CMAC

Section 1 Jurisdiction

Article 1 These Rules are formulated in accordance with the Arbitration Law of the People's Republic of China and the provisions of the relevant laws.

Article 2 China Maritime Arbitration Commission (formerly known as Maritime Arbitration Commission of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and hereinafter referred to as "the Arbitration Commission" or CMAC) independently and impartially resolves, by means of arbitration, marine, maritime, logistic disputes and other contractual or non-contractual disputes, in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the parties and promote the development of the international and domestic economy, inter alia, trade and logistics.
The Arbitration Commission shall take cognizance of cases relating to the following disputes：
(1) Disputes arising from charter party, contract of multi-model transport, carriage of goods by sea or waters or carriage of passengers in connection with bill of lading, waybill or any other transport documents;
(2) Disputes arising from sale, construction, repair, chartering, financing, towage, collision, salvage and raising of ships or other offshore mobile units, or from sale, construction, chartering, financing and other relative business of containers;
(3) Disputes arising from marine insurance, general average or ship's protection and indemnity;
(4) Disputes arising from supply of ship's stores or fuel, ship's security, ship's agency, seamen's labor service or port's handling;
(5) Disputes arising from exploitation and utilization of marine resources or pollution damage to marine environment;
(6) Disputes arising from freight forwarding, non-vessel operating carriage, transport by highway, railway or airway, transport, consolidation and devanning of containers, express delivery, storing, processing, distributing, warehouse distributing, logistics information management, or from construction, sale and leasing of tools of transport, tools of carrying and handling, storage facilities, or from logistics center and distribution center, logistics project planning and consulting, insurance related to logistics, tort or others related to logistics;
(7) Disputes arising from fishery production or fishing; and
(8) Other disputes submitted for arbitration by agreement between parties.

Article 3 The Arbitration Commission takes cognizance of cases in accordance with an arbitration agreement between the parties concluded before or after the occurrence of the dispute to refer their dispute to the Arbitration Commission for arbitration and upon the written application by one of the parties.
An arbitration agreement means an arbitration clause stipulated by the parties in their contract, bill of lading, waybill, documents invoked or a written agreement concluded by the parties in other forms to submit their dispute for arbitration.
Where the parties agree to submit their dispute to the Arbitration Commission for arbitration or agree to conduct the arbitration under these Rules, these Rules shall constitute a part of the arbitration agreement concluded by parities, except that the parties have otherwise agreed.

Article 4 The Arbitration Commission has the power to decide on the existence, validity of an arbitration agreement and the jurisdiction over an arbitration case.
If a party challenges the validity of the arbitration agreement and requests the Arbitration Commission to make a decision thereupon while the other party applies to the people's court for a ruling, the latter's ruling shall prevail. However, in case of a challenge made against the validity of an arbitration agreement, if the acceptance of the application by the Arbitration Commission precedes that by the people's court and a decision is made thereupon, the decision by the Arbitration Commission shall prevail.

Article 5 An arbitration agreement shall exist independently. The validity of an arbitration agreement shall not be affected by the modification, rescission, termination, invalidity, revocation or non-existence of the contract.
The arbitration tribunal has the power to affirm the validity of a contract, as well as unsettled procedural issues in arbitration.

Article 6 Any objections to an arbitration agreement or the jurisdiction over an arbitration case shall be raised before the first hearing conducted by the arbitration tribunal. Where a case is examined on the basis of documents only, the objections to the jurisdiction should be raised before submission of the first substantive defense. The objections raised later than the prescribed time shall be taken to have waived his right to object.
If a party has not raised any objection to the jurisdiction and has submitted substantive defense or has lodged a counterclaim, it shall be regarded as admission of the validity of the arbitration agreement and jurisdiction of the Arbitration Commission.
The objections raised to the arbitration agreement or jurisdiction over the arbitration case shall not affect the process of the arbitration proceedings.

Article 7 Where the parties agree to submit their dispute for arbitration to the Arbitration Commission, to the Logistics Dispute Resolution Center of the Arbitration Commission or to the Fishery Dispute Resolution Center of the Arbitration Commission for arbitration, the arbitration proceedings shall be conducted under these Rules; and the Special Provisions On Fishery Disputes Cases of CMAC Arbitration Rules shall also apply to fishery disputes arbitration proceedings. However, if the parties have agreed otherwise, and subject to consent by the Arbitration Commission, the parties' agreement shall prevail.
The parties may shorten or extend by an agreement the procedural deadlines stipulated in these Rules or modify the arbitration procedural matters concerned to meet the special needs of their specific case; and they may also authorize by agreement the arbitration commission or the arbitration tribunal to make any necessary procedural adjustment as see fit while the arbitration procedure is underway. The power stays with the Arbitration Commission and/or the Arbitral tribunal to decide thereupon.
With regard to cases of ships collision, the Arbitration Commission or the arbitration tribunal may make any necessary adjustment relating to evidentiary issues.