On 9 December 2018, the 2018 Chinese Law and Dispute Resolution Summit on Construction Engineering hosted by CIETAC was successfully held in Beijing. Wang Chengjie, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of CIETAC and Zhang Xuebing, Vice-Chairman of All China Lawyers’ Association attended the Summit and delivered speeches. Nearly 400 representatives including judges, arbitrators, lawyers, corporate counsels, scholars and related practitioners in the field of construction engineering attended the Summit.

 

(Nearly 400 professionals from all over the country attended the “2018 Chinese Law and Dispute Resolution Summit on Construction Engineering”.)

 

The opening and awarding session of the Summit was presided over by Jia Shen, Deputy Director of the Business Development Division of CIETAC. Wang Chengjie and Zhang Xuebing delivered opening speeches for the Summit.

Wang Chengjie congratulated the successful launch of the Summit firstly. He pointed out that under the background of the Belt and Road Initiative, more and more Chinese enterprises had gone out to undertake engineering projects along the Belt and Road countries. With the fast increase in the number of overseas engineering projects contracted by Chinese enterprises, opportunities and challenges coexist. Since the year of 2004, CIETAC have accepted more than 400 construction engineering cases, with a total amount of dispute of more than 10 billion US dollars. Statistics show that the construction engineering cases have become one of the most important types of cases administered by CIETAC, covering various types of projects such as BT, BOT and PPP, etc. The characteristics of construction engineering cases also raise higher requirements for CIETAC to improve its dispute resolution professionalism. The current Panel of Arbitrators of CIETAC included more than 1,400 arbitrators, among which nearly 200 were professionals in construction engineering and infrastructure construction and 78 were international experts from 32 countries along the Belt and Road. In order to provide the parties with a professional and targeted dispute resolution platform, CIETAC had launched the “Review Rules for Construction Engineering Dispute” in 2010, the PPP Arbitration Center in May 2017 and the International Investment Arbitration Rules in October 2017 successively. In 2018, the arbitration group for construction engineering cases and PPP cases was established to provide a tailor-made dispute resolution mechanism for construction engineering disputes relying on the professional resources. With the further deepening of the Belt and Road Initiative and the stronger influence of China's foreign investment on the world economy, enterprises were paying more and more attention to the legal issues in construction engineering and infrastructure construction. Wang Chengjie highlighted that as an international commercial dispute resolution institution, CIETAC was willing to rely on its own rich practice experience, its professional teams of arbitrators and case managers as well as the talent of experts and scholars in construction, to build a communication platform for Chinese construction engineering  enterprises in their overseas investment. Chinese enterprises need to strengthen their study of risk control in overseas construction projects, and this Summit would be a very good opportunity.

Vice-Chairman Zhang Xuebing indicated that many industry elites in construction engineering gathered together in the Summit. It was conceivable that this Summit would become a feast of thoughts by sharing and exchanging opinions on the most cutting-edge and hottest legal issues in the field of construction engineering. He pointed out that Zhong Lun Law Firm was honored to contribute to the success of the Summit and it was hoped that the Summit could make great contributions to the legal practice of China's construction engineering.

 

(Jia Shen, Deputy Director of the Business Development Division of CIETAC, presided over the opening session)

 

(Wang Chengjie, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of CIETAC, delivered the opening remarks)

 

(Zhang Xuebing, Vice-Chairman of National Bar Association and Director of Zhong Lun Law Firm, delivered the opening remarks.)

 

Following the opening remarks was the prize awarding session of the 2018 annual essay competition for China Construction Law Review (hereinafter referred to as “Law Review”). Zhang Xuechun, Editing Director of Law Press China and Sun Wei, Editor-in-Chief of Legal Review and Partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm, delivered a speech at the session. Zhang Xuechun firstly expressed his congratulations to all of the prize winners. He explained that the authors of the award-winning articles came from different positions in the field of construction engineering and law, and the topics of the articles covered various hot issues in construction engineering. It reflected the authors’ years of practical experience and theoretical research. The compilation of award-winning articles was of great value, which could provide more ideas and inspiration for the professional research in the field of construction engineering. Sun Wei briefed on the selection process of the articles and expressed his sincere gratitude to the First Civil Court of the Supreme People’s Court for reviewing the essays. He mentioned that ever since the publication of Law Review, many high-level outstanding works had been published during the past eight years, which had contributed to the legal practice in construction engineering in China. Sun Wei further indicated that for the essay competition next year, the editorial committee had planned to publicize the articles through multiple channels and in high frequency, such as by means of WeChat public account, etc. in order to provide better publicity for the authors' intellectual achievements.

 

(Zhang Xuechun, Editing Director of Law Press China, delivered a speech before the awarding.)

 

(Sun Wei, Editor-in-Chief of China Construction Legal Review and Partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm, delivered a speech before the awarding.)

 

In this year’s competition, 10 articles had been selected as award-winning articles. Zhang Xuechun,  Wang Chengjie, , Zhang Xuebing, , Xie Yong, Judge of the First Civil Court of the Supreme People’s Court, Li Ming, Research Fellow of the China Institute of Applied Jurisprudence of the Supreme People's Court, Li Jingwei, Vice President of Beijing Internet Court, Qin Yuxiu, General Legal Counsel of China State Construction Engineering Corporation, Zhao Jian, Vice President of the Arbitration Court of CIETAC, Xin Zhengyu, Senior Counsel of Tiantong Law Firm and Tang Shiliang, Deputy General Manager of Chinalawinfo. Co., Ltd. awarded the prizes to the winners. Gao Ping, Associate Professor of Shandong University of Political Science and Law, delivered a speech on behalf of the award winners.

 

(Prize-awarding guests and the award winners)

 

(Prize-awarding guests and the award winners)

 

(Prize-awarding guests and the award winners)

 

(Gao Ping, Associate Professor of Shandong University of Political Science and Law, delivered a speech on behalf of the award winners.)

 

After the prize awarding session, the Summit entered into sessions of speeches and discussions. The speaker for the first session was Xie Yong, Judge of the First Civil Court of the Supreme People’s Court. His speech focused on "the key points and hot and difficult issues in the judicial trial of construction engineering construction contracts". It is emphasized in his speech that the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Application of Laws in the Trial of Construction Engineering Contract Disputes (II)" will further explain some of the problems arising from the application of Interpretation (I) in judicial practice. At the same time, he believes that the trial of construction engineering disputes should pay attention to the interests of all parties in order to truly achieve fairness. Judge Xie’s speech was based on his years of practical trial experience in the field of construction engineering and received warm applause from the audience.

 

(Xie Yong, the judge of the First Civil Court of the Supreme People’s Court, made the keynote speech.)

 

The second session was presided by Zhang Xiaoxia, Associate Professor of Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, focusing on the "Legal Risks and Reference of Chinese Enterprises in Contracting Overseas Projects". The keynote speaker was Qin Yuxiu, General Legal Counsel of China State Construction Engineering Corporation.Ms. Qin briefed on, in five aspects, the working results of the research project "Legal Risks and Reference of Chinese Enterprises in Contracting Overseas Projects", which was the joint research project of the CIETAC-led Permanent Forum of China Construction Law (hereinafter referred to as the “Forum”) with ICC and ICCA. The results of these five aspects were (i) the political, social and market environment of the host country; (ii) the legal environment of the host country; (iii) the stakeholders of the project; (iv) the risks of the project and (v) the internal risks of the contractor. Subsequently, some members of the Sixth Working Group of the Forum expressed their views on the research report. The speakers included Qian Wuyun, senior counsel of the Sixth Business Department of China Machinery Engineering Corporation, , Zhou Xianfeng, Partner of Jun He Law Firm, Lu Xiaoping, Partner of Beijing DHH Law Firm.

 

(Zhang Xiaoxia, Associate Professor of Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, presided over the second session of keynote speech and discussions.)

 

(Qin Yuxiu, General Legal Counsel of China State Construction Engineering Corporation, made the keynote speech.)

 

(Qian Wuyun, senior counsel of the Sixth Business Department of China Machinery Engineering Corporation, made the speech.)

 

(Zhou Xianfeng, Partner of Jun He Law Firm, delivered the speech.)

 

(Lu Xiaoping, Partner of Beijing DHH Law Firm, made the speech.)

 

The third session of the Summit was moderated by Sun Wei, Partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm under the theme of “Feasibility Study on Using the Internet to Improve Judicial Efficiency and Transparency”, which was also the research topic of the Seventh Working Group of the Forum. Xie Xuefeng, Judge of the Third Intermediate People's Court of Beijing and Wang Zhenzhong, Deputy General Counsel of Samsung (China) Investment Co., Ltd., made the keynote speech respectively. Judge Xie Xuefeng shared with the participants the purpose of the research, the selection of topic, gains and feelings in the research. He said that in the Internet era we should take full use of information technology to promote the practice of litigation and arbitration. Focusing on the topic of "Electronic Delivery", Wang Zhenzhong made a speech on the preparations for improving the quality of electronic delivery and the recommendations for the delivery process. He believed that the design of electronic delivery rules should consider the dual value of fairness and efficiency. After the keynote speech, some members of the Seventh Working Group expressed their views on the research results. Li Ming, Research Fellow of the China Institute of Applied Jurisprudence of the Supreme People's Court, Li Jingwei, Vice President of Beijing Internet Court, , Yang Fan, Deputy Director of the ADR Division of CIETAC,Chen Minguang, Postdoctoral of the China Institute of Applied Jurisprudence of the Supreme People's Court, Tang Shiliang, Deputy General Manager of Chinalawinfo. Co., Ltd., Wang Feng, Senior Partner of Tiantong Law Firm and Director of Tiantong Nanjing Office, spoke at this session.

 

(Xie Xuefeng, Judge of the Third Intermediate People's Court of Beijing, made the keynote speech.)

 

(Wang Zhenzhong, Deputy General Counsel of Samsung (China) Investment Co., Ltd., made the keynote speech.)

 

(Li Ming, Research Fellow of the China Institute of Applied Jurisprudence of the Supreme People's Court, made the speech.)

 

(Li Jingwei, Vice President of Beijing Internet Court, made the speech.)

 

(Yang Fan, Deputy Director of the ADR Division of CIETAC, made the speech.)

 

(Chen Minguang, Postdoctoral of the China Institute of Applied Jurisprudence of the Supreme People's Court, made his speech.)

 

(Tang Shiliang, Deputy General Manager of Chinalawinfo. Co., Ltd., made the speech.)

 

(Wang Feng, Senior Partner of Tiantong Law Firm and Director of Tiantong Nanjing Office, made the speech.)

 

The fourth session of the Summit was themed on “Evidence in Disputes of Construction Contracts”, which was also the research topic of the Fifth Working Group of the Forum. The discussion was moderated by Li Qi, Deputy General Manager of the Law Department of PICC. Chen Min, Partner of Beijing Guolian Law Firm and Zhou Liming, Judge of the People's Court of Beilun District of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province gave a keynote speech respectively. Chen Min shared with the participants about the product of the first phase "Guidelines for Identification of Construction Engineering Contract Disputes" , which had been printed in the "Law Review of China Construction Engineering (Seventh Series)". The product of the second phase "Understanding and Application of the Evidence Guidelines for Construction Engineering Contract Disputes" (hereinafter referred to as "Evidence Guidelines") had been published in September 2018. Judge Zhou Liming shared with the participants the common problems in construction engineering disputes from the perspective of a judge in combination with his own experience by classifying the construction engineering cases. Subsequently, members of the Fifth Working Group expressed their views on the Evidence Guidelines, including Xin Zhengyu, Senior Counsel of Tiantong Law Firm, Gao Yinli, Senior Counsel of Beijing Cai'an Law Firm, , Qi Peibing, Partner of Fangda Law Firm, , and Wang Xianwei, Director of Shanghai Kehui Law Firm.

 

(Li Qi, Deputy General Manager of the Law Department of PICC, presided over the fourth session of keynote speech and discussions)

 

(Chen Min, Partner of Beijing Guolian Law Firm, delivered the keynote speech.)

 

(Zhou Liming, Judge of the People's Court of Beilun District of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, delivered the keynote speech.)

 

(Xin Zhengyu, Senior Counsel of Tiantong Law Firm, delivered the speech.)

 

(Gao Yinli, Senior Counsel of Beijing Cai'an Law Firm, delivered the speech. )

 

(Qi Peibing, Partner of Fangda Law Firm, delivered his speech. )

 

 

(Wang Xianwei, Director of Shanghai Kehui Law Firm, delivered his speech.)

 

The last session of the Summit, under the topic of “Introduction to and Analysis of the 2017 FIDIC Contract”, was presided over by Jia Shen, Deputy Director of the Business Development Division of CIETAC. Wang Jihong, Partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm and Cui Jun, CEO of Eminent & Partners made keynote speeches. Ms. Wang’s speech was titled “Changes of the 2017 FIDIC Contract and Challenges Faced by Chinese Construction Enterprises”. Her speech covered a variety of topics such as the selection and application of FIDIC, the role of engineers and the reference meaning to the Chinese engineering industry, the requirements for two contractors arising from the procedural provisions on objections etc.  she shared with the participants the problems arising from the application of FIDIC contract texts by Chinese enterprises in the construction engineering practice. Cui Jun reviewed the development of FIDIC contracts’ application in China's construction engineering field; by comparing the different characteristics of several versions of FIDIC contracts, he expressed his own views on the procedures and practices of the 2017 FIDIC contract. Zhao Hang, Senior Consultant of Commerce & Finance Law Office, was invited to be a speaker. He expressed his views on the problems arising from the application of FIDIC contracts by Chinese enterprises and the role of supervisory units in China's construction projects. Terence Wong, Partner of Winston & Strawn, also spoke at this session. He pointed out that the FIDIC contract was not the only international model contract for construction projects. He mentioned that in recent years, there had been other models of contracts formulated by other organizations, which provided more choices for the construction enterprises.

 

(Wang Jihong, Partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm, delivered the keynote speech.)

 

(Cui Jun, CEO of Eminent & Partners, delivered the keynote speech.)

 

(Zhao Hang, Senior Counsel of Commerce & Finance Law Office, delivered the speech.)

 

(Terence Wong, Partner of Winston & Strawn, delivered the speech)

 

Zhao Jian, Vice President of the Arbitration Court of CIETAC made a closing speech for the Summit. Vice President Zhao Jian applauded the success of the summit, which was in his words convening top expert speakers and discussing high-level research results. He believed  all the participants had listened carefully and found it informative. Vice President Zhao Jian also expressed his sincere gratitude to the participants, and the organizers. The Summit was called to the end in sustained applause.

 

(Zhao Jian, Vice President of the Arbitration Court of CIETAC, made the closing speech)