The Public Policy Exception in the Judicial Review of International Commercial Arbitral Awards – an Empirical Study of Cases Reported by the Supreme People’s Court of China

This article reviews the relevant law and cases in China, dealing with the application of the public policy exception in the judicial review of international commercial arbitral awards, with a focus on a series of decisions by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC). This paper starts with a general introduction of the worldwide development of the ‘public policy’ concept in arbitration law. It then examines the law governing the judicial review of international commercial arbitral awards in China and focuses on public policy provisions. The next section further examines cases decided in China discussing the application of public policy, with a focus on, but not limited to, 42 cases reported by the SPC between 1992 and 2017. Particularly, this paper evaluates the development of China’s approach to dealing with the public policy concept by surveying the acceptance of the possible elements of public policy in practice. It concludes on the current approach adopted by the SPC and the Chinese judicial system in comparison with the international consensus, evaluates the performance of the Chinese courts in applying public policy, and suggest improvements for the future.