Suzhou International Commercial Tribunal is the first international commercial tribunal approved by the Supreme People's Court and established in a local court in China. The tribunal has a separate office located at Taiping Finance Building, No. 8 Jiarui Lane, Suzhou Industrial Park in the Suzhou Area of the China (Jiangsu) Pilot Free Trade Zone, 15 kilometers from the headquarters of the Suzhou Intermediate People's Court.
According to the approval of the Supreme People’s Court and related rules, Suzhou International Commercial Tribunal shall mainly have jurisdiction over the trial of first instance of a civil or commercial case with the subject matter of action involving a value of less than RMB 5 billion in the districts of Suzhou (Suzhou Industrial Park People’s Court shall have jurisdiction over the trial of first instance of a civil or commercial case with the subject matter of action involving a value of less than RMB 10 million in the Suzhou Industrial Park); cases in which the parties disagree with the judgments and rulings of foreign-related civil and commercial cases made by Suzhou Industrial Park People’s Court and appeal; and other cases accepted by Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court that have foreign-related factors or are relevant with opening-up economy including civil and commercial cases in which one party is a solely foreign-invested enterprise, cases of letter of credit, and letter of guarantee disputes, civil and commercial judicial assistance cases, and arbitration judicial review cases.
Suzhou International Commercial Tribunal will give full play to its advantages and strive to build a strong reputation for trials of foreign-related civil and commercial cases. Suzhou Intermediate People's Court has a solid foundation for trials of foreign-related civil and commercial cases. From 2014 to the end of 2019, the court accepted 3,724 foreign-related civil and commercial cases, accounting for nearly half of the total in the province and ranking first in the province. In August 2010, the Supreme People's Court established a foreign-related civil and commercial trial (Suzhou) research base in Suzhou Intermediate People's Court. In recent years, we have been guided by research and vigorously established foreign-related civil and commercial trial models, and driven the development of foreign-related civil and commercial trial capabilities of Suzhou Intermediate People's Court.
Suzhou Industrial Park, where the tribunal is located, is a demonstration base for “China-Singapore cooperation”. At the 3rd China-Singapore Law and Judicial Roundtable held in 2019, the Chief Justices of the Supreme Courts of the two countries proposed to strengthen cooperation in the field of international commercial dispute resolution. We will actively leverage the platforms such as the Joint Coordination Council established by China and Singapore for the Suzhou Industrial Park development project (the Vice Premiers of the two countries serve as the chairpersons of each party) and the China-Singapore Bilateral Working Committee to deepen cooperation and exchanges between the two parties in international commercial dispute resolution, plan to promote the building and development of Suzhou International Commercial Tribunal at a higher starting point, strive to provide inclusive, equal, convenient, efficient, intelligent and accurate judicial services for Chinese and foreign parties, and build Suzhou International Commercial Tribunal into a new highland for resolving international commercial disputes and a new brand to show China’s judicial fairness.
Suzhou is a highland of China’s opening-up and development. At the end of 2019, Suzhou’s actual use of foreign capital amounted to US$132 billion, ranking third among large and medium-sized cities across the country. Suzhou is also home to more than 300 regional headquarters and functional institutions of various foreign-funded enterprises, more than 400 projects invested by more than 150 Fortune 500 corporations, and more than 20,000 permanent foreign residents.
Suzhou has been selected as one of "China’s Top Ten Most Attractive Cities in the Eyes of Foreign Talents" for nine consecutive years. In the past year, Suzhou achieved a total import and export volume of US$319.09 billion, accounting for 7.7% of the country's total, behind only Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing. In October 2015, the State Council approved Suzhou as the country's first area to carry out comprehensive opening-up and innovation experiments. General Secretary Xi Jinping has given important instructions to Suzhou on many occasions, especially asking Suzhou Industrial Park to play an experimental and exemplary role in opening-up, innovation and comprehensive reform. High-quality opening-up and innovation require high-level foreign-related civil and commercial case trials as security. So, Suzhou International Commercial Tribunal was born to shoulder the heavy responsibility.
Suzhou is also an area for the implementation of multiple national strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative, the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Regional Integration of the Yangtze River Delta, and the construction of a free trade zone. This provides a broader stage for Suzhou International Commercial Tribunal to demonstrate its role. From the perspective of the Belt and Road Initiative, Suzhou is the famous “Silk Prefecture” in history and the start point for Zheng He’s voyages. Located at the intersection of the traditional land and sea Silk Roads, Suzhou has close economic and trade ties with Singapore, Indonesia and other countries and regions along the Belt and Road. From the perspective of Regional Integration of the Yangtze River Delta, Suzhou, as an important sub-central city, will have a synergetic effect on Shanghai’s efforts to build an excellent global city. From the perspective of free trade zone construction, the area of Suzhou Free Trade Zone accounts for more than half of the total area of Jiangsu Free Trade Zone. We will firmly grasp these regional advantages and give full play to the leading role of Suzhou International Commercial Tribunal, serve regional economic and social development more energetically, and implement major national strategies more efficiently.