The Shanghai Commercial Mediation Center (hereinafter referred to as “SCMC") is a third-party commercial mediation institution established on January 8th, 2011, with the approval of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce and the Shanghai Administration Bureau of Non-Governmental Organizations. The SCMC is the first institution in China specializing in commercial dispute mediation and is the one and only NGO designated by the International Commercial Court of the Supreme People's Court focusing on commercial mediation as the "one-stop" platform for the alternative resolution of international commercial disputes. Being the strategic cooperation partner exclusively in China with Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services (JAMS), the world's largest dispute resolution agency, the SCMC is also an important partner with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center, Singapore Mediation Centre (SMC) and Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR).In 2020, the SCMC, together with EUIPO and JAMS, the SCMC established the Sino-European and Sino-US Co-Mediation Mechanism for international commence.

The SCMC has been awarded as the "Functional Organization for International Trade" by the Shanghai Pudong New Area government, the "Shanghai Brand Social Organization"; "Top Ten Public Welfare Organizations" and "AAAAA Social Organization" (the first AAAAA commercial mediation organization in China) by the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.In January 2022, the SCMC was awarded the National Advanced Social Organization and the Ministry of Justice's "Benchmarking Institution for Foreign-related Legal Services", and was regarded as "China's iconic and influential commercial mediation institution".

     The SCMC assists domestic enterprises as well as foreign enterprises and organizations in dispute resolution in such areas as trade, investment, finance, securities, intellectual property rights, technology transfer, real estate, project contracting, transportation, insurance, and disputes in commercial, maritime, or other areas. The SCMC also provides concerned consultations and specialized training services in the areas mentioned above.The SCMC currently has 94 registered mediators, including 7 foreign mediators. These mediators include renowned scholars, retired judges, senior lawyers, corporate legal directors and other industry experts, all of whom have many years of experience in international and domestic commercial legal practice, with profound professional backgrounds, rich practical experience and excellent professional ethics.The mediators have received specialized training in mediation skills. Based on the principles of fairness, impartiality, confidentiality and reasonableness, they encourage the parties to understand and compromise so as to reach a final settlement via mediation in accordance with the laws, regulations and with reference to international practice. This approach is intended to safeguard and develop the sustainable relationship between the parties and their long-term common interests.

     The SCMC has established six professional committees based on business needs: Intellectual Property, Maritime, Real Estate, Energy and Environmental Protection, Finance, and International Trade. The SCMC has also established a joint international commercial mediation court composed entirely of foreign professionals to handle international commercial disputes more quickly and efficiently in line with the resolution of commercial disputes in the Shanghai FTZ.

     As the only commercial mediation organization in China that interfaces with four levels of courts, the SCMC actively serves the national strategy and has established a diversified dispute resolution mechanism with a number of courts in the Yangtze River Delta to safeguard the construction of the business environment in the region and to serve the requirements of  higher-standard opening-up.The SCMC has achieved the multiple channels of “mediation+arbitration”, “mediation+notarization” and “mediation+arbitration” to ensure the effectiveness of the settlement agreement.