Can judicial documents be served on a foreign company's representative office in China?
In the past, Chinese law was silent on the issue of whether judicial documents could be served on foreign companies at their representative offices in China. However, on June 18, 2002 the Supreme People's Court issued a Practice Note, which came into force on June 22, 2002, discussing the application of the Hague Service Convention as it relates to the service of legal documents on foreign companies that have representative offices in China.
The Practice Note directs, if the party to be served has established a representative office in China, the People's Court may serve litigation documents on the representative office pursuant to subparagraph (5), article 247 of the Civil Procedure Law. Therefore, to effect service in of a foreign company with a representative office in China, a party does not need to effect service abroad pursuant to the Hague Service Convention.
The Practice Note also addresses the issue of service by means of leaving the documents to be served at the Representative Office.
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