Mainland-Hong Kong mutual arbitral awards enforcement to take full effect

BEIJING - A supplemental arrangement concerning the mutual enforcement of arbitral awards between the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will take full effect from Wednesday, China's top court announced on Tuesday.

With the new arrangements, the assistance mechanism between the mainland and Hong Kong in the arbitration field will further be streamlined and improved, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said in a statement.

On Nov 27, 2020, the two sides signed the supplemental arrangement, which includes four articles modifying the existing ones in this regard.

While Articles 1 and 4 of the supplemental document have already gone into effect since the day of signing, the implementation of Articles 2 and 3 requires the HKSAR to complete relevant legal procedures before they take effect.

On March 17, the Legislative Council of Hong Kong passed a decision to amend the HKSAR's Arbitration Ordinance so as to implement Articles 2 and 3.

The SPC and the Department of Justice of the HKSAR Government would issue separate statements on the full implementation of the arrangement on both sides on May 18, as stipulated in the supplemental arrangement.