The Foreign State Immunity Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Foreign State Immunity Law") has officially come into effect on January 1, 2024. In order to implement the Foreign State Immunity Law and guide local courts to properly accept and fairly and efficiently hear civil cases involving foreign state immunity in accordance with the law, on March 26, the Supreme People's Court issued a notice on procedural matters related to civil cases involving foreign state immunity (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"). The Notice sets out clear requirements for the acceptance, centralized jurisdiction, service, examination and other procedural matters of civil cases involving foreign state immunity. Which courts have jurisdiction over civil cases involving foreign countries? What are the different provisions in the acceptance stage compared to other civil cases? According to the person in charge of the Fourth Court of the Supreme People's Court, civil cases involving foreign state immunity are a major new type of foreign-related case. It is necessary to implement a centralized jurisdiction mechanism, enhance the professional level of the trial of such cases, and ensure the unified and accurate implementation of foreign state immunity laws. Therefore, Article 2 of the Notice stipulates that first instance civil cases involving foreign countries as defendants or third parties shall be under the jurisdiction of the intermediate people's court with jurisdiction over foreign-related civil and commercial cases located in the place where the people's government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government is located. Given that there are multiple intermediate people's courts in municipalities directly under the central government such as Beijing and Shanghai, the annex of the Notice clearly lists the intermediate people's courts with centralized jurisdiction. Meanwhile, for cases that are required by law to be under the jurisdiction of specialized courts for maritime, financial, and intellectual property, due to the involvement of professional knowledge in related fields, even if it involves foreign countries, they are still under the jurisdiction of specialized courts. Except for the above-mentioned courts, if other courts have already accepted such cases, they shall, in accordance with the provisions of the Notice, make a ruling to transfer the case to a court with centralized jurisdiction The above-mentioned person in charge stated. Article 3 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Immunity of Foreign Countries clearly stipulates that "foreign countries and their property enjoy jurisdictional immunity in the courts of the People's Republic of China, except as otherwise provided in this Law." It can be seen that the people's courts shall not accept civil lawsuits filed by foreign countries as defendants or third parties, and accept them as exceptions. Therefore, Article 1 of the Notice stipulates that when the plaintiff brings a civil lawsuit against a foreign country as the defendant or a third party, the plaintiff shall specify in the complaint which specific provision of the foreign country's immunity law the lawsuit is based on, and indicate which exception it belongs to, for the court's review. The people's court also has the responsibility to clarify in the process of receiving the complaint. If the plaintiff still fails to provide legal basis after the explanation by the people's court, it will be deemed as not meeting the acceptance requirements and the people's court will not accept it. How is the review procedure of the people's court regarding whether foreign countries enjoy jurisdictional immunity conducted? The reporter noticed that Articles 5 and 6 of the Notice stipulate the review procedures of the people's courts for whether foreign countries enjoy jurisdictional immunity. The Notice points out that when a foreign country raises a jurisdictional objection and claims jurisdictional immunity, the people's court should not only examine whether the reasons put forward by the foreign country are valid, but also proactively examine whether the foreign country enjoys jurisdictional immunity in accordance with its authority. In other words, firstly, the people's court should examine whether the reasons for enjoying jurisdictional immunity proposed by foreign countries are valid; Secondly, if the reasons put forward by a foreign country are not valid, the people's court should also conduct a comprehensive review according to its authority, that is, in addition to the reasons, to examine whether the foreign country does indeed enjoy jurisdictional immunity and does not fall under the exception of jurisdictional immunity. The Notice also emphasizes that foreign countries participating in the jurisdictional objection review process and expressing their opinions are not considered to have accepted jurisdiction. This provision is consistent with the legislative purpose of Article 6, Paragraph 1 of the Foreign State Immunity Law, which states that foreign states' responding only to claims of immunity and defense 'shall not be considered as accepting jurisdiction. It also facilitates foreign states to actively participate in the examination of jurisdictional objections and provide evidence, so that people's courts can more efficiently determine whether foreign states enjoy jurisdictional immunity. (New Society)