For commercial cases, the amount of dispute does matter in determining which Chinese court will hear your dispute.

On 30 April, the Supreme People’s Court adjusted the jurisdiction of higher and intermediate level courts, both the civilian and military courts in first instance civil/commercial cases in 关于调整高级人民法院和中级人民法院管辖第一审民商事案件标准的通知 (Notice on adjusting jurisdiction for higher and intermediate courts in 1st instance Civil/Commercial cases).  The rules described in the notice, which went into effect on 1 May gave Chinese commercial litigators no advance warning.  They are not applicable to the following types of cases:

• maritime;
• foreign, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan related civil cases (there are separate rules on these); and
• IP cases.

This means that these rules are applicable to cases brought by (or against) foreign invested enterprises (and domestic enterprises), with the above exceptions.  “For the avoidance of doubt,” the notice does not use the term “tier.”

The notice gives a rough idea of the size of business disputes in different parts of China and has special rules to deal with local protectionism, by enabling higher courts to take cases with smaller amounts in dispute if one party is registered outside of the jurisdiction (the Chinese version of diversity jurisdiction in the US federal courts).

First tier jurisdictions

The higher people’s courts of Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong will now have jurisdiction over cases with an amount in dispute of RMB 500 million or more, (300 million if one party is not registered locally) and intermediate courts, if the amount in dispute is at least RMB 100 million (50 million if one party is not registered locally).

Second tier jurisdictions

The higher people’s courts of the following jurisdictions will now have jurisdiction over cases with an amount in dispute of RMB 300 million (100 million if one party is not registered locally), and intermediate courts if the amount in dispute is at least RMB 30 million (20 million if one party is not domiciled locally):

• Tianjin;
• Hebei;
• Shanxi;
• Inner Mongolia;
• Liaoning,
• Anhui,
• Fujian,
• Shandong,
• Henan;
• Hubei,
• Hunan;
• Guangxi;
• Sichuan;
• Chongqing.

Third tier jurisdictions

The higher people’s courts of the following jurisdictions will now have jurisdiction over cases with an amount in dispute of RMB 200 million (50 million for non-locally domiciled parties) and intermediate courts will now have jurisdiction over cases with an amount in dispute of RMB 10 million:

• Jilin;
• Heilongjiang;
• Jiangxi;
• Yunnan;
• Shaanxi;
• Xinjiang and the Xinjiang Construction &Production Corp. Court {this latter court deserves a closer look).

Fourth tier jurisdictions

The higher people’s courts of the following jurisdictions will now have jurisdiction over cases with an amount in dispute of RMB 100 million (20 million for a non-locally domiciled party) and intermediate courts will now have jurisdiction over cases with an amount in dispute of RMB 5 million:

• Guizhou;
• Tibet;
• Gansu;
• Qinghai;
• Ningxia.

Basic level courts:

Are generally to hear the following types of cases:

• family law,
• inheritance,
• real estate management,
• personal injury,
• traffic accident,
• labor,
• infringement of right to one’s name and
• group litigation.

Military courts:

• The PLA Military Court has jurisdiction over civil cases with an amount in dispute of RMB 100 million or more; and
• Military region military courts have jurisdiction over civil cases with an amount in dispute of RMB 20 million to 100 million.

Judgments from the military courts are not yet published on the Court’s database.  Earlier this year, (as reported here), a PLA legal academic suggested a change in that policy.

Rules to be applied flexibly

There is some flexibility in the rules for cases considered important, difficult, of a new type, or raising issues of general application, in which a higher court can decide to take the case, or alternatively a lower court can apply to hear such cases.