The Supreme People's Court (SPC) of China has recently issued a notice on procedural matters related to civil cases involving immunity of foreign states. The notice provided guidance to courts nationwide on the proper adjudication of such cases to protect the lawful rights and interests of the parties involved and uphold sovereign equality of states.

Based on the provisions of China's Law on Foreign State Immunity and the Civil Procedure Law, the notice states that foreign states and their properties enjoy jurisdictional immunity in Chinese courts, with exceptions as provided by the Law on Foreign State Immunity. 

According to the notice, when a lawsuit is filed against a foreign state as a defendant or a third party as per the provisions of the Law on Foreign State Immunity, the court handling the case shall examine whether the lawsuit explicitly states any exceptions to immunity as specified by the law. If the exceptions are not clearly stated, the court shall request clarification from the plaintiff. If clarification is still lacking, the court will not accept the case.

The notice further specifies that the first-instance civil cases in which a foreign state is the defendant or a third party, as stipulated in the Article 2 of the Law on Foreign State Immunity, fall under the jurisdiction of intermediate people's courts in provincial-level regions that have jurisdiction over foreign-related civil and commercial cases, and also under the jurisdiction of maritime courts, financial courts and intellectual property courts.

Courts not designated in this notice shall not accept such lawsuits. If a non-designated court has already accepted such a case, it must rule to transfer it to a competent court.

When serving summons or other legal documents to a foreign state, the court handling relevant cases shall follow the methods stipulated in international treaties concluded by the foreign state and China or in treaties to which both countries are parties. If no such treaties apply, courts may use other methods accepted by the foreign state and not prohibited by Chinese law. There is no prescribed order of preference between these two methods. If both methods fail, the SPC may use diplomatic channels to serve, the notice states.

If diplomatic channels are used to serve, the court handling the cases shall submit the service documents through higher-level administration to the SPC for approval. 

The notice states that when serving summons or other legal documents to a foreign state, the court handling the relevant cases shall attach a translation in the relevant language.

When serving a copy of the lawsuit to a foreign state, the court handling the cases shall also provide a notice of response to the action and a notice of producing evidence, informing the foreign state to file a defense within three months of receiving the lawsuit copy. Requests for extension of response submission will be reviewed by the court, it states.

If a foreign state raises jurisdictional objections within the response period based on jurisdictional immunity, the court handling the relevant cases shall conduct a comprehensive review of whether the state enjoys jurisdictional immunity as per the Law on Foreign State Immunity and may consider hearing the opinions of the parties involved, the notice states.

A foreign state that only participates in the jurisdictional objection review process will not be considered as accepting the court's jurisdiction, it adds.

The notice also states that, if a foreign state does not raise jurisdictional objections within the response period and does not appear in court, the court handling the relevant cases shall proactively review whether the state enjoys jurisdictional immunity and may consider hearing the opinions of the parties involved.

If the court handling relevant cases requires a certificate of facts regarding the actions of a foreign state issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the handling of civil cases, it shall follow the provisions of Article 19 of the Law on Foreign State Immunity to report through higher-level administration to the SPC to seek such certificate, the notice adds.

In cases where a foreign state becomes a defendant or third party due to being added as a party or filing a counterclaim during the adjudication, the guidelines outlined in the notice must be followed.

The notice further instructs that any issues arising during the implementation of this notice should be promptly reported to the SPC.