Continuously Building Shanghai into a Preferred Venue for Maritime Dispute Resolution: Shanghai Courts Release Typical Cases and Practices in Maritime Litigation Services

　　To deeply promote the establishment and practice of a correct view of political achievements, and to enhance the construction of a one-stop diversified dispute resolution and litigation service system, the Shanghai Maritime Court held a symposium on April 28 titled "Improving the Quality of Maritime Case Filing and Litigation Services, Continuously Building the Preferred Venue for Maritime Dispute Resolution." The meeting reported on the maritime litigation services and typical cases from 2020 to 2025, interpreted the "Guidelines for Filing Applications for 'Special Arbitration' Judicial Cases," and introduced the revisions to the new edition of the "Shanghai Maritime Court Litigation Guide."

　　At the symposium, the Shanghai Maritime Court reported on the maritime litigation services from 2020 to 2025, focusing on measures in four areas: convenience, professionalism, collaboration, and internationalization of litigation services, covering all aspects of case filing and litigation services. For example, the court introduced the "Model Clauses for Jurisdiction Agreements on Maritime and Admiralty Disputes of the Shanghai Maritime Court" (referred to as the "Model Clauses") to facilitate domestic and foreign parties in choosing the maritime court for jurisdiction over cases; actively utilized innovative mechanisms for foreign-related trials, such as comprehensive authorization for overseas entities and pre-guarantee for lifting ship arrests, to address bottlenecks in the efficiency of foreign-related trials; identified, analyzed, and assessed new types of major and complex foreign-related cases to fully support Chinese enterprises in "going global"; and continuously improved the diversified dispute resolution mechanism, supporting innovation in maritime arbitration system rules, among others.

　　Among these, the promotion of the "Model Clauses" is an innovative measure in maritime litigation services by the Shanghai Maritime Court in recent years. After the update of the "Model Clauses" (2025 edition) last year, the number of cases where parties, based on their trust in the Shanghai Maritime Court, chose its jurisdiction despite the disputes having no actual connection to China increased by 283% year-on-year. This initiative was included in the Supreme People's Court's work report during this year's National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference sessions.

　　The meeting introduced typical case examples of case filing and litigation services, including foreign parties choosing the Shanghai Maritime Court for jurisdiction over disputes, legally reviewing applications for maritime injunctions involving sanctions, accurately ascertaining foreign laws using a foreign law ascertainment platform, introducing foreign mediators to resolve cross-border disputes, pioneering a pre-guarantee mechanism for lifting ship arrests to achieve "immediate release upon arrest" of ships, and establishing a "maritime judiciary + maritime administration" collaboration mechanism to successfully resolve crew wage disputes.

　　The meeting also introduced the revisions to the new edition of the "Shanghai Maritime Court Litigation Guide" and interpreted the "Guidelines for Filing Applications for 'Special Arbitration' Judicial Cases" (referred to as the "Guidelines"). The "Guidelines" consist of fourteen articles, mainly covering the circumstances of "special arbitration," the scope of judicial cases involving "special arbitration," jurisdiction, materials required for parties to apply for various "special arbitration" judicial cases, obligations of explanation, interpretation of the "Guidelines," and trial implementation dates. These demonstrate the judiciary's open attitude in supporting arbitration and facilitate parties in "special arbitration" judicial cases in seeking judicial remedies.

　　All-media reporters Wei Junyi, Huang Ling, and correspondent Jiang Shengpeng