Beijing court steps up efforts to solve BRI commercial disputes

Beijing No 4 Intermediate People's Court has stepped up efforts to solve commercial disputes involving Belt and Road countries and regions over the past five years by optimizing legal services to help promote its development.

Since February 2018, the court, which is responsible for handling the capital's commercial disputes regarding BRI countries, has dealt with 531 such cases, according to data provided by the court on Thursday.

These disputes mainly covered international sales of goods, international investment, tourism service contracts and cargo transport contracts, and litigants from 88 countries, the court said.

To efficiently run the cases, the court has provided various convenient services for litigants from overseas.

The services include an English-language website for its international commercial tribunal, which includes information on how to initiate a lawsuit and litigation procedures, Wang Yuntao, vice-president of the court, told a news conference.

"We've also set up a system to evaluate whether the initiative-related infrastructure projects involved in the lawsuits are urgent, so as to help us judge how big the legal risks are," he said.

In addition, the court has worked with multiple institutions, such as the China University of Political Science and Law, to identify foreign laws, in order to improve the efficiency of solving the cases, he added.

A total of 10 influential cases concluded in the past five years were also disclosed on Thursday. Ma Jun, chief judge of the court's international commercial tribunal, said they show "our determination and efforts to equally protect legitimate rights of litigants, no matter where they are from".