On the afternoon of November 22, the Seminar on "EPC Contract and International Construction Project Investment and Financing Legal Practice and Dispute Resolution", as the second joint forum by CIETAC sub-commission and law firm branch, was successfully held at CIETAC Hubei Sub-commission. The seminar was hosted by CIETAC Hubei Sub-commission and co-organized by the Hubei Enterprise Legal Counsel Association, Zhonglun (Wuhan) Law Firm, and the CCPIT Hubei Free Trade Pilot Zone Service Center. More than 120 arbitrators, lawyers and legal professionals from Wuhan, Changsha, Tianjin and Shanghai attended this Seminar. CIETAC Hubei Sub-commission also set up a video connection channel for simultaneous participation of off-site guests.

(Yao Junyi, Secretary-General of CIETAC Hubei Sub-commission, is making a speech)

The seminar was chaired by Zhang Li, CIETAC arbitrator, Vice Chairman of Hubei Lawyers Association and Partner of Zhonglun (Wuhan) Law Firm. Yao Junyi, Secretary-General of CIETAC Hubei Sub-commission, delivered a speech. He pointed out that arbitration was closely related to the development of legal professional community. CIETAC was the first foreign-related commercial arbitration institution set up in China and one of the world's well-known arbitration institutions. As of October, the amount in dispute involved in the cases accepted by CIETAC this year has reached 103.8 billion yuan, exceeding the total amount of last year. The establishment of CIETAC Hubei Sub-commission received strong support from provincial leaders and the society. He hoped that CIETAC Hubei Sub-commission could provide a communication platform for  lawyers and legal professionals from the central region and help enterprises resolve their legal disputes, so as to promote Hubei's economic development. International construction engineering and EPC contracts, the focus of this Seminar, also constitute a significant part of CIETAC’s caseload.. He wished that experts and scholars could communicate actively with each other and provide new ideas and methods for the solution of legal problems for international construction disputes in the future. CIETAC Hubei Sub-commission also looked forward to future cooperation with more well-known law firms to hold forum events.

During the topical speech session, Zhang Jiong, Partner of Zhonglun Law Firm, first introduced to the guests the issue of evidence preservation in international construction dispute resolution. Zhang Jiong pointed out that, regarding the preservation of evidence in construction cases, we must pay attention to notes-taking first. As to the method of evidence management, we should attach importance to the management of the sending and receiving of documents, the updates on changes of data carrier, and the complete handover when personnel leaves, especially the preservation of electronic data evidence such as email.

Fang Zheng, CIETAC arbitrator and General Counsel of Hunan Construction Engineering Group, talked about the establishment of overseas operation compliance system for Chinese enterprises from the perspective of the World Bank's integrity, compliance and sanction system. He said that to establish a compliance system that complies with international treaties, the laws of the country where the headquarters was based, the laws of the country where it operates business and the internal regulations of the company is very important for Chinese enterprises. When designing a compliance system, enterprises should properly position its compliance management, attach importance to compliance culture and comprehensively establish a management system.

Chen Xiaokai, Deputy General Counsel and General Manager of the Legal Contract Department of CCCC Second Harbour Engineering Company Ltd., elaborated on the legal risks of overseas EPC project contracts. He particularly emphasized that enterprises undertaking overseas engineering projects should pay attention to the subsequent effects of dispute resolution, and try to choose a dispute resolution method with hearing held in camera, such as arbitration, to avoid failure in public bidding process resulted from litigation exposure.

The second session of the seminar was chaired by Ai Li, CIETAC arbitrator and Second-level Inspector of Department of Commerce of Hubei Province. Zou Mingchun, CIETAC arbitrator and Partner of Zhonglun (Wuhan) Law Firm, addressed the legal issues and risk prevention of international project investment. He suggested that enterprises should pay attention to the investigation of legal environment, follow the investigation mode of "national lawyers + foreign lawyers + clients", prepare survey outlines and checklists, and strive to prevent legal risks in its infancy.

Duan Kunpeng, Senior Manager of China Export Credit Insurance Corporation Hubei Company, introduced the investment and financing of international engineering projects from the perspective of credit insurance. He suggested that international engineering projects should closely follow the national strategy, choose appropriate partners, prepare alternative banks, and improve the competitiveness in bidding and negotiation.

Li Qian, Deputy General Manager and General Counsel of Wuhan Construction Engineering Group Co., Ltd., analyzed the legal issues related to the listing of construction enterprises. He stated that, pending lawsuits in the reporting period would bring adverse effects to construction enterprises. He suggested that the construction enterprises choose arbitration as the method to resolve disputes. He also suggested that, when carrying out capital borrowings and related transactions with affliated companies, attention should be paid to fulfill the necessary procedures and make sufficient disclosure. Afterwards, he conducted in-depth analysis on issues of bad debt accounting, the selection of labor service providers, and the possibility of construction enterprises’ backdoor listing.

In the last session, Xiong Chuan, Partner of Zhonglun Law Firm, explained the overall legal framework design for the construction enterprises’ listing. He analyzed that, for construction enterprises, going public could create a more secure business environment. When designing the equity structure, it was necessary to consider the proportion of control rights of the controlling shareholders and actual controllers, the distribution of benefits for partners, and the relationship between strategic investors and individual shareholders.

At this seminar, experts and scholars discussed and exchanged views in depth, provided detailed tips on the legal risks of international construction projects, and inspired the construction enterprises to analyze and solve problems from multiple angles. CIETAC Hubei Sub-commission would also continue to provide commercial arbitration legal services, to help provincial construction enterprises to pursue better and more stable development in the course of expanding their overseas markets.