Commercial Judicial Assistance

(english.legalinfo.gov.cn) Updated : 2015-06-04

China currently has treaties on civil and commercial judicial assistance with 13 countries: France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Hungary, Thailand, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Argentina, Morocco, Tunis and the United Arab Emirates. It has treaties on civil and criminal judicial assistance and treaties on civil, commercial and criminal judicial assistance with 19 countries: Poland, Rumania, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Greece, Lithuania, Mongolia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Laos, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Cuba, and Egypt.

In most treaties the Ministry of Justice has authority, while in some it is the Ministry of Justice and Supreme People's Procuratorate with authority. In others it is the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court, while still in others it is the Ministry of Justice, Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Supreme Court combined. There is a growing number of legal documents being sent abroad and foreign legal documents being received. In 2003, China had 868 requests for assistance in legal documents, and sent 418 requests for assistance in legal documents abroad. It received 38 requests for an investigation and collection of evidence, and sent 12 similar requests abroad. Its closest cooperation in civil judicial assistance was with France, the US, Japan, Italy and Korea.