THE South China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, also known as the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA), has officially merged with the Shenzhen Arbitration Commission to make the city’s arbitral work more efficient, according to the Shenzhen Municipal Institutional Organization Commission on Tuesday.

The merged arbitral bodies will be named the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (Shenzhen Arbitration Commission), which is expected to provide more experience for the nation’s reform of the arbitral system, as this is the first merger of arbitral institutions in China.

There are currently over 250 arbitral institutions in China. The SCIA and Shenzhen Arbitration Commission are two of the major arbitral bodies in the country and are ranked fifth and sixth place nationwide, respectively, for the total amount of money involved in the cases they handled in 2016.

Since the SCIA, which was founded in 1983, is the first national arbitration institution adopting the statutory body governance model, the newly formed arbitral body will continue to explore the model before a new legislative document comes out. Also, the council of the merged institution will consist mainly of members of the former SCIA’s council.

Before the new council implements arbitration rules and publicizes the name list of the new institution, the SCIA and the Shenzhen Arbitration Commission will maintain the previous arbitration rules and arbitrators.

The new council will be responsible for tailoring measures for appointing the institution’s executives.

“Shenzhen is one of the areas that has the most competitive providers of arbitral services, and the merger of the two institutions is a significant move for commercial arbitration cases and clients in China,” said Lin Yifei, the chief consultant from Yicai Law Firm.

(Zhang Qian)