(Revised and adopted at the 2nd Meeting of the 5th Beijing Arbitration Commission on February 1, 2008. Effective from April 1, 2008)

Article 1
The Beijing Arbitration Commission (hereinafter referred to as the BAC) is a standing arbitration institution established in Beijing in accordance with the Arbitration Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as Arbitration Law) with the mission of providing impartial and efficient alternative dispute resolution services including but not limited to arbitration and mediation.

Article 2
This constitution is formulated to standardize the conduct of the BAC, clarify its function and management systems, and ensure its sustainable development.

Article 3
The BAC accepts arbitration and mediation cases submitted according to law hereto arising from contractual disputes and other disputes relating to property rights and interests between equal principals (natural persons, legal persons and other organizations).

The BAC shall not accept any application for arbitration involving the following disputes:
1) Disputes involving marriage, adoption, guardianship, child maintenance or inheritance;
2) Administrative disputes falling under the jurisdiction of administrative organizations under the law; and
3) Labour disputes and internal agricultural contractual disputes within agricultural collective economic organizations.
Upon accepting cases, the BAC shall compose arbitration tribunals to hear the cases.

Article 4
Arbitrations shall be conducted independently according to relevant laws without any interference from administrative bodies, social groups or individuals.

Chapter II Organizational Structure

Section 1 Committee

Article 5
The Committee shall consist of one Chairperson, two to four Vice-Chairpersons and seven to eleven Commissioners.

Article 6
The term of office of a Committee member shall be five years.
The members of the first Committee shall be appointed by the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality.
The members of the in-coming Committee shall be nominated by the Chairman of the out-going Committee in consultation with the relevant departments and the Beijing Municipal Chamber of Commerce. The People’s Government of Beijing Municipality shall decide on the appointment. The new Committee shall be formed within three months from the expiration of the tenure of the out-going Committee.
A list of the members of the Committee shall be filed with the Arbitration Association of the People’s Republic of China.

Article 7
The Committee shall have two meetings each year. When the Chairperson or vice-Chairperson considers necessary or at the suggestion of a majority of Committee members, an ad hoc Committee meeting shall be held.
Meetings of the Committee shall be presided by the Chairperson or the Vice-Chairperson designated by the Chairperson.

Article 8
The principal functions of the Committee meetings are:
(1) To review important issues of the BAC, such as work policies and work plans, and make corresponding decisions on these issues;
(2) To review and adopt annual financial budget reports and the financial implementation reports and to audit reports submitted by the Secretary General;
(3) To decide on the candidates for the post of Secretary General and members of Disciplinary Board and the Expert Advisory Board;
(4) To review and approve the internal structural scheme and the appointment of cadres of the Office submitted by the Secretary General;
(5) To decide on the items and standards for the expenses of its administrative body;
(6) To decide on the standards for the remuneration for arbitrators, including foreign arbitrators, and the proportion of expenses from arbitration fees;
(7) To decide on the appointment, dismissal, and suspension of arbitrators and mediators from the panel of arbitrators;
(8) To revise the Constitution of the BAC;
(9) To revise the Arbitration Rules, Ethical Standards for Arbitrators, and the Administrative Measures for Engaging Arbitrators, and to stipulate and revise the corresponding measures concerning the training and management of arbitrators;
(10) To decide on the dissolution of the BAC; and
(11) To perform any other duties prescribed by the Arbitration Law, the Provisional Arbitration Rules of the BAC and the Constitution of the BAC.

Article 9
The Committee members shall attend the Committee meetings on schedule. Upon failure to attend, the absent Committee member shall submit the reason for absence with an explanation and a written opinion on the issues to be discussed.
Failure to attend Committee meetings for two consecutive years with a Committee member’s tenure shall be considered a resignation of membership in the Committee.
If a Committee member can not perform the required duties due to resignation, illness, work or other reasons, the Committee can nominate substitute members and the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality shall decide on the appointment.

Article 10
A Committee meeting concerning important issues, including revision to the Constitution, revision to the Arbitration Rules, or the dissolution of the BAC, shall be held only with the attendance of more than two-thirds of the members of the Committee. Any resolution on the aforementioned issues shall only be adopted with the approval of more than two-thirds of the Committee members. A Committee meeting concerning other issues shall be held only with the attendance of more than half of the Committee members and resolutions at such meetings shall be adopted with the approval of more than half of the Committee members.
The Committee meetings can be held in various forms, including but not limited to on-site, television, telephone or internet meetings, etc. Before each Committee meeting, the Office shall send the agenda, topics and corresponding materials to be discussed to all the Committee members. The written opinions on the discussed issues submitted by the absent Committee members shall be recorded in the minutes of the Committee meetings, whose stances on the important issues of the BAC shall be accorded the same weight as the approval or disapproval of attending Committee members.

Article 11
The Standing Committee shall consist of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairpersons and the Secretary General. The Standing Committee shall manage the work of the BAC when the Committee is not sitting.
The Chairperson may designate a vice-Chairperson to take over the Chair’s responsibilities as vested in this Constitution and the Arbitration Rules.

Article12
The Chairperson shall not act as an arbitrator. The Vice-Chairpersons and Commissioners shall not act as arbitrators if selected by a party or if appointed by the Chairperson, unless jointly selected by both parties.

Section 2 Administrative Body

Article 13
The BAC shall set up an Office to function as an administrative body in charge of the day-to-day affairs of the BAC.
The Office shall operate under the management of the Secretary General, who acts concurrently as a Committee member.

Article 14
The main functions of the Office are:
(1) Handling procedural and routine work, such as case acceptance, service of documents, tribunal hearing, and filing;
(2) Collecting and managing arbitration fees; and
(3) Completing any other work assigned by the Committee.

Article 15
The Office may set up several departments where necessary. The appointment of key personnel for the Office shall be decided by the Standing Committee.

Article 16
When deciding on the establishment of departments, appointment of cadres, or other important issues concerning the interests of the employees, including the evaluation of performance, discipline, salary, and welfare and social security systems, the Office shall have the issues discussed by the labor’s union, the Party and Youth League and the delegates of the employees; the Office shall also seek opinions from the employees individually.

Section 3 Other Structure

Article 17
The BAC may set up an Expert Advisory Board when necessary to provide consultative advice to the BAC and to the arbitrators on complex issues.
The Expert Advisory Board shall have one principal who shall concurrently be a Vice-Chairperson.

Article 18
The BAC shall set up a Disciplinary Board for arbitrators in charge of the qualification evaluation of arbitrators and supervise and investigate the mal-conducts of the arbitrators that violate the Ethical Standards for Arbitrators.
The Disciplinary Board shall have one principal, who shall concurrently be a Vice-Chairperson or a Commissioner.

Article 19
The BAC shall engage arbitrators in accordance with the provisions of the Arbitration Law pertaining to the qualification of arbitrators and when the engagement of arbitrators is warranted by the amount of cases submitted to the BAC.

Article 20
The Standing Committee shall submit a list of candidates nominated for engagement as arbitrators to the meeting of the Committee for review and approval, after which the BAC shall approve the engagement and issue a Certificate of Engagement. The term of an arbitrator shall be five years and may be renewed at the expiration of the term.
During the term of office, where an arbitrator is in serious breach of the provisions of the Ethical Standards for Arbitrators of the BAC or the Administrative Measures for the Employment of Arbitrators of the BAC, the BAC shall have the authority to dismiss the involved arbitrator.
Where an arbitrator is not reappointed when his term of office expires, his duties as an arbitrator shall continue until the conclusion of any case he is arbitrating.
Where an arbitrator is dismissed during his term of office, or not listed in the Panel of Arbitrators as a result of the circumstances set forth in Article 9 of the Administrative Measures, the BAC shall notify him in writing. Within 7 days from the receipt of the notice, the arbitrator concerned shall decide if he is withdrawing from the case/s he is arbitrating and shall then notify the same in writing to the relevant secretary handling the case. In the event the arbitrator concerned fails to respond or decides not to withdraw voluntarily, the BAC shall inform the parties in the pending cases of the BAC’s decision. The dismissed arbitrator or the arbitrator excluded from the Panel shall not participate in the hearing of cases from the date the newly revised list of the Panel is published. However, where both parties have agreed upon the arbitrator’s continued hearing of the case, he may perform his duties until such time as the hearing of the case is concluded.

Article 21
An arbitrator shall abide by the Ethical Standards for Arbitrators formulated by the BAC.

Article 22
An arbitrator shall strictly abide by the provisions of the Provisional Arbitration Rules, shall ensure that the parties exercise their rights and interests as prescribed in the Provisional Arbitration Rules and shall treat the parties equally and fairly.

Article 23
Where an arbitrator has met a party or its representative privately, or accepted a treat or gift from a party or its representative, or, while arbitrating a case, has sought or accepted a bribe, engages in malpractice for his personal benefit, has perverted the law in adjudication, or has committed any other serious breach of the Arbitration Rules or Ethical Standards for Arbitrators, the Disciplinary Board shall make suggestions on the proper disciplinary actions and refer the suggestions to the Committee for its decision.

Article 24
An independent accounting system shall be adopted for the financial affairs of the BAC.

Article 25
The sources of funding for the BAC shall include:
(1) subsidies from the Government;
(2) arbitration fees paid by the parties; and
(3) social donations, contributions and other lawful income.

Article 26
The funding of the BAC may be spent on the following items:

1. daily administrative expenses;
2. remuneration for arbitrators;
3. expenses for training arbitrators;
4. expenses for publicizing and promoting the system of arbitration; and
5. social welfare and other expenses that the Committee deems necessary.

The Committee meeting shall decide on concrete standards and proportion of the expenses devoted to the aforementioned items and make adjustments over the proportions and standards as necessary.

 Article 27
The BAC shall terminate upon the passage of a dissolution resolution during the meeting of the Committee, with the approval of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality.
In the event of termination of the BAC, its property shall be subject to liquidation. After liquidation, the remainder of the property shall be disposed according to the relevant provisions of the State.

Article 28
The BAC shall be responsible for the interpretation of this Constitution.

Article 29
This Constitution has been adopted by the Committee and shall take effect from April 1, 2008.

2006 constitution