On 29 January 2024, the Arrangement on Reciprocal Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters by the Courts of the Chinese Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("New Arrangement"), which was signed on 18 January 2019, came into effect.
Before the New Arrangement took effect, the basis for the mutual recognition and enforcement of court judgments between the Chinese Mainland ("Mainland") and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("Hong Kong") was the Arrangement on Reciprocal Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters by the Courts of the Chinese Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Pursuant to Choice of Court Agreements between Parties Concerned ("2008 Arrangement"), which came into force in August 2008.
Under the 2008 Arrangement, the judgments would be reciprocally enforceable only if there was a written agreement between the parties designating the court in the Mainland or Hong Kong as having exclusive jurisdiction. In addition, the 2008 Arrangement also limited the scope of the mutual recognition and enforcement to monetary judgments only. Other types of judgments such as those involving tort judgments were not covered.
The New Arrangement broadens the scope of judgments that can be recognised and enforced mutually between the two places. It now includes non-monetary judgments and covers almost all judgments of a "civil and commercial" nature under the laws of the Mainland and Hong Kong. This includes certain types of intellectual property dispute judgments, and judgments regarding civil compensation in criminal cases. In addition, it eliminates the requirement for a written exclusive jurisdiction agreement. Instead, the applicant only needs to show that there is an actual connection between the dispute and the requesting place, and that the requested place does not have exclusive jurisdiction over the dispute. The connection can be demonstrated through the defendant's place of residence, the place of performance of the contract involved, or any other actual connection.
However, it should be noted that the New Arrangement does not apply to eight types of judgments in civil and commercial matters, namely:
- certain marriage and family affairs cases;
- inheritance cases;
- patent infringement cases;
- certain maritime cases;
- bankruptcy (insolvency) cases;
- voter qualification cases;
- arbitration-related cases; and
- recognition and enforcement of judgments in other jurisdictions.
We had previously published a January 2024 Legal Update on this New Arrangement in Chinese on our China WeChat account. Please click here to read our Chinese Legal Update.
