China Revamps Ship Arrest Regulations

zoom China, which is the backbone of the global maritime trade, is stepping up its efforts with respect to regulating legal aspects of ship arrest in the country. Namely, on 28 February 2015, the Supreme People’s Court of PRC published the Regulations on Certain Issues Concerning the Application of Law Relating to Arrest and Auction of Ships which came into force on 1 March 2015. The regulations are intended to extend the scope of the ships that can be subject to legal auction/sale after arrest, to clarify and simplify the ship arrest and auction/sale procedures, and increase the judicial efficiency of the legal sale/auction, as informed by Clyde and Co law firm. Although China is still not regarded as a haven for ship arrest, the number of ship arrest applications has increased continually, the law firm said. With the new regulations in force, more frequent vessel arrests in China are likely to take place.