China
Pursuant to Article 13 of the Measure on the Payment of Litigation Costs, the claimant must pay fees known as “case acceptance fees” to the court at the time of filing the claim and it must do so within seven days of the court’s notification of payment. The acceptance fees are calculated by reference to the sum in dispute (or pursuant to the relevant laws if it is a non-property case). For example, for a monetary case where the sum in dispute is CNY1 million, the case acceptance fee would amount to CNY13,800 and would be calculated by adding together the costs under each of the staggered tiers, as set out below:
The amount claimed | Applicable rate | Fees |
For any amount no more than CNY10,000 | A fixed fee | CNY50 |
For any amount above CNY10,000 but no more than CNY100,000 | 2.5% |
CNY2,250 (90,000 x 2.5% ) |
For any amount above CNY100,000 but no more than CNY200,000 | 2% |
CNY2,000 (100,000 x 2%) |
For any amount above CNY200,000 but no more than CNY500,000 | 1.5% |
CNY4,500 (300,000 x 1.5%) |
For any amount above CNY500,000 but no more than CNY1 million | 1% |
CNY5,000 (500,000 x 1%) |
Total case acceptance fees: | CNY13,800 |
Additional costs might be incurred if evidence is obtained outside of the PRC, where translation, notarization and legalization of the evidence is required. The court acceptance fees and other such out-of-pocket expenses would be paid by the unsuccessful party.
A court will also charge when a party requests it to enforce a judgment, an interim relief order or an arbitral award. Such fees are also calculated by reference to the sum in dispute.
Similar to the principle of “costs follow the event” in common law jurisdictions, as a general principle, the costs of an action are usually awarded to the successful party. However, lawyers’ fees fall entirely within the discretion of the court. The court may wish to follow the recommended fee scale issued by the government, which might be significantly lower than the actual lawyers’ fees. If the scale is used, the successful party may only be able to recover part of its lawyer’s fees.