TITLE:
On the Objective Arbitrability of Civil and Commercial Disputes in China
AUTHORS:
Du Wen
KEYWORDS:
Chinese Civil and Commercial Disputes, Objective Arbitrability, Analyses upon Classification
JOURNAL NAME:
Beijing Law Review,
Vol.17 No.1,
March
20,
2026
ABSTRACT: Statutorily, objective arbitrability refers to which types of civil and commercial disputes can be resolved through arbitration. Generally, all civil and commercial disputes involving only monetary and property conflicts between or among equal civil dealers that can be freely disposed of have objective arbitrability. Specifically, the judgment of the objective arbitrability can be divided into the following three situations: 1) Disputes with objective arbitrability: civil and commercial contract disputes; Infringement disputes; disputes concerning rights in rem; civil and commercial disputes under the exclusive jurisdiction of Chinese courts; consumer disputes; copyright disputes; securities disputes; trust disputes; maritime disputes; civil and commercial disputes involving administrative contracts. 2) Disputes without objective arbitrability: determination of the civil legal status of the subject; identification of the abstract capacity to conduct civil transactions of the subject; identification of the capacity to personally conduct civil transactions of the subject; disputes involving personal rights such as marriage, adoption, guardianship, support, inheritance, etc.; disputes over the validity of wills; dispute over company dissolution; antitrust disputes; disputes concerning the harmed public interests of society; bankruptcy cases; the non-contentious affairs under the special procedures of the Civil Procedure Law of China; the de-right issues of lost bills handled by the initiated procedure for public summons for exhortation; disputes over rural land contract; labor disputes; human resources disputes; sports disputes; foreign exchange management disputes; administrative disputes; a civil and commercial case pending to a people’s court. 3) Situations where specific analyses are required: disputes arising from concurrent yet conflicting substantive legal liabilities; patent and trademark infringement disputes; cases governed by the expedited procedure for the monetary debt recovering; civil and commercial disputes suspected of criminal offenses.