ICC establishing dispute resolution facility in Shanghai

SHANGHAI - The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has become the first non-Asian headquartered dispute resolution institution to establish an office in mainland China, following receipt of an official license from the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC)  permitting the opening of a new ICC representative office in Shanghai’s Free Trade Zone.

The license paves the way for the ICC Court to continue its expansion and increased engagement across Asia following recent appointment of a regional director for ICC South Asia and the opening of the ICC offices in Hong Kong (2008) and Singapore (2010).
Mingchao Fan, an experienced arbitrator, lawyer, scholar and faculty member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators has been named ICC Regional Director for North Asia. He will be based in Shanghai.
Fan joins Abhinav Bhushan, ICC Regional Director for South Asia, as one of two Directors appointed to take on the role of the current Regional Director for Asia, Sylvia Tee, who is due to leave ICC on March 31.
New ICC statistics reveal a more than 12% rise in the number of Chinese parties involved in ICC Arbitration cases filed in 2015 compared with 2014.
ICC Court President Alexis Mourre said the decision to establish an office in Shanghai follows two Supreme People's Court of China decisions published in 2014 to uphold arbitration agreements that subject relevant disputes to ICC Arbitration in Shanghai and Beijing.
"By establishing a presence in Shanghai we hope to build on our ties with the Chinese authorities and stand ready to adapt to dispute resolution developments in the country," he said. www.icc.org (ATI).