Recently, Hongkou District People¡¯s Court of Shanghai (hereinafter referred to as the ¡°Court¡±) and Shanghai Commercial Mediation Center held a ceremony for the execution of the Cooperation Agreement on Establishing a Commercial Dispute Resolution Mechanism Combining Litigation and Mediation. The two parties reached an agreement on the cooperation in respect of the combination of litigation and mediation in economic, trade, financial, investment and financing cases, with a view to promote interactions between justice and commercial mediations and provide diverse, convenient and efficient dispute resolution services for parties to commercial disputes.

At the signing ceremony, Ms. Chen Suqin, Vice President of the Court, and Mr. Zhang Wei, Director of Shanghai Commercial Mediation Center, signed a cooperation agreement on a diversified dispute resolution mechanism on behalf of the two parties.

There are two main forms of litigation and mediation combination: first, pre-litigation mediation. If the court considers a dispute suitable for mediation before the case is formally filed and accepted, Shanghai Commercial Mediation Center may be appointed to conduct pre-litigation mediation with the consent of the parties. If a mediation agreement is reached, the parties may apply to the Court for judicial confirmation of the mediation agreement within 30 days from the effectiveness of the mediation agreement. Second, mid-litigation mediation. After an case is accepted and before the judgment is rendered, with the consent of all parties, Shanghai Commercial Mediation Center may be appointed to conduct mediation.

Court President Wang Yuzhan said in his speech that commercial mediations focus on the consideration of the business situation and cooperative relation, and have unique advantages in reducing dispute resolution costs and maintaining commercial cooperative relations and business reputation. In recent years, the Court has successively introduced industrial services such as the China Securities Investors Services Center, Shanghai Banking Dispute Mediation Center and professional forces such as lawyers to participate in dispute resolution in an effort to build a one-stop and three-dimensional work system to provide convenient and efficient dispute resolution services for the parties.

The execution of the agreement has established a framework for the combination of litigation and mediation in the commercial field, signifying a new breakthrough in the depth and breadth of the Court¡¯s development of a diverse dispute resolution mechanism.