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What are foreign-related civil and commercialcases—FAQ 1 and the answer to the Service Procedure for Foreign Related Civil and Commercial Cases

by the Fourth Intermediate Court of Beijing

August 23, 2023

Answer: In judicial practice, the determinationof whether a case involves foreign civil and commercial matters is mainly based on three factors. Firstly, the subject of the civil legal relationship involved in the case, that is, the parties involved in the case belong to foreigners, stateless persons, foreign enterprises or organizations; The second is the object of the civil legal relationship involved in the case, that is, the subject matter of the case has foreign-related factors; The third aspect is the content of the civil legal relationship involved in the case, that is, the legal facts that create, modify, or eliminate the civil legal relationship have foreign-related factors.

According to Article 520 of theInterpretation of the Supreme Court onthe Application of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, in any of the following circumstances, the Court may recognize it as a foreign-related civilcase:

(1) If one or bothparties are foreigners, stateless persons, foreign enterprises or organizations;

(2) The habitualresidence of one or both parties is outside the territory of the People's Republic of China;

(3) The subjectmatter is outside the territory of the People's Republic of China;

(4) The legal factsthat create, alter, or eliminate civil relations occur outside the territory of the People's Republic of China;

(5) Othersituations that can be recognized as foreign-related civil cases.