2019年9月26日，最高人民法院宣布《关于内地与香港特别行政区法院就仲裁程序相互协助保全的安排》（下称“《安排》”）将于2019年10月1日实施，并发布针对《安排》的理解与适用。
《安排》正式实施后，香港仲裁案件的申请人得以及时在内地申请各类保全措施，避免了裁决后在内地申请认可与执行时被申请人资产早已被转移的尴尬。本文在综合《安排》、最高院解读及相关法律、司法解释规定的基础上，结合我们的实践经验，力求提供香港仲裁申请人在内地申请保全措施的极简指南。
一、可申请内地保全的仲裁案件
- 受理机构（截至目前）：香港国际仲裁中心、中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会香港仲裁中心、国际商会国际仲裁院亚洲事务办公室、香港海事仲裁协会、华南（香港）国际仲裁院、一邦国际网上仲调中心。
2.仲裁地：香港特别行政区。
3.仲裁案件阶段：仲裁前、仲裁中（包括《安排》实施后尚未审结的案件）均可申请。
二、申请保全类型
财产保全、证据保全、行为保全。
三、保全管辖法院及保全地域 - 管辖法院：财产所在地、被申请人住所地、证据所在地中级人民法院择一申请；
- 保全地域：
1) 财产、证据保全：受理法院负责对本辖区内、外的财产、证据一并采取保全措施，可请财产或证据所在地法院协助；
2) 行为保全：对多个不同地域主体行为保全的，虽《安排》及最高院意见并未言明，结合《安排》择一法院申请的精神，我们倾向于认为亦应由受理法院统一实施，并可请相关地域法院协助。
四、申请程序
(一) 递交保全申请及担保材料 - 申请材料：1)保全申请书、2)仲裁协议、3)主体材料、4)仲裁申请书、5)证据材料、6)受理机构出具之已受理仲裁案件的证明函，7)内地法院要求的其他材料。
- 保全申请书内容：1）当事人；2）明确具体的请求事项（财产数额、行为保全内容和期限）；3）情况紧急、确有必要保全的事实与理由；4）保全标的线索和信息；5）担保方式；6）是否在其他法院、机构或常设办事处提出相关申请和申请情况；7）其他需要载明的事项。
- 申请递交方式：1）受理机构直接转递；2）申请人自行提交，内地法院依据香港特区律政司提供的联系方式核实。
- 申请费用：财产数额不超过1000元或者不涉及财产数额的，每件交纳30元；超过1000元至10万元的部分，按照1%交纳；超过10万元的部分，按照0.5％交纳。最多不超过5000元。
- 担保材料：担保财产必须位于内地，法律规定担保数额不超过请求保全数额的百分之三十，但实践中法院根据不同的担保财产采用不同的判断方式，包括：现金担保（一般不超过申请保全金额的30%）、不动产担保（市场价值应等同甚至超过申请保全金额，或需提供评估报告等证明文件）、信用担保（担保额度应涵盖申请保全金额，包括银行或保险公司保函、担保公司担保函、大型企业担保函等）。
- 其他：内地以外形成的身份证明材料需办理证明手续（即公证认证、委托公证等），外文材料提交中文译本（一般需内地法院认可的翻译机构出具），但并不要求其他资料进行公证、认证。
- 仲裁前保全：仲裁申请书、证据材料、受理机构出具之已受理仲裁案件的证明函需在内地法院采取保全措施后30日内根据前述递交方式送达内地法院，否则保全解除。
(二) 内地法院审查、实施保全与救济 - 对仲裁协议形式审查，不判断其效力；
- 仲裁中保全一般在提供法院认可担保后5日内裁定，裁定后5日内执行保全措施；仲裁前保全受理后需48小时内裁定，裁定后立即执行保全措施。（注：实际执行需结合法院人员及工作的实际情况安排）；
- 对保全裁定不服可在收到裁定后5日内向做出裁定法院申请复议，法院应当在收到书面复议后10日内审查并裁定；
- 对执行行为不服（例如发生超额保全）可向实施执行的法院申请执行异议，法院收到书面异议之日起15日内审查并裁定，对裁定不服的可自裁定送达之日起10日内向上一级法院申请复议。
参考资料：
1.《人民法院报》2019年9月26日期载，《最高人民法院关于内地与香港特别行政区法院就仲裁程序相互协助保全的安排》、《<最高人民法院关于内地与香港特别行政区法院就仲裁程序相互协助保全的安排>的理解与适用》http://rmfyb.chinacourt.org/paper/html/2019-09/26/content160432.htm?div=-1
2.香港特别行政区律政司公布合资格申请保全措施的机构及常设办事处https://www.doj.gov.hk/sc/public/pr/20190926pr1.html
The Simple Guideline for Parties of Arbitration in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to Apply for Interim Measures in the Mainland China
On 26th September 2019, the Supreme People's Court announced The Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (" the Arrangement"). The Arrangement will come into force on 1st October 2019. At the same time, the Supreme People's Court also released Understanding and Application of the Arrangement.
After the enforcement of the Arrangement, claimants of arbitration in Hong Kong SAR (hereinafter referred to as "HK SAR") can apply for interim measures in Mainland China (hereinafter referred to as "Mainland"). This can avoid the difficult situation that the respondent’s assets have already been transferred or hidden before the arbitral awards are recognized or enforced by the People’s Courts. On the basis of the Arrangement, the Understanding and Application, relative laws and judicial interpretations, our article is trying to provide a simple guideline for claimants in HK SAR to apply for the interim measures in the Mainland.
I. Arbitration Cases qualified for Interim Measure Applications
(I) Qualified Institutions (until recently):
i. Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre
ii. China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission Hong Kong Arbitration Center
iii. International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce-Asia Office
iv. Hong Kong Maritime Arbitration Group
v. South China International Arbitration Center (HK SAR)
vi. eBRAM International Online Dispute Resolution Centre
(II) The Seat of Arbitration: HK SAR
(III) Stages of Arbitration: The Parties may apply for interim measures before the commencement of the arbitration or during the procedures of arbitration, including which have not been awarded before enforcement of the Arrangement.
II. Types of Interim Measures
Property preservation, evidence preservation and conduct preservation.
III. Jurisdictions and place of preservation
(I) Jurisdictions: Intermediate People’s Courts, of which the places where the respondent is domiciled, property is located or evidence is situated. The party shall choose only one court meets the descriptions mentioned above to file the application.
(II) Place of Preservation
i. Property preservation, evidence preservation: the accepting court should adopt preservation measures on the property and the evidence, regardless the locations of which fall into the jurisdiction of the court or not. The court can require the assistances from other courts, where the property or the evidence is situated.
ii. Conduct preservation: The Arrangement and the Supreme People’s Court have not clarified the jurisdiction of conduct preservation among multiple parties in various places. Considering the principle of “One Court Only”, we think that only one accepting court should adopt interim measures in various places and it can also require the assistances of other courts.
IV. Proceedings of Application
(I) Submission of Application for Interim Measures and Security Documents - The Application Documents: (1) application for interim measures; (2) arbitration agreement; (3) identification certificates; (4) application of the arbitration; (5) proof and evidence; (6) letter from the institution certifying its acceptance of the arbitration application; and (7) other documents required by the People's Court.
- Application for Interim Measures shall induce: (1) basic information about the parties; (2) detail matters under the application, including the amount of property, or the contents and duration of the conduct preservation; (3) the facts, justifications and relevant evidence regarding the reasons why the application shall be granted; (4) clear information or specific clues on property or evidence; (5) methods of security; (6) whether any application provided in the Arrangement has been filed in any other court, relevant agency or office and the status of such application; and (7) other matters to be stated as required.
- Submission Methods of Application: (1) passed by the institution; (2) submitted by the claimant and the People’s Courts will verify according to the contact information provided by the Department of Justice of Hong Kong SAR.
- Application Fee: in the situation that the amount of property not above 1,000 RMB or the preservation does not involve the property, the application fee shall be 30 RMB each case; the exceeding amount above 1,000 RMB but below 100,000 RMB, the application fee shall be 1% of the exceeding amount; as to the exceeding amount above 100,000 RMB, the application fee shall be 0.5% of the exceeding amount. But the total amount shall not exceed 5,000 RMB.
- Security:The security shall be situated in the Mainland. Under the provisions of laws, the security amount does not exceed 30% of the preservation amount requested. But in practice, the People’s Courts will take different methodologies to decide the security amount based on the types of security: cash deposit (usually the amount does not exceed 30% of the amount requested), real estate (the market value of which shall cover the amount requested, an assessment report or other documents may be requested), credit security (the letter of guarantee from a commercial bank, qualified insurance company and/or guarantee company, or qualified large enterprise and the secured amount shall cover the amount requested).
- Other Matters: The proof of identification issued outside the Mainland shall be certified in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations of the Mainland (notarization and certification, China-appointed attestation) and accurate Chinese translation of foreign language materials (the translated documents should be issued by the agency recognized by the People's Court of the Mainland). The certification of documents other than proof of identification are not required.
- Interim Measures Before the Arbitration: the application for arbitration, evidence, letter of acceptance certification from the institution shall be delivered to the People’s Court according to the methods mentioned above in 30 days after the adoption of preservation measures. Otherwise, the interim measures shall be removed.
(II) Review of the People’s Court in Mainland, Adoption of Interim Measures and Remedy
i. The review of arbitration agreement shall be prima facie and shall not judge the validity.
ii. For application during the arbitration, the court usually rules within 5 days upon receiving qualified security, if the application granted, the preservation shall be adopted within 5 days. For application before arbitration, a ruling shall be made within 48 hours, and the preservation shall be commenced immediately if granted. (Noted: In practice, the enforcement of preservation needs to follow the court rules and its arrangements.)
iii. A party who disagrees with the ruling on preservation or the ruling to reject the application may apply for review to the ruling court within 5 days from service of the ruling. The court shall conduct examination and rule within 10 days from receipt of the written application for review.
iv. Where a party deemed that the act of preservation enforcement is in violation of the provisions of the law (e.g., situation that the amount of property preserved exceeds which granted by the ruling), the party may submit a written objection to the People's Court which is in charge of enforcement. The People's Court shall conduct examination and rule within 15 days from the receipt of the written objection. The party disagrees with the ruling may submit an application for review to the higher-level People's Court within 10 days from the date of service of the ruling.
Reference:
1.The People’s Court Daily, 26-9-2019, “The Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region”, “Understanding and Application of ‘The Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’”, http://rmfyb.chinacourt.org/paper/html/2019-09/26/content_160432.htm?div=-1 - Institutions qualified for interim measure applications announced by the DOJ of Hong Kong SAR https://www.doj.gov.hk/eng/public/pr/20190926_pr1.html
*Please note that: This guideline is the simple version for parties of arbitration in HK SAR to apply for interim measures in the Mainland and we will provide a more detailed and practical version after the enforcement of the Arrangement. If you have any question about this guideline, please be free to contact us.