DECISION BY THE GUANGZHOU MARITIME COURT, P.R. CHINA, RENDERED IN 1998

 

Subject Matters:

(1) Law applicable to decide properness of notice of the arbitration proceedings under Article V.1 b) of the New York Convention

(2) Authority to conclude the contract containing the arbitration clause (public policy)

(3) Party to the arbitral award to be recognized and enforced, English name of Chinese party

 

Findings:

(1) Law of the place of arbitration governs the means of service of notice of the arbitration proceedings.

(2) It is not against China’s public policy to recognize and enforce arbitral awards, when respondent accused its employee who signed the contract of forgery of its seal and embezzlement and when China’s Procurariate only established a case to investigate the alleged crimes of respondent’s employee.

(3) Respondent cannot claim that it is not the party in the arbitral awards when it has admitted the use of a wrong English name for it during the arbitration proceedings.

 

Parties:

Claimant: Contestarshipping Company Limited of Cyprus (Cyprus)

Respondent: Sinotrans Guangdong Zhangjiang Company (P.R. China)

 

Place of Court Proceedings: P. R. China

 

Place of Arbitration: London, U.K.

 

Nationality of Arbitrator:

Sole arbitrator, English

 

Applicable Law: Civil Procedure Law of the P. R. China and the New York Convention of 1958