The Supreme Court of Singapore and Supreme People’s Court (SPC) of the People’s Republic of China have signed a Memorandum of Guidance (MOG) on the recognition and enforcement of money judgments in commercial cases.

The agreement, signed by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon of the Supreme Court of Singapore and chief justice and president of the SPC, Zhou Qiang, will give clarity on the method of having money judgments of commercial cases from a Singapore court brought before the Chinese courts for them to be recognised and enforced in China, and vice versa. This will also apply to the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC), a division of the Singapore High Court.

With the MOG, parties with commercial dealings, especially in light of the Belt & Road Initiative, will now have a clarity on money judgments that may arise therefrom, can be enforced against the other party in China or in Singapore. As a result, even non-Singaporean parties who have entered into business contracts with Chinese parties can choose the SICC as their dispute resolution forum of choice and apply to Chinese courts to have their money judgments enforced.

This development comes on the back of the SPC’s endorsement of the Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court decision to recognise a Singapore High Court money judgment by including it as one of 10 reference cases for the BRI in May 2017. 

The signing of this MOG is said to be significant in enhancing the SICC’s role in the dispute resolution sphere and will also help to facilitate a party showing reciprocity towards the other party when applying for enforcement.

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