Arbitration Law of the People's Republic of China Updated: 2006-04-17 10:13 Chapter III Arbitration Agreement
Article 16 An arbitration agreement shall include the arbitration clauses
provided in the contract and any other written form of agreement concluded
before or after the disputes providing for submission to arbitration. The
following contents shall be included in an arbitration agreement: 1. the
expression of the parties' wish to submit to arbitration; 2. the matters to
be arbitrated; and 3. the Arbitration Commission selected by the parties.
Article 17 An arbitration agreement shall be invalid under any of the
following circumstances: 1. matters agreed upon for arbitration are beyond
the scope of arbitration prescribed by law; 2. an arbitration agreement
concluded by persons without or with limited capacity for civil acts; and 3.
one party forces the other party to sign an arbitration agreement by means of
duress.
Article 18 If the arbitration matters or the arbitration commission are
not agreed upon by the parties in the arbitration agreement, or, if the relevant
provisions are not clear, the parties may supplement the agreement. If the
parties fail to agree upon the supplementary agreement, the arbitration
agreement shall be invalid.
Article 19 An arbitration agreement shall exist independently. Any changes
to, rescission, termination or invalidity of the contract shall not affect the
validity of the arbitration agreement. An arbitration tribunal has the right to
rule on the validity of a contract.
Article 20 If the parties object to the validity of the arbitration
agreement, they may apply to the arbitration commission for a decision or to a
people's court for a ruling. If one of the parties submits to the arbitration
commission for a decision, but the other party applies to a people's court for a
ruling, the people's court shall give the ruling. If the parties contest the
validity of the arbitration agreement, the objection shall be made before the
start of the first hearing of the arbitration tribunal.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
|