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China’s New Civil Procedure Law and the Hague Choice of Court Convention: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?
By Sophia Tang, Wuhan University
China’s New Civil Procedure Law adopted in 2023 and taking effect from 1 Jan 2024 introduces significant changes to the previous civil procedure law regarding cross-border litigation. One of the key changes pertains to choice of court agreements. In the past, Chinese law on choice of court agreements has been criticized for being outdated and inconsistent with international common practice, particularly because it requires choice of court clauses to be in writing and mandates that the chosen court must have “practical connections” with the dispute. After China signed the Hague Choice of Court Convention, there was hope that China might reform its domestic law to align with the Hague Convention’s terms and eventually ratify the Convention.
The New Civil Procedure Law retains the old provision on choice of court agreements, stating that parties can choose a court with practical connections to the dispute in writing (Article 35). This provision is included in the chapter dealing with jurisdiction in domestic cases, but traditionally, Chinese courts have applied the same requirements to choice of court clauses in cross-border cases.
The problematic exclusivity of the UPC on provisional measures in relation with PMAC arbitrations
Guest post by Danilo Ruggero Di Bella (Bottega Di Bella)
This post delves into the issues stemming from the exclusive jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) on interim relief in relation with the judicial support of the arbitrations administered by the Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre (PMAC).
Risks of divesting State courts of competence on interim measures
On one hand, article 32(1)(c) UPC Agreement (UPCA) provides for the exclusive jurisdiction of the UPC to issue provisional measures in disputes concerning classical European patents and European patents with unitary effect. Under article 62 UPCA and Rules 206 and 211 of the UPC Rules of Procedure (UPC RoP), the UPC may grant interim injunctions against an alleged infringer or against an intermediary whose services are used by the alleged infringer, intended to prevent any imminent infringement, to prohibit the continuation of the alleged infringement under the threat of recurring penalties, or to make such continuation subject to the lodging of guarantees intended to ensure the compensation of the patent holder. The UPC may also order the provisional seizure or delivery up of the products suspected of infringing a patent so as to prevent their entry into, or movement, within the channels of commerce. Further, the UPC may order a precautionary seizure of the movable and immovable property of the defendant (such its bank accounts), if an applicant demonstrates circumstances likely to endanger the recovery of damages, as well as an interim award of costs. Additionally, under article 60 UPCA, the UPC may order provisional measures to preserve evidence in respect of the alleged infringement and to inspect premises.
A Plea for Private International Law
A new paper by Michael Green, A Plea for Private International Law (Conflict of Laws), was recently published as an Essay in the Notre Dame Law Review Reflection. Michael argues that although private international law is increasingly important in our interconnected world, it has fallen out of favor at top U.S. law schools. To quote from the Essay:
Private international law has not lost its jurisprudential import. And ease of travel, communication, and trade have only increased in the last century. But in American law schools (although not abroad), private international law has started dropping out of the curriculum, with the trend accelerating in the last five years or so. We have gone through US News and World Report’s fifty top-ranked law schools and, after careful review, it appears that twelve have not offered a course on private international law (or its equivalent) in the last four academic years: Arizona State University, Boston University, Brigham Young University, Fordham University, University of Georgia, University of Minnesota, The Ohio State University, Pepperdine University, Stanford University, University of Southern California, Vanderbilt University, and University of Washington. And even where the course is taught, in some law schools—such as Duke, New York University, and Yale—it is by visitors, adjuncts, or emerita. It is no longer a valued subject in faculty hiring.
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Revue critique de droit international privé – Issue 2025/3
Written by Hadrien Pauchard (assistant researcher and doctoral student at Sciences Po Law School)
The third issue of the Revue critique de droit international privé of 2025 has been released last month. It gathers four articles, six case notes and seven book reviews. In line with the Revue Critique’s recent policy, the doctrinal part will soon be made available in English on the editor’s website (for registered users and institutions).
The issue opens with Prof. Thibaut Fleury Graff’s (Université Paris Panthéon-Assas) and Dr. Inès Giauffret’s (Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ) survey of Le droit des étrangers et ses temporalités. Retours choisis sur la jurisprudence 2024 en matière de migrations (Immigration law and its temporalities. Selected reviews of 2024 case law on migration). A valuable addition to the dossier that the Revue critique recently devoted to the reform of French immigration law, its abstract reads as follows:
The adoption of the Law of 26 January 2024 “on controlling immigration and improving integration” marked the beginning of 2024 in the field of migration. Supplemented by its implementing decrees, the law has already given rise to initial litigation, discussed in this paper, alongside the more traditional case law interpreting the rules governing the rights and status of foreigners in France, as well as the conditions of their detention. These rulings reflect the current period, caught between legislative facilitation of detention and removal on the one hand, and judicial protection of the rights and freedoms of non-nationals on the other.
In the second article, Prof. Étienne Farnoux (Université de Strasbourg) elucidates the subtle connections between Les droits fondamentaux, l’exception d’ordre public et la prohibition de la révision au fond dans le système de Bruxelles I (Fundamental rights, public policy exception and the prohibition of review on the merits in the Brussels I system) from the Real Madrid case. At the crossroads of private international law and European integration, the contribution answers fundamental questions raised by this now notorious judicial saga. Its abstract reads as follows:
The case, which arose when recognition was sought in France of a Spanish court’s ruling against a French newspaper ordering it to pay heavy damages, highlights the conflict between the European objective of mutual trust and the protection of fundamental rights, particularly the freedom of the press. In a decision dated October 4, 2024, the Court of Justice (on a preliminary reference by the Cour de cassation) outlined the general methodology for controlling the proportionality of a financial penalty imposed abroad, on the basis of international public policy, a mechanism strongly influenced by European law. This control, which was subsequently implemented by the Court de cassation in a ruling dated May 28, 2025, is severely limited by the European principle of prohibition of the review on the merits.
In the third article, Prof. Fabienne Jault-Seseke (Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ) points out Les non-dits du droit européen du numérique en matière de droit international privé : l’exemple du règlement sur les services numériques (DSA) (The unspoken private international law aspects of European digital law: the example of the Digital Services Act (DSA)). In light of cyberspace’s peculiarity, the study paves the way for a clearly articulated policy of private international law in the digital sphere. Its abstract reads as follows:
The Digital Services Act (DSA) addresses issues of private international law in a very limited way. It mainly defines its territorial scope using a unilateral rule : it applies to any intermediary service provider that targets users in the European Union, regardless of its place of establishment. It is largely silent on other aspects of the private international law, such as determining the law applicable to illegal content or to actions for injunctions and damages. In terms of jurisdiction, it refers to the Brussels I bis Regulation, whose provisions are poorly adapted to the specificities of the digital world. The preference that the DSA seems to give to public enforcement rather than private enforcement cannot justify its silence on most questions of PIL, which are essential if we are to ensure effective protection of rights in the digital environment, which is almost always cross-border.
The doctrinal part wraps up with Dr. Marcel Zernikow (Université d’Orléans) study of Le renouvellement des méthodes de la coopération judiciaire au service du droit au procès équitable : l’instrument du certificat et la numérisation (Renewing judicial cooperation methods to uphold the right to a fair trial: the instrument of the certificate and digitalisation). The growing importance of international cooperation in cross-border proceedings indeed requires a modernized approach, which the author proposes to pursue as follows:
Judicial cooperation is an object of study in private international law that is justified by the need to make the State’s jurisdictional activity effective in a foreign territory. Since it describes the connection between State or judicial authorities of two different States, it is governed by their respective territorial procedural laws. This field is nevertheless undergoing a renewal of its methods, which will be studied through the prism of the introduction of a new instrument: the certificate. The latter is gradually being used to accompany public documents or judicial decisions or for evidentiary purposes. How has this development become the basis for digitalization, which relies on the interconnection of legal systems and individuals via the internet? The renewal of methods is universal insofar as it is based on the guarantee of the right to a fair trial in international civil proceedings.
The full table of contents is available here.
Previous issues of the Revue critique (from 2010 to 2024) are available on Cairn.
RabelsZ 89 (2025): Issue 3
The latest issue of RabelsZ has just been released. It contains the contributions to the symposium in honor of Jürgen Basedow that was held in Hamburg in November 2024. The table of contents is available here. All content is Open Access: CC BY 4.0 and more articles are available Online First.
Eva-Maria Kieninger, Konrad Duden and Ralf Michaels, Preface to the Symposium Issue, pp. 409–410, https://doi.org/10.1628/rabelsZ-2025-0046
Hannah L. Buxbaum, The New Unilateralism in EU Cross-Border Regulation: Objectives, Methods, Institution, oo. 411–431, https://doi.org/10.1628/rabelsZ-2025-0043
For years, Europe was a site of resistance to regulatory unilateralism, particularly as practiced by the United States. Today, though, there are signs of a robust unilateralism at work in EU regulatory practices. To some extent it simply mirrors practices adopted in the United States and elsewhere: Like other lawmakers, the EU has begun to act unilaterally where necessary to achieve effective regulation of its own markets and to protect local interests. In other respects, though, the new unilateralism in the EU presents quite differently. First, the EU increasingly uses its own legislation not to advance purely local regulatory interests, but rather to achieve international or global goals – classically a more multilateral objective. Second, under EU law individual regulations in particular substantive areas are embedded in a larger framework of norms and values that claim universal appeal. In both of these regards, the EU version of unilateralism appears more benign than purely »self-interested« unilateralism. It nevertheless raises important questions about the way that local laws and institutions are used to project regulatory power in the international arena. The goal of this article is to explore these questions. It begins by describing the characteristics of this new unilateralism, in terms of both its doctrinal foundations and its regulatory objectives. It then focuses on one particular mechanism: the adequacy regime established under EU data protection law.
Launch of the Bahrain International Commercial Court
The Bahrain International Commercial Court (BICC) was launched on 5 November 2025. It joins the long established Dubai International Financial Centre Courts, Abu Dhabi Global Market Courts and Qatar International Court and Dispute Resolution Centre in the Middle East as a specialist court devoted to resolving international commercial disputes and operating under special procedural rules.
The BICC was developed in partnership with the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC). It shares many key features with the SICC such as a multinational bench, foreign counsel representation and use of the English language in proceedings. Of particular note is the appeal mechanism for BICC judgments; as discussed previously here, appeals from the BICC will be heard by the International Committee of the SICC.