涉及中国企业的跨境纠纷数量在过去几年持续增长，疫情更加速了这一进程，中国律师也愈发深入地参与到了跨境争议解决之中。与此同时，从法院到仲裁中心，中国相关机构希望在跨境争议解决中扮演更重要角色。我们与相关专家聊了聊该领域变化，以及中国司法影响力的不断提升。
面对上述趋势，蒋律师期待有更多中国律师参与到跨境争议解决领域，也期待中国仲裁机构在跨
境仲裁案件中扮演日益重要的角色，共同“发出更多的中国声音”。
疫情爆发两年多来，中国争议解决律师切身感受到了涉及中国企业的跨境纠纷数量的快速增长，这既受到疫情影响，实际上也是过去几年争议解决领域的大趋势。数据佐证了律师们的观察。
从国际机构角度看，不久前香港国际仲裁中心（HKIAC）发布了2021年数据。当年提交HKIAC的仲裁案件中有81.6%为国际案件，该类案件的“内地元素”继续蓬勃发展：涉及中国内地当事人的案件数量位列第二，中国法则为适用频率第三高的准据法。而新加坡国际仲裁中心（SIAC），曾统计了2010年至2020年期间所受理案件中涉及中国内地当事人的数量，其中2018年至2020年的数据分别为73、76和195，显示出逐年增长的态势。同时，近年来已披露的涉及中国或中国投资者的投资仲裁案件数量共计14件，其中中国投资者作为申请人提起的国际投资仲裁案为10件，另有4件国际投资仲裁案系以中国作为被申请人。
天同律师事务所仲裁业务总负责人蒋弘律师分享了国内仲裁机构2021年的数据：中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会（CIETAC）新受理的涉外仲裁案件636件，处于历史高位。北京仲裁委员会（BAC）、上海国际仲裁中心（SHIAC）、深圳国际仲裁院（SCIA）在2021年新受理的涉外案件数量均有显著增长（北仲为249件、上国仲为149件、深国仲为345件）。同时，各个机构涉外案件的争议金额均呈显著上升趋势。
从国内法院层面，根据可获得的公开信息，涉外民商事案件多发的华东地区疫情以来案件数量基本保持稳定，如上海法院2020年审理的涉外民商事案件为3225件、2019年为3721件。值得一提的是，2020年在苏州设立的全国首家地方法院国际商事法庭，成立仅一个月即受理案件213件。
国银律师事务所合伙人卢航律师指出，上述数据“仅能展现疫情爆发以来跨境纠纷数量的冰山一角……更多的纠纷要么还没有发展到必须采取国际仲裁的地步，要么由于缺乏仲裁条款或仲裁协议只能交由法院审理。不过这些数据也足以窥一斑而知全豹”。
跨境纠纷集中领域
两年多的疫情对国际交易方方面面产生巨大影响，在此背景下，跨境纠纷呈现怎样的特点？
在案件类型上，蒋弘律师首先为ALB援引了国内仲裁机构的数据：贸仲在2021年受理的前五类争议类型为一般货物买卖、机电设备、建筑装修工程承包工程房地产开发建设、股权投资和股权转让、金融纠纷；北仲受理的前三类为投资金融合同、买卖合同、建设工程合同纠纷；上国仲受理的前三类为金融类、货物买卖和国际贸易类、公司股权和投资经营类纠纷；深国仲受理的前几类为：金融与资本市场类、国际和国内贸易类、房地产、基础设施与建设工程类案件。
“疫情发生以来，国际货物买卖、金融类案件、股权投资、建设工程已经成为受案的主要类型。此外我们也发现跨境商事案件总标的额普遍较大，牵涉商业利益巨大。”
- 蒋弘，天同律师事务所
“可见疫情发生以来，国际货物买卖、金融类案件、股权投资、建设工程已经成为受案的主要类型。”她总结道，“此外我们也发现跨境商事案件总标的额普遍较大，牵涉商业利益巨大。”
具体到跨境贸易类纠纷，蒋律师指出，受全球疫情防控常态化以及全球经济大背景影响，无论各国采取的标准不一的检验检疫、航运管制以及出口管制措施，或是以保护本国经济为目的的贸易保护措施，都在货物、物流、投资、监管等方面加大了纠纷产生的可能性。
广信君达律师事务所高级合伙人闪涛律师进一步指出，疫情背景下，“跨境贸易活动中典型的是医疗防疫物资贸易以及跨境电商所产生的争议”。
另一类呈现爆发增长的是新能源领域贸易纠纷。通商律师事务所合伙人李洪积律师和崔强律师长期服务于该领域——尤其光伏产业的重要客户，崔强律师告诉ALB，从2006年起，光伏原材料硅料价格经历了若干次剧烈起伏，伴随各国政府愈发重视气候变化、强调新能源的重要性，近期硅料再次出现价格大涨、供不应求的情况。“中国是光伏产能大国，而光伏企业的两端：原料进口和成品售卖，都涉及国际贸易，非常容易产生纠纷。”崔律师说。
此外，金融投资类纠纷增长也十分明显。蒋弘律师说：“各国企业生产经营均受到疫情不同程度的影响，导致涉及国际银团贷款、独立保函、融资租赁、股权转让等案件数量不断增多。信用证作为跨境工程领域的支付和融资手段，产生的纠纷也较多。”
第三类增速明显的是工程类纠纷。崔强律师和李洪积律师告诉ALB，此类纠纷大多涉及中国企业的海外“一带一路”项目。过去两年受多重因素影响，“一带一路”活动虽有所降缓，但在国家政策支持下势头依旧强劲，相关争议并未如想象中减少。两位律师指出，中资企业为应对激烈竞争，此类工程合同条款通常签得不够缜密，容易导致承包商与业主、承包商与分包商间出现纠纷。这类争议目前常在国际商会国际仲裁院（ICC）或SIAC仲裁，“未来国内也会多起来”，他们说。
上述几大类纠纷外，蒋弘律师还观察到一些新趋势的发生。“受疫情影响，部分企业涉及境外清盘，部分境外债权人和股东开始聘请中国律师参加跨境破产清算、破产重整、自行清算/强制清算等程序。”
中国律师扮演主导角色
代理跨境纠纷数量不断增长的同时，中国诉讼律师也观察到自身在案件办理过程中重要性的不断提高。崔强律师告诉ALB，这首先源于中国企业谈判地位的变化。
“大概三五年前起，中国企业开始在一些细分市场里具备比较强的谈判地位，伴随企业法务部越来越专业，所签条款给了中国律师更多发挥空间。”崔律师说，“最强势的中国企业仅同意将争议提交至贸仲、上国仲、深国仲等境内仲裁机构仲裁；部分贸易企业虽然同意到海外仲裁，但约定了适用中国法或仲裁员必须懂中文等有利条款。”
“这两年我们接的案子，出现了很多从没见过的情况，例如双方在伦敦或新加坡仲裁，但适用中国法律……因此客户必须要请中国律师团队代理。过去我们每年代理一两个境外仲裁，现在则每年多达十几个”。
李洪积律师补充道，中国客户对于跨境纠纷的态度，经历了从不适应到很淡定，再到追求好结果的发展过程。“当客户以结果为导向时，就要优中选优，要综合考虑律师团队的争议解决方案、是否采取结果导向、双方间的信任关系、律师团队能否将客户利益最大化等因素，再加上中国律师的国际化水平不断提升，我们因此能够脱颖而出。”
“中国律师越来越多参与跨境纠纷，并在其中发挥越来越重要甚至是主导的作用。跨境争议中，由中国律师主导、中外国律师配合，合理的架构会促使优化效率、质量和获得更满意的结果。”蒋弘律师根据自身最近几年处理跨境争议的经验总结道。
“以前如果客户找了中外两个律师团队，中国律师更多负责翻译、收集基础材料等……现在中国律师很少扮演这样的角色了，策略制定、材料准备、和公司法务部及业务部门的对接等，都是中国律师主导。”
- 崔强，通商律师事务所
崔强律师进而指出：即便那些适用境外法的案子，中国律师扮演的角色也很重要。“以前如果客户找了中外两个律师团队，中国律师更多负责翻译、收集基础材料等，策略制定、开庭和法律问题等都是国际律师负责。”崔律师坦言。
“现在中国律师很少扮演这样的角色了。例如我们正在代理的一件ICC案子，在纽约开庭，适用纽约州法律，客户也请了纽约律师，但他们只扮演法律专家的角色。策略制定、材料准备、和公司法务部及业务部门的对接等，都是中国律师主导。”
当然，两位律师坦言，价格也是客户愈发青睐中国律师的原因之一。例如上述ICC案件，客户虽然聘请了两个团队，但整体费用比单独聘请外国律师团队便宜了一半。在另一个案件中，在方案几乎一致的情况下，中国律师的收费仅为外国律师的1/6，通商因此拿下了案子，并帮助客户取得了全胜裁决。
跨境出庭机会增加，是否意味着中国律师需要磨练更为国际化的仲裁技巧？李洪积律师告诉ALB，境外基本上是仲裁庭独立办案，仲裁机构仅提供行政服务，具体程序安排与裁决结果通常依个体而定，“因此每个案子都要提供定制化服务，根据机构、仲裁员、行业等安排专门对策。此外证据开示、交叉盘问等也是境内诉讼与仲裁案件中较为少见的程序，中国律师确实需要磨练更为国际化的仲裁技巧”。
境外仲裁外，中国律师参与涉外纠纷的另一种方式是展开平行诉讼，即通过将同一案件提交不同机构审理，以期获得不同审理结果，达到增加谈判筹码的效果。在此方面，蒋弘律师也观察到：“越来越多案件涉及到对境内外平行程序进行协同管理，对中国律师的涉外法律专业和技巧提出了更高要求。”
中国建设国际争议解决中心
伴随中国企业涉及跨境纠纷越来越多，过去几年，中国也开始加速推动争议解决机构国际化，希望将北京、上海、深圳等城市打造为国际商事争议解决中心。
上述努力已经取得一定成效。例如在仲裁领域，最典型的就是在伦敦玛丽女王大学发布的2021年国际仲裁调查中，北京、上海分别在最受欢迎仲裁地中位列全球第七和第八，贸仲也被选为全球第五受欢迎的仲裁机构。
在蒋弘律师看来，上述成果得益于国家法律法规和制度层面的促进，如《仲裁法》修订草案的公布、内地与香港法院仲裁程序互助保全安排及其补充规定的创新等；也源于中国仲裁机构接轨国际仲裁实践和制度、投入线上平台建设、推进国际投资仲裁发展、发布相关仲裁案例等积极探索，以及法院层面设立最高人民法院“一站式”国际商事纠纷多元化解决平台，并在具体案例中为涉外纠纷解决保驾护航等努力。
李洪积律师认为，近年中国确实为争议解决机构发展构建了友好环境，尤其是采纳了仲裁友好型司法政策。但他也指出，“国际商事仲裁中心的形成不是行政行为，而是市场演化的结果”。他举例道，例如北京，“它是中国的政治、经济、文化中心，并且是大量国企央企和跨国企业的运营中心，还是法律人才的中心，自然能够形成国际争议解决的中心”。因此，应尊重社会、商事活动的自然规律，避免过多行政干预。
李律师还坦言，目前选择到中国仲裁的跨境纠纷几乎都带有中国元素，而且很多是由中国买方主导的交易行为，当然也以外国企业熟悉并信任中国司法制度为基础。至于北上深等地成为真正的中立、第三方仲裁地，还需期待未来发展。
“中国仲裁员国际化的脚步越来越快，很多中国律师在SIAC、ICC、HKIAC等机构参与审理案子……背后有两个原因：一是这些机构将内地视为重要市场；二是中国法律人水平逐渐提升。”
- 李洪积，通商律师事务所
不过李律师指出，与此相对应，他观察到中国仲裁员国际化的脚步确实越来越快。“很多中国律师在SIAC、ICC、HKIAC等机构参与审理案子，这是挺有意思的现象。”李律师说，“背后有两个原因：一是这些机构将内地视为重要市场，愿意邀请中国律师担任仲裁员，甚至按照中国的习惯设立了仲裁员名册；二是中国法律人水平逐渐提升，得到了普遍认可。”
值得关注趋势
2022年第一季度已过去大半，诉讼律师基于自身工作量和对市场的预期，对今年跨境纠纷数量普遍保持乐观。“我认为2022年跨境纠纷数量会保持在高位，甚至有可能进一步增长。很多还处在协商或僵持阶段的纠纷还尚未浮出水面，很有一部电影的味道——让子弹飞。”卢航律师说。
闪涛律师表示同意，他指出：“一方面企业仍有‘走出去’的动力和海外市场的需求，另一方面整体国际环境仍存在各种不确定因素，容易引发纠纷，并且纠纷可能会越来越多涉及海外合规问题。”
蒋弘律师总结说：“其实只要疫情没有最终结束，原材料价格、物流、跨境工程项目工期等就会持续受到影响，因此2022年涉外纠纷数量会与2021年保持较大幅度增长势头。”
在此背景下，蒋律师提出了几点值得关注的趋势。在案件类型上，她认为国际货物买卖合同和跨境工程项目纠纷仍会是两大主要争议类型，前者中将出现越来越多的新能源纠纷；此外，持续受到疫情影响的民航、酒店、旅游、影视、娱乐等产业可能会产生和跨国清盘相关的诉讼业务。
最后，如闪涛律师所指出，目前“境外投融资、国际贸易等几乎所有跨境业务中对中国企业和金融机构都采取了防御性措施，跨境合规类案件或将进一步凸显”，蒋律师说。
面对上述趋势，蒋律师期待有更多中国律师参与到跨境争议解决领域，也期待中国仲裁机构在跨境仲裁案件中扮演日益重要的角色，共同“发出更多的中国声音”。
RISING FROM THE EAST
The number of cross-border disputes involving Chinese businesses has been consistently on the rise in the past few years. This trend has resulting Chinese institutions, from courts to arbitration centres, playing an even greater role in the resolution of cross-border disputes, and Chinese litigators growing in prominence internationally.
Over the past two years, since the outbreak of the pandemic, Chinese dispute resolution lawyers have experienced first-hand the rapid growth in the number of cross-border disputes involving Chinese businesses, which is not only the result of the pandemic but also the overall trend of dispute resolution in the past few years. Lawyers' observations are borne out by data.
According to the data recently released by the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), 81.6 percent of the arbitration cases submitted to HKIAC in 2021 were international, and more of those cases have "Mainland elements.” Specifically, the number of cases involving Mainland parties ranked second, and Chinese law was the third most-selected governing law.
At the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), Jiang Hong, of counsel at TianTong Law Firm, shares with ALB that SIAC accepted 72, 78 and 195 cases involving Chinese parties from 2018 to 2020 respectively. "It can be seen that SIAC is increasingly popular among Chinese parties.”
Lu Hang, partner at Guoyin Law Firm, shares figures of domestic arbitration institutions. The number of foreign-related cases newly accepted by the Beijing Arbitration Commission (BAC) and the Shanghai International Arbitration Centre (SHIAC) both increased significantly in 2021 (249 for BAC and 149 for SHIAC). On the other hand, the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) accepted 636 new cases, still a high figure despite a slight drop, and the total monetary amount in dispute under newly accepted foreign-related cases increased 51.78 percent year-on-year.
Lu further points out that these data "only show the tip of the iceberg in terms of the number of cross-border disputes... Many more disputes have either not reached the point where international arbitration is necessary or could only be submitted for court hearing due to the lack of arbitration clauses or agreements.”
HUGE COMMERCIAL INTERESTS
With more than two years of the pandemic greatly impacting all aspects of international transactions, what are some of the new characteristics of cross-border disputes?
- Jiang Hong, TianTong Law Firm
After analyzing data of domestic arbitration institutions, Jiang summarizes case types as follows:" since the start of the pandemic, international sales of goods, financial cases, equity investment and construction projects have become main areas of dispute. In addition, we have also noticed that the total amount involved in cross-border commercial cases is generally large, involving huge commercial interests."
Specifically, Jiang points out that the inspection and quarantine, air and shipping control and export control measures taken by countries for pandemic prevention and control, or the trade protection measures taken by countries to protect their own economy, have all increased the possibility of disputes occurring over goods and logistics in cross-border trade.
Shan Tao, senior partner at ETR Law Firm, further comments that in the pandemic environment, "typical cross-border trade disputes are disputes arising from the trade of medical and pandemic prevention materials and cross-border e-commerce.”
Another type of trade disputes showing explosive growth is in the field of new energy. Li Hongji and Cui Qiang, both partners of Commerce & Finance Law Offices, have been advising clients in this field, especially key accounts of the photovoltaic industry, for a long time. Cui shares with ALB that the price of silicon has risen sharply recently as governments around the world pay more attention to climate change and emphasize the importance of new energy. "China is a large photovoltaic producer. Both the import of raw materials and the sale of finished products of photovoltaic enterprises involve international trade, and both are prone to disputes."
In addition, financial investment disputes are also clearly on the rise. According to Jiang: "The number of cases involving international syndicated loans, independent letters of guarantee, financial leasing and equity transfer is increasing. Letters of credit, as a means of payment and financing for cross-border engineering projects, also generate a large number of disputes."
The third type of disputes that is clearly growing is in the engineering field. According to Cui and Li, such disputes often involve the overseas Belt and Road Initiative projects of Chinese businesses. In the face of fierce competition, Chinese enterprises often fail to carefully negotiate terms for such engineering contracts, which can easily result in disputes between contractors and owners, and contractors and sub-contractors.
Apart from the above-mentioned disputes, Jiang has also observed some new trends. "Affected by the pandemic, some enterprises are involved in liquidation overseas, and some overseas creditors and shareholders have begun to engage Chinese litigation lawyers to participate in cross-border bankruptcy liquidation, bankruptcy reorganization and other procedures. The demand for cross-border compliance has also increased, which also involves examination and advisory on the production of evidence overseas in cross-border litigation and arbitration," he notes.
CHINESE LAWYERS STARRING
With the number of cross-border disputes they act for increasing, Chinese litigators have also noticed their growing importance in case handling. Cui tells ALB that this change stems, first and foremost, from the negotiation strength of Chinese enterprises.
"Chinese businesses are beginning to have stronger bargaining power in some market segments, and the terms signed have given Chinese lawyers more room to maneuver," says Cui. "The most powerful Chinese enterprises only agree to CIETAC, SHIAC and Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA) as the seats of arbitration. Other trade enterprises, despite agreeing to arbitrate overseas, require that Chinese law be chosen as the governing law or that arbitrators must understand Chinese."
"We have experienced situations never seen before. For example, both parties agree to arbitrate in London or Singapore, but Chinese law applies... As a result, clients must engage Chinese lawyers. In the past, we could represent one or two overseas arbitrations every year. Now there will be more than a dozen.”
Li adds that the attitude of Chinese clients towards cross-border disputes has also evolved from feeling very uncomfortable, to staying very calm, and now to pursuing favorable outcomes. "When clients are result-oriented, they will only choose the best among the best. In addition, Chinese lawyers stand out also by virtue of their continuous internationalization."
- Cui Qiang, Commerce & Finance Law Offices
Cui further points out that even for cases governed by foreign law, Chinese lawyers continue to play a very important role. "In the past, if a client engaged both Chinese and foreign lawyers, Chinese lawyers could only do translation and collect basic materials. Now we rarely play the sidekick role. For example, we are currently acting for an ICC case which is held in New York and governed by the laws of New York State. The client has also engaged New York lawyers, but they only act as legal experts. Strategy formulation, material preparation, and liaison with the client's in-house counsel and business departments are all led by Chinese lawyers."
Both lawyers are also candid that fee was one of the reasons why clients increasingly favor Chinese lawyers. For example, in the ICC case mentioned above, although the client hired two teams, the overall cost is only half of that for hiring one foreign lawyer team alone. In another case where the strategies presented were almost identical, the fees charged by Chinese lawyers were only one-sixth of the foreign counterparts.
Apart from overseas arbitration, another way for Chinese lawyers to participate in foreign-related disputes is to engage in parallel litigation, that is, by submitting the same case to different institutions for hearing with the hope of obtaining different outcomes, so as to have more bargaining chips. In this regard, Jiang notices that "more and more cases involve coordinated management of parallel proceedings at home and abroad, placing higher requirements on the foreign-related legal expertise and skills of Chinese lawyers."
INTERNATIONAL HUBS
With more and more cross-border disputes involving Chinese companies, China has also accelerated the internationalization of its own dispute resolution institutions in the past few years, hoping to build Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other cities into international commercial dispute resolution hubs to gain an upper hand.
These efforts have already borne fruit. For example, the 2021 International Arbitration Survey released by Queen Mary University of London listed Beijing and Shanghai as the seventh and the eighth-most popular destinations for arbitration in the world, and CIETAC was also listed as the fifth most popular arbitration institution globally.
According to Jiang, such achievements result from the improvement of laws, regulations and systems in China, such as the release of the revised draft of the Arbitration Law and the innovation of the arbitration preservation arrangements between the Mainland and Hong Kong SAR. The active exploration by Chinese arbitration institutions to integrate with international arbitration practices and systems, as well as efforts such as the Supreme People's court setting up the "one-stop" diversified international commercial dispute resolution platform are also contributing factors.
In Li's opinion, China has indeed built a friendly environment for the development of dispute resolution institutions in recent years, although he also points out that "the formation of an international dispute resolution centre is not an administrative act, but the result of market development.” For example, "Beijing is naturally an international dispute resolution centre because it is China's political, economic and cultural capital. It is the operations centre of a large number of State-owned enterprises and multinational enterprises. It is also a hub of legal talents.” Therefore, it is important to respect the natural evolvement of social and commercial activities and avoid excessive administrative intervention.
Li also admits that at present, almost all cross-border disputes that choose to arbitrate in China have Chinese elements, and many were transactions dominated by Chinese buyers, although this was also based on the familiarity with and trust in China's judicial system by foreign enterprises. Whether Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen can become truly neutral and third-party arbitration seats still need further observation.
- Li Hongji, Commerce & Finance Law Offices
Nevertheless, Li points out that from his observation, the pace of internationalization of Chinese arbitrators is indeed increasing. "Many Chinese lawyers participate in the hearing of cases in SIAC, ICC, HKIAC and other institutions. There are two reasons behind this. First, these institutions regard the Mainland as an important market and are willing to invite Chinese lawyers to serve as arbitrators. Second, Chinese lawyers have gradually improved their level of professional expertise and have gained wide recognition."
TRENDS TO WATCH
With the first quarter of 2022 drawing to a close son, litigators generally remain optimistic about the number of cross-border disputes this year. "I think the number of cross-border disputes will remain high in 2022 and may even increase further. Many disputes that are still in the stage of negotiation or deadlock have not yet surfaced," says Lu Hang.
Shan concurs. "On the one hand, enterprises are still motivated to 'go global' and they also need overseas markets. On the other hand, various uncertainties still exist in the overall international environment, which can easily cause disputes, and an increasing number of disputes may involve overseas compliance issues."
In conclusion, Jiang notes that "as long as the pandemic is not over, the prices of raw materials, logistics and the schedule of cross-border engineering projects will continue to be affected."
In this context, Jiang highlights several trends to watch. In terms of case types, contracts on international sales of goods and disputes over cross-border construction projects will remain two major dispute types. In addition, civil aviation, hotel, tourism, film and television, entertainment and other industries may produce litigation related to multi-jurisdictional liquidation.
Finally, at present, "defensive measures have been taken against Chinese enterprises and financial institutions in almost all cross-border businesses such as overseas investment and financing and international trade. Therefore, more cross-border compliance cases are expected to emerge.”
Given the trends above, Jiang hopes to see more Chinese lawyers participate in cross-border dispute resolution and Chinese arbitration institutions play an increasingly important role in cross-border arbitration, "so that jointly there will be more Chinese voices."
