海允律师参加第九届海商法国际研讨会并作主题演讲

Hihonor Lawyers Attended the 9^th International Conference on Maritime Law and Gave Lectures

由中国海商法协会主办、上海海事大学承办，由最高人民法院、中华全国律师协会海事海商专业委员会等单位协办的第九届海商法国际研讨会于2018年10月29至31日在上海召开。本届研讨会以“新时代海商法理念、体系和制度的发展、变革和创新”为主题，围绕现代海商法重构与中国《海商法》修改、“一带一路”建设与经济全球化和贸易自由化中的海商法保障、“后金融危机时代”航运业面临的船舶融资保障与跨境破产、《鹿特丹规则》十周年展望、邮轮运输旅客权益保障、船员公平待遇、海洋环境保护与航运可持续发展的新法律问题、极地航运与海上安全的法律问题、自由贸易港与综合运输、海事争议解决的制度创新等十个方面议题展开。

The Ninth International Conference on Maritime Law was held from 28 to 31 October 2018 in Shanghai, China. This Conference was hosted by China Maritime Law Association, and was organized by Shanghai Maritime University, with the PRC Supreme People’s Court, Admiralty and Maritime Committee of the All-China Lawyers Association and other units as co-organizers. The theme of this Conference is “The Development, Reform and Innovation of the Ideas, Systems and Regimes of Maritime Law in the New Era” with ten topics, saying: 1) Reformulation of the lex maritima in the modern time & revision of the Chinese Maritime Code; 2) Protections provided by maritime law in the Belt & Road construction and in the economic globalization and trade liberalization; 3) New legal issues in shipping industry in the post-financial crisis era: ship financing security and cross-border insolvency; 4) Prospects of the Rotterdam Rules at its 10th anniversary; 5) Protection of cruise ship passengers’ rights and interests; 6) Fair treatment of seafarers; 7) New legal issues in marine environmental protection and sustainable shipping; 8) Legal issues in polar shipping and maritime safety; 9) Issues of maritime and shipping law and policy for facilitating transport: free trade ports and integrated transport; 10) Innovation of maritime dispute resolution mechanisms.

海允律师积极参与本届研讨会。本所赵新伟、李文娟律师撰写的《Applying Forum Non Conveniens doctrine PRC Court Dismissed Foreign Party’s Claim》、赵新伟、刘欢迎律师撰写的《Brief Introduction and Comments on A General Average Case》以及本所兼职律师、中国海洋大学教授白佳玉撰写的《The IMO polar code: the emerging rules of arctic shipping governance》等三篇论文均被收入会议论文集。

Three papers submitted by Hihonor Lawyers were included in the Collection of Papers of the conference, including the papers Applying Forum Non Conveniens doctrine PRC Court Dismissed Foreign Party’s Claim written by Xinwei Zhao & Wenjuan Li, Brief Introduction and Comments on A General Average Case written by Xinwei Zhao & Huanying Liu, and The IMO polar code: the emerging rules of arctic shipping governance written by our part-time lawyer, as well as the professor of Ocean University of China Jiayu Bai.

受主办方的邀请，本所主任赵新伟律师，白佳玉兼职律师分别在会议不同单元作了英文主题演讲。

At the invitation of the conference host, Managing Partner Ms. Xinwei Zhao and Part-time Lawyer Ms. Jiayu Bai gave lectures respectively on the topics of their papers in different sessions of the conference.

赵新伟律师在研讨会第七单元——“海事争议解决的制度创新”单元中，以“中国法院适用不方便法院原则驳回外国当事人的起诉”（Applying Forum Non Conveniens doctrine PRC Court Dismissed Foreign Party’s Claim）为题，就中国法院适用不方便法院原则的问题进行了介绍。 赵律师从国外燃油供油商向国外船东在中国索赔拖欠燃油费的层面分析，指出“不方便法院原则”不专属于普通法系国家。中国虽不属于普通法系国家，但根据《最高人民法院关于适用〈民事诉讼法〉的解释》（532条）规定，中国法院具有依据“不方便法院原则”裁定驳回原告起诉的权力。因此中国法院根据不方便法院原则，驳回了外国燃油供应商提起的诉讼，并将扣船保证金全额退还给船东。尽管中国法院并未在裁定书中明确承认（韩国釜山地方法院认可的）船东债务重整计划，但本案的处理结果却在客观上使韩国船东重整还款计划得以顺利进行，保障了船东其他136位债权人公平受偿的权利。 中国法院对于本案的处理，在韩国航运界、律师界及韩国法院产生了良好反响，进一步提升了中国海事审判的权威性，是为中国海事司法公平公正的新名片。

Ms. Xinwei Zhao’s lecture was in the Session VII: Innovation of maritime dispute resolution mechanisms. Ms. Zhao pointed out that Forum Non Conveniens is not exclusive to common law nations, PRC courts, although not a common law jurisdiction, also have such power under more restrained conditions, as detailed in Article 532 of The Supreme People’s Court Judicial Interpretation on Application of the Procedure Law of PRC. Ms. Zhao introduced a reported appeal case that we HiHonor Lawyers involved on the defendant foreign ship owner’s behalf, in which foreign ship owner under Debtor Rehabilitation procedure in Korean court, raised objection to the jurisdiction of PRC court for unpaid bunker claims supplied to the Owner’s ship. Owner’s ship was arrested pre-proceeding by PRC court at the application of foreign bunker supplier for seeking security and forum shopping, and cash security was provided to PRC court by the owner. PRC court dismissed the case filed by the foreign bunker supplier, based on Forum Non Conveniens doctrine.  This case is a remarkable positive sign for Chinese court to decline lawsuit filed by foreign party against another foreign party under bankruptcy protection of the foreign court.  Although Chinese court would NOT recognize and enforce the foreign bankruptcy procedure, howsoever, if no Chinese interests are involved in such lawsuit, and if all the six conditions for application of the forum-non-convenience doctrine are met with, the defendant/respondent could invoke the forum-non-convenience doctrine as good defense point, applying to Chinese court to dismiss the lawsuit filed by foreign party.

白佳玉教授在会议第六单元——“极地航运、海上安全以及船员公平待遇的法律问题”单元中，以“国际海事组织《极地规则》：极地航运管理的新兴规则”（The IMO polar code: the emerging rules of arctic shipping governance）为题做了主旨演讲。白教授主要围绕《极地规则》的构成、潜在的原则、内容、特征、发展以及未来的实践等问题进行展开，从沿海国、港口国、船旗国等视角出发，对《极地规则》的未来实践提出了看法，认为船旗国最重要的利益必定是遵守该规则；为使该规则具有最大效力，沿海地区应当通过提供适当的支持性立法，以解决其国内标准与《极地规则》之间的冲突；北极地区的国家亦应当通过合作来充分践行港口国监控机制。

Professor Ms. Jiayu Bai’s lecture was in the Session VI: Legal issues in polar shipping and maritime safety & Fair treatment of Seafarers. Professor Bai mainly introduced the formation, the underlying principles, the content, the unique characteristics, the development and the future practice of the Polar Code. From the perspectives of coastal states, the port states and the flag states, Professor Bai rendered her opinion on the future practice of the Polar Code that flag states are in the best position to ensure compliance with maritime conventions, while the port states play a supporting role, and the coastal state should provide legislative support to solve the conflict between the domestic law and the Polar code; the Arctic countries should cooperate to fulfill the port state control.

本次会议吸引了来自中国内地、中国香港、日本、韩国、新加坡、西班牙、澳大利亚、美国、加拿大、英国、比利时、印度等国家和地区的高校、律师事务所、海事咨询机构、航运公司、保险公司等350多名代表参加。在会议中，海允律师重逢老友、结识新朋，与海内外同仁一同探讨交流航运实务及法律问题。通过参加本次会议，海允律师进一步展示了海允所在海事海商法律服务领域的专业和坚守。海允所将继续奉行客户利益至上的原则，以服务专业化为导向，走高、精、专的发展道路，以卓越服务实现客户利益最大化、法律服务价值最大化，协助客户实现商业目标。

This conference has attracted around 350 attendees from the Mainland China, HK China, Japanese, South Korea, Singapore, Spain, Australia, USA, Canada, UK, Belgium, India and other countries and districts, who are mainly practitioners working in universities, law firms, maritime consultant companies, shipping companies and insurance companies. In the conference, Hihonor lawyers had a reunion with many of our old friends, at the same time we got acquainted with a lot of new friends. Through participating this conference and communicating with experts from the shipping circles, Hihonor lawyers showed our profession and dedication in providing the best, most reliable and professional legal services. HiHonor lawyers will continue to be committed to uphold the honor of our clients and try our best to meet the needs and expectations of our clients.