🇷🇺🇨🇳 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝟭𝟳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘆.

In 2023, a Russian court ordered a Chinese company to pay a Russian company approximately CNY 5 million.

In 2024, the Russian company sought recognition and enforcement in China of the Russian court decision issued against the Chinese company.

The Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China are parties to the Treaty on Judicial Assistance in Civil and Criminal Matters (signed in Beijing on June 19, 1992), which, among other things, governs the recognition and enforcement of court decisions.

According to Article 17 of the Treaty, an application for recognition and enforcement must be submitted to the court that rendered the decision. That court is then responsible for transmitting the decision to a court in the other Contracting Party's country. If the applicant has a domicile or place of residence in the territory of the Contracting Party where the decision is to be enforced, the application may also be submitted directly to the court of that Contracting Party.

The Russian company submitted its application directly to a Chinese court. In doing so, the Russian company argued that it was "domiciled in China," as it owned 50% of the shares in the debtor.

The Changzhou Intermediate People's Court and the Jiangsu Higher People's Court dismissed the Russian company's motion. The courts held that the conditions under Article 17 of the Treaty were not met, and that the application for recognition and enforcement had to be submitted to the court that had rendered the decision — i.e., to the Russian court that had issued the decision.

As one can note, Chinese courts take a similar approach to Russian court decisions as Russian courts take to Chinese decisions. In Case No. A56-120092/2023, a Russian court held that an application for recognition of a Chinese court decision in Russia must be filed with the court in China that rendered the decision, which then transmits it to the competent Russian authority. 🐉

ProArbitration.Ru ✈