To establish the Panel of Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) Arbitrators (“Panel”), the GBA Arbitrators Nomination Exercise (Hong Kong) (“Nomination Exercise (Hong Kong)”) commences today (30 July 2025). The Nomination Exercise (Hong Kong) is conducted according to the Working Guidelines on the Panel of Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macao Greater Bay Area Arbitrators (“Working Guidelines”) endorsed by the sixth Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macao GBA Legal Departments Joint Conference (“Joint Conference”) on 18 November 2024.

　　According to Article 1 of the Working Guidelines, an arbitrator who fulfills the below criteria is eligible to be nominated to be listed on the Panel:

　　“(1) Upholding the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China;

　　(2) Possessing good professional ethics with no record of disciplinary action for negative reputation or professional misconduct;

　　(3) Being included in the list of arbitrators by arbitral institutions in two out of the three places, namely Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao;

　　(4) Possessing more than 5 years of experience as an arbitrator;

　　(5) Having served as an arbitrator and drafted awards for at least 5 arbitration cases, of which at least 3 were cross-jurisdictional arbitration cases;

　　(6) Proficient in Putonghua (or Cantonese) and at least one language other than Chinese.

　　The Joint Conference may, depending on the actual circumstances of the nominated arbitrator, exercise its discretion to waive one or more of the requirement(s) among items (3) to (6) above.”

　　According to Article 8 of the Working Guidelines, the below words are defined as follows:

　　““drafted” refers to arbitral awards which are drafted in the capacity of a sole arbitrator or to which one has contributed as a member of the arbitral tribunal;

　　“awards” refers to final awards, and do not include interim awards, interlocutory awards, or partial awards;

　　“cross-jurisdictional arbitration cases” refers to arbitration cases in which the parties and/or the subject matter(s) in dispute involve more than one jurisdiction.”

　　In Hong Kong, persons interested in participating in the Nomination Exercise (Hong Kong) must submit an application form, along with the supporting documents and supplementary information, to a designated arbitral and dispute resolution institution or permanent office in Hong Kong (“Designated Institution”) of which they are included in its list of arbitrators, on or before 29 August 2025. Each applicant can only submit one application in each round of application. If an applicant is on the list of arbitrators of more than one Designated Institution, the applicant is only required to submit application to any one of these Designated Institutions. In the event of duplicate applications, all such applications will not be processed. For the method of submitting application forms, please enquire with individual Designated Institutions.

　　The Designated Institutions under the Nomination Exercise (Hong Kong) are Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, Hong Kong Maritime Arbitration Group, South China International Arbitration Center (HK), eBRAM International Online Dispute Resolution Centre, Shanghai International Arbitration (Hong Kong) Center, AALCO Hong Kong Regional Arbitration Centre and China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission Hong Kong Arbitration Center (listed in arbitrary order).

　　The Designated Institutions shall conduct preliminary vetting of all application forms received along with the supporting documents and supplementary information for the DoJ’s review.

　　Fulfilment of all criteria for nomination does not guarantee that such persons will be listed in the Panel. The DoJ shall consider the overall circumstances of each application, including factors such as the seniority, experience and reputation of the applicant as an arbitrator, with a view to ensuring that the nominated arbitrators have appropriate level of professional qualifications and capabilities. The reviewed local lists of the three places would be submitted to the Joint Conference for endorsement, and to form the Panel.

　　The selection and appointment of arbitrators to the Panel is subject to the final decision and endorsement of the Joint Conference.