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  • Erex Chen
    Erex Chen
    The company name is only visible to registered members.
    Departure Prohibition Order in China’s Civil Litigation
    What is Departure Prohibition Order?

    Departure Prohibition Order (“DPO”) is a court order issued to stop a debtor involved in the litigation from leaving China until such time as a debt is paid in full or suitable arrangements for payment of the debt are made. The DPO is particularly important to the winning party if the debtor has no asset/property in China while he may possibly own property outside of China. In some other cases, if the debtor is an expat, a DPO can make such debtor settle the case immediately.

    Preconditions for the issuance of the DPO

    Basically the DPO is applied by the applicant (in most cases, the applicant is the plaintiff) in the litigation. The applicant’s ability to exercise this right depends upon the existence of certain preconditions. These are:

    a) The debtor may have a liability in a pending lawsuit;
    b) The debtor has no property within the territory of China or the property is obviously insufficient so that the court decree may not be enforced successfully;
    c) An application has been filed and guarantee fee is paid to the court.

    Procedure for issuing the DPO

    1. Application

    The applicant may apply for the DPO with a written application letter and submit to the court. A detailed info about the debt, including the ID number/passport number), shall be included. If the debtor is a company, the company’s legal representative, directors, GM, etc can be the persons the DPO applies to.

    2. Guarantee provided by the applicant

    The DPO is in favor of the applicant. However, if the DPO is improperly imposed on the debtor, the debtor may suffer loss. Therefore, the court may request guarantee from the applicant before the DPO is issued.

    3. Approval by the court

    Upon receipt of the application for the DPO, the court may examine the application and make the decision if the DPO shall be issued. In deciding whether to issue a DPO, the court may take a number of factors into account including whether:

    (i) there is a civil liability and whether it can be recovered;
    (ii) known assets are sufficient to pay the debt;
    (iii) the debtor is trying to transfer the property oversea or has already transferred the property;
    (iv) the debtor has significant business interest in China;
    (v) the debtor hold a China/foreign passport;
    (vi) the debtor has given an indication of likely oversea travel;
    (vii) the debtor’s family situation;
    (viii) other factors the court may consider.

    4. Enforcement

    Once a DPO is issued, the court can adopt the following measures to enforce the DOP:

    a) to notify the debtor in written or orally that he is not allowed to leave China before the case is settled;
    b) to detain the debtor’s passport;
    c) to inform the entry and exit bureau of the DPO and the bureau will put the info into the system and prevent the debtor from leaving China.
    • 13 Sep 2010, 09:18 am