SPC Issued Provisions on Several Issues of Jurisdiction in Foreign-Related Civil and Commercial Cases

On November 15, 2022, the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) issued the Provisions on Several Issues of Jurisdiction in Foreign-Related Civil and Commercial Cases (“Provisions”), which will come into effect on January 1, 2023.

The Provisions clarifies that foreign-related civil and commercial cases shall be subject to the principle of is jurisdictional decentralization, and centralized jurisdiction shall be the exception. Non-significant foreign-related civil and commercial cases of the first instance shall, in principle, be under the jurisdiction of the basic people’s courts. As for the “large amount of subject matter of the dispute” in the conditions of the Intermediate Court’s jurisdiction, the applicable standard in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Guangdong and Chongqing is more than RMB 40 million (inclusive) , and the applicable standard in other regions is more than RMB 20 million (inclusive). The Higher People’s Court has jurisdiction over the first instance of foreign-related civil and commercial cases with the subject matter exceeding RMB 5 billion (inclusive) or other first instance foreign-related civil and commercial cases with significant impact in the jurisdiction.