HKIAC's Christopher To says Hong Kong is valued as an independent neutral arbitration venue

Hong Kong's international influence as an arbitration centre continues to strengthen, particularly in disputes involving the Chinese mainland.

"Increasingly, we see that parties with no connection to Hong Kong are choosing us as a venue for arbitrating their contract disputes," said Christopher To, secretary-general of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre. "Last year, for instance, two American firms used Hong Kong for arbitration."

The centre also handles 10 times the cases of its London counterpart, strongly indicating that businesses value Hong Kong as an independent, neutral arbitration venue.

While the arbitration process itself is common to all major jurisdictions worldwide, Mr To believes Hong Kong offers a number of important advantages.

"In basic terms, arbitration in Hong Kong is cheaper than London and New York," he explained. "In addition to a strong legal system and model arbitration law, Hong Kong is also home to a pool of highly skilled professionals in a wide range of industries and professions who can be called upon for expert backup. That's very important to the success of arbitration.

Easy accessibility

"Much more than that, Hong Kong is easily accessible throughout Asia and the world, and the International Arbitration Centre can be reached in just 30 minutes from the airport. That kind of convenience, accessibility and dependability make Hong Kong ideal for busy professionals."

Mr To said the centre has also been approved by the Internet Corporation for the Assignment of Names and Numbers (ICANN) to provide international domain name dispute resolution, which has enabled it to help a number of international brand names resolve their disputes in mainland China.

"For instance, we've recently handled a case where someone in China had registered 'Boss.com.cn' and 'Ferragamo.cn' purely with a view to getting money from those brands. Situations like this are increasingly common, but we can help international companies get things sorted quickly and easily."

With two universities in Hong Kong now offering dedicated courses in arbitration, Mr To believes the future is bright for Hong Kong, not only for arbitrating disputes in Hong Kong and mainland China, but for parties around the globe.

"We travel to most major conferences worldwide, some 20 or 30 events a year, to promote Hong Kong as an arbitration centre. More and more, we find that people are realising, when it comes to choosing the right venue for arbitration, Hong Kong really does have it all."

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