In November 2020, with the approval of the Supreme People’s Court, the Suzhou International Commercial Court (SUICC) was launched in Suzhou Industrial Park, which was also the first international commercial court to be established by a local court.
As a specialized adjudicative body of Suzhou Intermediate People's Court, SUICC has centralized jurisdiction over foreign-related commercial cases within Suzhou Municipality. Specifically, it has the jurisdiction over foreign-related civil and commercial cases of first instance with the amount in controversy less than CNY 5 billion in Suzhou Municipality; over the cases in which the parties appeal against the judgments or rulings of foreign-related civil and commercial cases made by the People's Court of Suzhou Industrial Park; and over other cases with foreign-related factors or related to the open economy that should be accepted by the Suzhou Intermediate People's Court, including civil and commercial cases where one party is a wholly foreign-owned enterprise, disputes over letters of credit and letters of guarantee, cases of judicial assistance in civil and commercial matters, and cases of judicial review of arbitration, etc.
In December 2020, SUICC held a public hearing over Export-Import Bank of Korea v. Changshu Guangcheng Electronics Co., Ltd, a case on a loan contract dispute. This is also the first case heard by SUICC since its establishment. During the trial, the two parties eventually reached a mediation agreement.
On 30 Mar. 2021, the establishment meeting of the Expert Committee of SUICC was held, and 14 experts and scholars were appointed as the members of the Expert Committee, which made the composition of SUICC more professional.
Cover Photo by Cris Jiao (https://unsplash.com/@lq901209) on Unsplash
Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team
