China released the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Revising the Civil Procedure Law of the PRC on 1 September 2023 and completed accordingly the revision of the Civil Procedure Law of the PRC for the fifth time. The revised Civil Procedure Law of the PRC will officially come into effect from 1 January 2024. The fifth revision involves the amendments to foreign related civil procedures rules, which include the following changes:

1. Expanding Chinese Jurisdiction over Foreign Related Cases
   
   

   (1)	Adding the provision of appropriate connections in addition to the Chinese court jurisdiction based on the place where the contract is signed, the place where the contract is performed, the location of the subject matter of the lawsuit, the location of the property available for seizure, the place where the infringement is committed, and the domicile of the representative office. That means, if the Chinese courts deemed that foreign related civil disputes have other appropriate connections with China, they may exercise jurisdiction over the cases.
   (2)	Adding the provisions of jurisdiction by agreement and jurisdiction by response for foreign related cases. The parties to a foreign related civil dispute may agree in writing to choose the jurisdiction of the Chinese court even if there is no actual point of connection for jurisdiction. If the parties have not raised objections to jurisdiction and have filed a countersuit or response to such case, it will be deemed that the Chinese court has jurisdiction.
   (3)	Expanding the scope of exclusive jurisdiction. In addition to the exclusive jurisdiction exercised by the Chinese court over disputes arising from the performance of Sino-foreign joint venture contracts, cooperative joint venture contracts, and cooperative contracts for the exploration and development of natural resources within the territory of China, the disputes arising from the establishment, dissolution, liquidation, and effectiveness of resolutions made by legal entity or other organizations established within the territory of China and the disputes related to the review of the validity of intellectual property rights granted in the territory of China have been added.

   
   
2. Adding Three Methods to Serve Court Papers
   
   The three methods as follows have been added in addition to the previous eight methods for serving court papers:
   

   (1)	If the recipient is a foreigner or stateless person who serves as the legal representative or principal person in charge of a legal entity or other organization established within the territory of China, and is a co-defendant with the legal entity or other organization, then the recipient will be served through the said legal entity or other organization.
   (2)	If the recipient is a foreign legal entity or other organization, and its legal representative or principal person in charge is within the territory of China, the court papers can be served through its legal representative or principal person in charge.
   (3)	Serving by other means agreed by the recipient, except where prohibited by the laws of the country where the recipient is located.

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