In a recent development in China, the responsibility to deal with applications for the recognition and enforcement of ICSID awards has been given to Beijing No. 4 Intermediate People’s Court.

This has been considered as an important step because China did not name any specific domestic court for handling such awards, but has been a member of the ICSID Convention since 1993. This designation now provides the investors with a proper and clear route when it comes to the enforcement of an ICSID award in China.

The Beijing Court already has experience in dealing with arbitration matters and the applications concerning foreign arbitral awards. 

This doesn’t mean that all the uncertainty has been removed. Chinese law does not have any procedure specifically for recognising and enforcing ICSID awards, so there are still certain doubts and concerns when it comes to the exact process that courts are supposed to follow.

There is another issue as to the sovereign immunity when the enforcement is in regards to the assets which belong to a foreign state. State property is usually protected from execution under the Foreign State Immunity Law of China which is then subject to limited exceptions.

The step overall provides proper clarity as to the procedure, while still leaving important questions unanswered about the actual recovery which is to be tested in future cases.