China and Macao Signed Arbitration Enforcement Agreement

On October 30, 2007, mainland China and Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) signed an agreement to mutually recognize and enforce arbitral awards originated from both sides (China-Macao Arbitration Enforcement Agreement). This agreement, as explained by a justice of the Supreme People’s Court, represents another step forward in China and Macao’s judicial cooperation.

Even though Macao will not in the near future be as financially important as Hong Kong is in terms of international trade, commerce, and dispute resolution, it has the potential to become a regional hub for commercial transactions in service industries. As it has been reported, the gaming industry in Macao is poised to rival Las Vegas. Given Macao’s commercial importance in the service industries, China Business Law Blog aims to write more posts on laws and regulations of Macao, SAR.

The agreement signed recently is a continuation of previous judicial cooperation agreements. And it is the third agreement between the respective judiciaries. In 2001, they signed the 《关于内地与澳门特别行政区法院就民商事案件相互委托送达司法文书和调取证据的安排》, an agreement to mutually deliver judicial documents and cooperate in evidence gathering, with respect to civil disputes. In 2006, cooperation between the two sides expanded to include the mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil cases, which is called the 《内地与澳门特别行政区关于相互认可和执行民商事判决的安排》.

The China-Macao Arbitration Agreement referenced the New York Convention for its content, and the agreement consists of 16 articles, covering topics from applicability of the agreement, to the requirements for enforcement, and to retroactivity.

Please check back later for details of the China-Macao Arbitration Enforcement Agreement.