Legislator in call for a commercial court

A city legislator is calling for an international commercial court to be established in Shanghai.

With the steady development of the export-oriented economy, the city’s courts have been receiving more cases related to cross-border commerce year by year, said Ruan Zhongliang, a deputy to the Shanghai People’s Congress and senior inspector of the Shanghai High People’s Court.

“Especially driven by the support of major actions and policies such as setting up the Lingang New Area of the free trade zone, the export-oriented economy in Shanghai is booming, and the demand for specialized and high-level international commercial judicial organs and mechanisms has also increased significantly,” Ruan said.

From 2017 to 2020, the Shanghai Intermediate Court handled a rising number of cases related to the export-oriented economy, with an average annual growth of over 13 percent.

Last year, the number of such cases jumped by more than 25 percent from a year earlier.

Ruan said local authorities had already started to push for setting up such institutions, but under the current international and domestic situation it is necessary to further seize the opportunity and speed up the establishment of a Shanghai International Commercial Court.

He suggested the court be set up at the level equivalent to the city’s intermediate court, focusing on commercial cases related to overseas affairs, those concerning the Lingang area, and other kinds of cases related to the export-oriented economy.