On 25 Dec. 2024, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) announced a decision to amend the “Regulations on the Recognition and Enforcement of Civil Judgments of Courts in Taiwan” (hereinafter the “Regulations”, 最高人民法院关于认可和执行台湾地区法院民事判决的规定), which took effect on 1 Jan. 2025.
The amended Regulations clearly states that parties holding civil judgments of Taiwanese courts, as well as their successors or persons succeeding to their rights, may apply to Mainland Chinese courts for recognition and enforcement of such judgments. The Regulations also provides specific provisions on the materials to be submitted when applying for recognition of Taiwanese civil judgments, and the circumstances under which Taiwanese civil judgments may not be recognized.
In addition, a new provision has been added to address conflicts of jurisdiction between Chinese Mainland and Taiwan. It stipulates that, when two litigation proceedings are still pending for the same dispute in a court of Chinese Mainland—one for the recognition and enforcement of a Taiwanese judgment and the other for an ordinary litigation procedure—the recognition and enforcement procedure will take precedence. The ordinary litigation procedure will be suspended and await the outcome of the recognition and enforcement procedure before proceeding accordingly.
This solution was first introduced in the 2023 revision of the Chinese Civil Procedure Law (CPL), specifically in Article 302. Art. 302 applies in cases where parallel proceedings are still pending before a Chinese court when recognition and/or enforcement of a foreign judgment is sought in China.
In the field of judgment recognition and enforcement, this Regulations aligns with the CPL, both reflecting support for promoting the global circulation of judgments.
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Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team
