference Summary of the Symposium on Foreign-Related Commercial and Maritime Trials of Courts Nationwide (Sup. People's Ct. China)

China's foreign judgment recognition and enforcement regime has been the least developed part of its private international law, as opposed to jurisdiction and choice of law. The regime remained almost immutable over three decades from the 1980s, even though the civil procedure law that established it went through several revisions. Under the present Civil Procedure Law (CPL), the regime consists of rules regarding qualified applicants, legal bases, and refusal grounds for recognition and enforcement. According to these rules, the creditor of an effective foreign judgment or the foreign court rendering it may seek its recognition and enforcement before a Chinese court. The Chinese court shall review the application based on international treaties China has concluded or acceded to, or the principle of reciprocity. If the effective foreign judgment has not proven to contravene the fundamental principles of Chinese laws and the sovereignty, security, and public social interests of the state, it will be recognized and enforced; otherwise, it will not receive recognition and enforcement.