As the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area continues to deepen, cross-border economic, trade and shipping activities among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have became increasingly frequent, and market entities’ demand for diversified resolution of cross-border disputes continues to rise. To better respond to market participants’ dispute-resolution needs, on 22 October, at the Fourth Business Conference on Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Development, the China Maritime Arbitration Commission (CMAC) and the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), both affiliated with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, together with the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization Hong Kong Regional Arbitration Centre, the Hong Kong Maritime Arbitration Group and the World Trade Center Macau Arbitration Center, jointly signed and released the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Arbitrator Sharing Mechanism in Chinese, English and Portuguese.

Grounded in the Greater Bay Area’s unique reality of “one country, two systems” and three distinct legal jurisdictions, and with full respect for party autonomy, the Mechanism enables the sharing of arbitrators among arbitration institutions. It aims to promote the interconnection of arbitration practice and synergy in talent resources among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, further enhance the alignment of arbitration rules and mechanisms and connectivity among arbitration professionals, and help create a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment in the Greater Bay Area. In doing so, it will provide more diversified and professional commercial legal services to support the Greater Bay Area’s high-quality development.