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Can the parties to foreign-related civil proceedings choose the jurisdiction of a foreign court by agreement

Updated: 2019-06-28

According to article 33 and article 266 of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and article 531 of the interpretation of the Supreme people's Court on the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, The parties to a foreign-related contract or other property rights and interests disputes may, by written agreement, choose the place of residence of the defendant, the place of performance of the contract, the place where the contract was signed, the place of domicile of the plaintiff, the place of the subject matter, the jurisdiction of a foreign court where the place of infringement is actually associated with the dispute. However, in cases under the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the People's Republic of China, the parties may not agree to choose the jurisdiction of foreign courts. 

Cases under the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the People's Republic of China include: (1) proceedings caused by the estate disputes shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court in the place where the immovable property is located; (2) proceedings caused by disputes in port operations should be under the jurisdiction of the people's court in the place where the port is located; (3) proceedings caused by inheritance disputes should be under the jurisdiction of the people's court of the place of residence or the place where the main heritage is located at the time of the death of the deceased; (4) proceedings caused by disputes in implementations of contracts of Chinese-foreign joint venture, contracts of Chinese-foreign co-operative enterprise and Contracts for Chinese-foreign cooperative exploration and development of natural resources should be under the jurisdiction of the people's court of the People's Republic of China. 

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