From: Judiciary answers to 14 Difficult Questions about Foreign-related Commercial Trials By Ningbo Intermediate People's Court, Zhejiang Province, PRC

Question: In accordance with the provisions of Article 17of the Convention on the Retrieval of Civil or Commercial Evidence from Abroad, how should the parties apply to the domestic courts to send special agents to other States parties to investigate and collect evidence?

Answer: When China acceded to the Convention on the Retrieval of Civil or Commercial Evidence from Abroad, it made three reservations, the third of which is "According to Article 33 of the Convention, except for Article 15, the provisions of Chapter II of the Convention are not applicable". Article 17 is the provisions of Chapter II of the Convention, so the parties concerned have no right to apply to the court to send a special representative to collect evidence abroad according to the provisions of Article 17 of the Convention.