On December 7-9, 2022, the Workshop on Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) organized by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Committee (“EC”) was successfully held in Tokyo, Japan. Focusing on the theme of “Enhancing Implementation of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) through the APEC ODR Collaborative Framework and other fora including courts”, the Workshop lasted for three days and was conducted online and offline. Nearly 50 experts, scholars, and practitioners in the field of ODR from government departments, dispute resolution institutions, and academia in China, Hong Kong (China), the United States, Japan, Singapore, Canada, Indonesia and other countries and regions attended the Workshop. As one of the four existing ODR service institutions under the APEC ODR mechanism, CIETAC was invited to attend the Workshop and deliver a speech online.

The Workshop covered many cutting-edge topics, including: the development of ODR in APEC economies, especially the latest progress in the use of ODR by economies and ODR service agencies under the APEC Collaborative Framework for ODR, and the use of ODR in courts; research reports on the best practices of using ODR by APEC; the use and development of ODR in consumer disputes, financial disputes, secured transactions and bankruptcy disputes, family disputes and other areas of dispute resolution; the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) in ODR, etc. The discussion at the Workshop was in-depth. The development practices and experience of various countries, and the best practice standards of ODR were fully exchanged and discussed.

Yang Fan, Secretary General of CIETAC ODR Center, made a special speech at the Workshop on behalf of CIETAC. She introduced CIETAC’s exploration and practice in ODR, and demonstrated the ODR service and platform provided by CIETAC for the implementation of APEC ODR mechanism in the following 6 aspects: infrastructure construction, user support, the launch and the progress of ODR procedure, the guarantee for due process, intelligent features and network security.

CIETAC, as one of the first batch of ODR service agencies recommended by the Ministry of Justice as China’s ODR service institution under the APEC Collaborative Framework for ODR, actively participated in the co-construction and cooperation of the APEC ODR mechanism. CIETAC officially launched its APEC ODR platform (https://casettle.odrcloud.cn/CIETAC.html) in May 2022 to provide a full-process online ODR service integrating diversified dispute resolution methods including negotiation, mediation and arbitration for cross-border commercial dispute resolution between enterprises (especially small, medium and micro enterprises). Under the APEC ODR mechanism, the ODR proceedings are divided into three stages after initiation: negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. The whole process is carried out on the platform, and disputes can generally be resolved within 40 days or six weeks. In view of the fact that APEC ODR services mainly target small, medium and micro enterprises and the amount of disputes in cases is relatively low, CIETAC adopts a package charging method, and at the same time significantly lowers the fee standard to ensure that the total cost of dispute resolution is relatively low, reasonable and controllable. CIETAC’s ODR platform provides guidance information on the mechanism introduction, procedural rules, neutral experts, fees and model clauses on the homepage, and provides chat rooms and multi-functional video conference rooms for the parties to exchange information asynchronously, intelligent negotiation assistants, automatic transfer and filing of case materials, intelligent generation of documents, online signing of documents and other functions in the ODR proceedings to meet the needs of online settlement of cross-border disputes. At the same time, CIETAC attaches special attention to the guarantee of due process and network security. The parties to a cross-border trade dispute may refer to the model ODR clauses to make an agreement in the contract and choose CIETAC's ODR service.

As a third-party evaluator entrusted by APEC, Singapore Management University tried and evaluated the platforms of ODR service organizations including CIETAC before the Workshop and expressed full affirmation to the usability of the platform of CIETAC in the evaluation report and at the Workshop.

Through the speeches and demonstrations of CIETAC representatives, the participants had a more comprehensive understanding of the CIETAC APEC ODR services and platforms. CIETAC will also actively learn from and absorb international successful experience, continuously optimize the platform and services, and wholeheartedly provide enterprise parties with convenient, efficient, professional, and low-cost APEC ODR services in accordance with the user-centric purpose proposed by the best practice report, and promote the continuous development of cross-border trade and digital economy dispute resolution.