The China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) has just established its Hong Kong arbitration centre on 24 September 2012. The Hong Kong centre is to be known as the CIETAC Hong Kong Arbitration Centre (CIETAC Hong Kong) and is CIETAC’s first arbitration centre outside of the Mainland.

Secretary of Justice, Mr Rimsky Yuen SC’s speech at the inaugration ceremony for CIETAC Hong Kong said that this new centre would provide a new platform for co-operation between the arbitration professions of Hong Kong and the Mainland, as well as add to the impetus of keeping up their service standards and raising their global competitiveness.

CIETAC is the oldest and most recognised foreign-related arbitration institution in China but has in recent times seen its authority challenged by its sub-commissions in Shanghai and South China (Shenzhen) which have broken away to form their own independent arbitral institutions. In a previous post, we covered CIETAC’s announcement on 1 August 2012 which suspended its authorisation to both sub-commisisons to accept and administer arbitration case as well as the sub-commissions’ joint response of 4 August 2012.