On January 29, 2014, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) issued the Arrangement on Reciprocal Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (the "Arrangement"), which will be effective from the same date.

This Arrangement applies to the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of legally effective judgments in civil and commercial matters between the courts of the Mainland and of the HKSAR. This Arrangement also applies to the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of legally effective judgments in relation to civil damages awarded in criminal cases. This Arrangement, for the time being, does not apply to judgments in eight categories of civil and commercial matters, including: certain marriage and family cases, cases on successions, certain patent infringement cases, certain maritime and admiralty cases, bankruptcy (insolvency) cases, cases on the determination of voter eligibility, cases related to arbitration, and cases on the recognition and enforcement of judgments or arbitral awards of other countries or regions. The term "judgment" referred to in this Arrangement includes, in the case of the Mainland, any judgment, ruling, conciliatory statement and order of payment, but does not include a ruling concerning preservation measures; in the case of the HKSAR, includes any judgment, order, decree and allocator, but does not include an anti-suit injunction or an order for interim relief.

(Source: Supreme People's Court)