Laws of the People's Republic of China

Supreme People's Court

Notification of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China

Fa Shi [2006] No.2

According to Article 93 of the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, the Supreme People's Court reached the Arrangement between the Mainland and the Macao Special Administrative Region on the Mutual Recognition and Enforcement of Civil and Commercial Judgments (hereinafter referred to as the Arrangement) with the Macao Special Administrative Region upon consultation and signed the Arrangement on February 28, 2006. This Arrangement has been adopted at the 1378th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on February 13, 2006 and is hereby promulgated. In light of the unanimity of both parties, this Arrangement shall come into force as of April 1, 2006.

Supreme People's Court

March 21, 2006

Arrangement between the Mainland and the Macao Special Administrative Region on the Mutual Recognition and Enforcement of Civil and Commercial Judgments

In accordance with the Article 93 of the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, the Supreme People's Court reached the following arrangements between the Mainland and the Macao Special Administrative Region on the mutual recognition and enforcement of civil and commercial judgments with the Macao Special Administrative Region upon consultation:

Article 1

The mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments of civil and commercial cases in the Mainland and the Macao Special Administrative Region (hereinafter referred to as Macao) (including the labor dispute cases in the Mainland and the civil labor cases in the Macao Special Administrative Region) shall be governed by this Arrangement.

This Arrangement shall also be applicable to the judgments and verdicts of civil damages compensate involved in criminal cases.

This Arrangement shall not be applicable to administrative cases.

Article 2

The "judgments" as mentioned in this Arrangement include the judgments, verdicts, decisions, mediation agreements and orders to pay in the Mainland; and include the judgments, verdicts, rulings of confirming reconcilement, decisions or instructions of judges in Macao.

The "requested party" as mentioned in this Arrangement refers to either party of the Mainland or Macao that accepts the application for recognition and enforcement of the judgment.

Article 3

In respect to an effective judgment with the content of payment made by the court of one party and, the party involved can file an application for recognition and enforcement to the competent court with the jurisdiction of the other party.

In respect to a judgment without the content of payment or which needs not to be implemented but must be recognized through judicial procedures, the party involved may solely file an application for recognition to the court of the other party or may directly use this judgment as the evidence in the litigation procedures of the court of the other party.

Article 4

The mainland court that has the power to accept the applications for the recognition and enforcement of judgments shall be the intermediate people's court at the locality of the domicile, habitual residence or property of the party against whom the application is filed. Where there are two or more intermediate people's courts that all have the jurisdiction, the applicant shall choose one of intermediate people's courts to submit the application.

The court in Macao that has the power to accept the applications for the recognition of judgments shall be the intermediate court, and the court that has the power to enforce shall be the primary court.

Article 5

Where the party against whom the application is filed has the property both in the Mainland and Macao that can be enforced , the applicant may file an application for enforcement with the court of either place.

When the applicant files an application for enforcement to the court of one place, he/it can file an application to the court of another place for seal-up, seizure or freeze of the property of the enforced party . After the court of one place enforces the judgment, the applicant may, upon the strength of the enforcement certification issued by the court of one place, apply to the court of another place for adopting enforcement measures of property execution for the insufficient part.

The total amount of property executed by the courts of two places shall not exceed the amount determined according to the judgment or prescribed by the law.

Article 6

An application form for the recognition and enforcement of judgments shall indicate the following matters:

(1)

If the applicant or the party against whom the application is filed is a natural person, the application form shall indicate his name and domicile; if the applicant or the party against whom the application is filed is a legal person or any other organization, the application form shall indicate its name and domicile, the name, position and domicile of its legal person or main principal;

(2)

The case number and date of adjudication of the judgment for which an application for recognition and enforcement is filed; and

(3)

The reasons and targets for the application for the recognition and enforcement as well as the implementation circumstance of this judgment by the court that renders this judgment.

Article 7

An application form shall be attached with the duplicate of the effective judgment or the certification with the seal of the court that renders this effective judgment as well as the relevant documents that can prove the following matters issued by the court that renders this effective judgment or by the entitled organ :

(1)

The summons is delivered according to law, unless it is proved by the judgment;

(2)

A person with no capacity of litigation has an agent according to law, unless it is proved by the judgment;

(3)

The judgment has been served to the parties involved and has come into effect according to the law of the place where the judgment is rendered;

(4)

The duplicate of the legal person business license or corporate registration certificate shall be provided if the applicant is a legal person; and

(5)

The certification on the implementation of the judgment provided by the court that renders the judgment.

In case the court of the requested party maintains that it has thoroughly known the relevant matters, the relevant documents may be exempted .

In case the court of the requested party is still doubtful about the authenticity of the judgment provided by the party involved, it may request the court that renders this effective judgment for confirmation.

Article 8

An application form shall be made in Chinese. In case the attached judicial documents or relevant documents are not made in Chinese, the Chinese translation thereof shall be provided. If the judgment rendered by the court is not made in Chinese, the Chinese translation thereof issued by the court shall be provided.

Article 9

After the court receives an application form for recognition and enforcement of the judgment filed by an applicant, it shall serve the application form to the party against whom the application is filed.

The party against whom the application is filed shall have the right to put forward the plea of defense.

Article 10

The court of the requested party shall examine the application for recognition and enforcement as soon as possible and render the verdict.

Article 11

In case any of the following circumstances exist through examines and verifies by the court of the requested party , the ruling of non recognize the judgment shall be made:

(1)

The matter verified in the judgment shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the court of the requested party according to the laws of the requested party;

(2)

The court of the requested party has disposed any similar action, and the aforesaid action is put forward prior to the judgment to be recognized, and the court of the requested party has the jurisdiction;

(3)

The court of the requested party has recognized or enforced the judgment or arbitration award rendered by the court or arbitral organ other than itself for the same lawsuit;

(4)

The party that loses the case has not been lawfully summoned or the person with no capacity to take part in litigation is not provided with any agent according to the laws of the place where the judgment is rendered;

(5)

The judgment for which an application for the recognition and enforcement thereof has not come into force or is ruled not to be enforced due to retrial according to the laws of the place where the judgment is rendered; or

(6)

The recognition and enforcement of the judgment in the Mainland would be contrary to the basic principles of the laws or social public interests of the Mainland; or the recognition and enforcement of the judgment in Macao would be contrary to the basic principles of the laws or public order of Macao.

Article 12

The court shall timely serve the verdict after it renders a verdict with regard to the request for recognition and enforcement of the judgment .

In case the party involved is not satisfied with the verdict in which the recognition of the judgment is approved or not, he/it may request the review to the people's court at the next higher level in the Mainland, or may file an appeal according to the provisions of laws in Macao. In case he/it is not satisfied with the verdict made during the course of enforcement, he/it may seek for relief from the court at the next higher level in accordance with the provisions of laws of the requested party.

Article 13

Where a judgment is recognized by verdict, it shall have equal effectiveness with the judgment rendered by the court of the requested party. If any payment shall be conducted according to the judgment, the party involved may apply to the jurisdictional court of the requested party for the enforcement.

Article 14

When the court of the requested party can not recognize or enforce all the requests confirmed in a judgment, it may recognize or enforce some requests thereinto.

Article 15

Before or after the court accepts an application for recognition and enforcement of the judgment, it may take preservation measures for the property of the party against whom the application is filed according to the provisions in the laws of the requested party on the property preservation and upon the strength of the application of the applicant.

Article 16

While the court of the requested party accepts an application for recognition and enforcement of the judgment, or where the judgment has been recognized and enforced, if the party involved files a same lawsuit, the court of the requested party shall not accept it.

Article 17

As to the judgment that can not be recognized according to Item (1), (4) or (6) of Article 11 of this Arrangement, the applicant shall not file any application for recognition and enforcement any more. However, if the court of the requested party has the jurisdiction in accordance with its laws, the party involved may file another lawsuit to the local court with the facts of the same case.

With regard to the judgment as mentioned in Item (5) of Article 11 of this Arrangement shall refer to the application that the applicant may file another application for recognition and enforcement after the circumstance for not recognizing the judgment eliminates.

Article 18

In order to applicable for this Arrangement, all the authentication formalities shall be exempted for the original, duplicate and translation made or notarized by the competent public institution (including notaries public) of one party, and they can be used by the other party.

Article 19

When an applicant applies for the recognition and enforcement of the judgment in accordance with this Arrangement, he/it shall pay the litigation costs and enforcement costs in accordance with the provisions of laws of the requested party.

In case the applicant is approved to be able to suspend, reduce or exempt the payment of litigation costs at the place where the effective judgment is rendered, he/it shall enjoy the equal treatment when it files an application for recognition and enforcement of the judgment with the court of the requested party.

Article 20

Unless it is prescribed by this Arrangement, the recognition and enforcement of civil and commercial judgments shall be governed by the laws and regulations of the requested party.

Article 21

The request for recognition and enforcement put forward before this Arrangement comes into force shall not be applicable for this Arrangement.

As to the judgments rendered by the courts in the Mainland and Macao from December 20, 1999 until before the entry-into-effect of this Arrangement, if the party involved fails to apply for the recognition and enforcement with the court of the other party or the court of the other party refuses to accept, the application still may be filed after the entry-into-effect of this Arrangement.

The time limit for the party involved to file an application for the recognition and enforcement of judgments rendered by the court in Macao during the aforesaid term with the people's court in the Mainland shall be calculated anew as of the entry-into-effect of this Arrangement.

Article 22

Where this Arrangement meets any problem or needs to be altered during the course of implementation thereof, the Supreme People's Court and the Macao Special Administrative Region shall solve it through consultation.

Article 23

In order to implement this Arrangement, the Supreme People's Court and the Court of Final Appeal of Macao shall mutually provide the relevant legal materials.

The Supreme People's Court and the Court of Final Appeal of Macao shall mutually circulate the notice on the enforcement of this Arrangement every year.

Article 24

This Arrangement shall come into force as of April 1, 2006.