On June 30, 2023, the first AD hoc arbitration case in which China Maritime Arbitration Commission(CMAC) provided necessary management services as the appointing authority was successfully concluded, and the arbitral award which has been encrypted to disguise the names of the parties and any other identifying details was published with the consent of all the parties.

The case arises out of a dispute over a cross-border co-operation agreement between a Chinese Mainland resident and a Hong Kong-based company. The two parties signed an agreement to cooperate in providing information and training services for Chinese mainland students to pursue graduate studies in Hong Kong SAR. The dispute arises between the two parties due to the performance of the cooperation agreement.The “Dispute Resolution” clause of the cooperation agreement clearly stipulates that “All disputes arising out of or in connection with this agreement shall be settled by arbitration and the China Maritime Law Association(CMLA) Ad Hoc Arbitration Rules shall be applied.” “The arbitration tribunal shall be composed of one arbitrator, the language of arbitration shall be Chinese, the arbitration agreement shall be governed by the Arbitration Law of Hong Kong, and the place of hearing shall be Qingdao, Shandong.” “This agreement shall be governed by the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China as the substantive law and the appointing authority shall be CMAC or CMAC Qingdao Arbitration Center.” “The arbitral award shall be final and the parties agree that the arbitral award may be made public in an appropriate manner by the appointing authority after it has been declassified.”

In accordance with the above agreement, the claimant, under the provisions of the CMLA Ad Hoc Arbitration Rules, sent the “Notice of Arbitration” to the respondent on September 21, 2022, which was received by the respondent and the arbitration proceedings therefore commenced . During the arbitration procedure, since the two parties could not reach an agreement on the selection of an arbitrator, the two parties jointly applied for the appointment of an arbitrator by CMAC. In accordance with the agreement between the parties and the provisions of CMLA Ad Hoc Arbitration Rules and CMAC Rules as Appointing Authority in Ad Hoc Arbitration, CMAC appointed an arbitrator for the case. Since then, the arbitral tribunal administered all the proceedings in accordance with CMLA Ad Hoc Arbitration Rules. The arbitral tribunal held hearings at CMAC Qingdao Arbitration Center on April 13, 2023, made a decision on termination of the arbitration proceeding on May 5, and rendered an arbitration award on June 30.

According to the agreement between the parties and with consent of the arbitral tribunal and the parties, the award encrypted to disguise the names of the parties and other identifying details was made public on August 15, 2023. (The award can be downloaded from the official website of CMAC.)

As the appointing authority, CMAC provided requested management services in the its first Ad Hoc arbitration case, and the status and role of CMAC has attracted the attention of the industry. In this case, as the appointing authority agreed by the parties, CMAC onl appointed an arbitrator for the case without any other services provided. As we know, in the Ad Hoc arbitration case, CMAC, as the appointing authority, does not administer the whole procedure of the arbitration case, but only provides one or more specific management services such as appointing arbitrators, making a decision on challenge to arbitrators, conducting case financial management, and providing arbitral tribunal secretary services at the request of the parties.