Abstract: Since coming into force in 2005, Singapore's Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act ("SOPA") has become the construction sector's hallmark "fast relief" mechanism. Its twin pillars — the statutory right to seek progress payment and rapid adjudication — underpin a "pay now, argue later" logic. Adjudications are issued by independent adjudicators and are by nature only "temporarily final": the losing party may still pursue litigation or arbitration over the same dispute. This article examines a concrete practical question: can a SOPA adjudication be recognised and enforced in the Chinese courts under the 31 August 2018 Guiding Memorandum between the Supreme People's Court of China and the Supreme Court of Singapore on the Recognition and Enforcement of Money Judgments in Commercial Cases (the "China–Singapore Memorandum")? Analysing the issue layer by layer, this article concludes that, in principle, it cannot. A SOPA adjudication faces at least three obstacles — the Memorandum's definitional threshold for a "judgment" in Article 1, the "final and conclusive" threshold in Article 7, and China's consistent policy of refusing recognition to foreign interim orders. Chinese courts almost never recognise foreign interim measures (such as arbitral interim injunctions or preservation orders), and SOPA adjudications — being of the same "interim" character — are unlikely to be an exception. Drawing on the 2014 Kunshan Giant case, the 2016 Nanjing Gohl case, and the Qingdao Intermediate Court's application of SOPA's substantive rules, this article contrasts "recognition of a judgment" with "application of substantive law", and sets out practically feasible alternative paths.
Keywords: Singapore SOPA; Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act; adjudication; temporary finality; China–Singapore Memorandum; recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments; reciprocity
The full text of this article is available in Chinese.
Recognition & Enforcement of Foreign Judgments · Singapore SOPA