Ms. Teresa Cheng SC, former Hong Kong Secretary for Justice, and Mr. Edward Liu, a Hong Kong-based partner at Haiwen & Partners, have co-authored an article, which was published by Asia Business Law Journal on 14 April 2023, to explore the attributes of Hong Kong in becoming the leading Asia-Pacific international legal and dispute resolution centre.
In this article, the exclusivity and strengths of three particular arrangements in Hong Kong arbitration proceedings are explored, namely the interim measures arrangement and mutual enforcement of arbitral awards arrangement between the Mainland and Hong Kong, as well as the outcome related fee structures for arbitration (ORFSA).
The interim measures arrangement came into force on 1 October 2019. In gist, it allows parties to apply to the corresponding Mainland or Hong Kong courts, as the case may be, for interim measures before the issuance of the arbitral award, and the purpose of such interim measures is to secure the parties’ claims by way of preserving the property, evidence, and conduct.
The mutual enforcement of arbitral awards arrangement was signed on 27 November 2020 as a supplement to its predecessor that was signed on 21 June 1999. It has further enhanced the enforcement regimes as, for instance, it permits courts in Hong Kong and the Mainland to impose preservation measures before or after the court’s acceptance of an application to enforce an arbitral award, and allows an award creditor to apply for enforcement of awards in both the Mainland and Hong Kong at the same time.
ORFSA came into operation on 16 December 2022 and it has introduced three possible fee agreements in arbitration proceedings, including conditional fee agreement, damages-based agreement, and hybrid-damages-based agreement. This has introduced flexibility for the parties and their lawyers to agree on the fee arrangement after due consideration of the parties’ financial capability and liquidity.
Overall, it is believed that these arrangements can give Hong Kong a unique edge in protecting the interests of the parties involved in the dispute, which in turn enhances Hong Kong’s appeal as the international arbitration centre.
作為海問香港專責處理爭議解決業務的合伙人，同時亦是一名仲裁員。劉洋律師對在香港、倫敦和新加坡等多個司法管轄區進行國際仲裁擁有豐富的經驗和知識，曾處理的案件爭議包括公司和金融、能源和離岸工程、航運和大宗商品等領域。劉律師近期被《商法》評為中國法律市場的精英律師之一，尤其被贊譽為“屈指可數的擁有內地背景，但又具國際視野和經驗，以及兼有中國內地、香港和英國三地執業資格的專注爭議解決領域的律師”。 因此，憑借劉洋律師的豐富經驗，海問香港的爭議解決項目組成為跨國公司、中國國有企業和私營機構的優先選擇。
