International law experts and practioners over the weekend met in Shanghai to discuss the Belt and Road Initiative, and called for the better application of international legal procedures.

More than 40 legal experts from the United States, Britain, Japan, Germany, Singapore and China discussed the need to standardize and improve the ascertainment procedure of foreign laws.

In international commercial disputes, the application of foreign laws is not rare, said Judge Yang Xingye of the Supreme People's Court of China.

Therefore, ascertainment -- the accurate investigation, interpretation and application of foreign laws in international disputes -- is the corner stone of correct and enforceable judgment, he added.

"The great variety of legal systems, traditions and cultures of the Belt and Road [countries] needs a just and efficient system of ascertainment of foreign laws," said Yang.

According to a report commissioned by the Supreme Court's Center for Judicial Studies on the Belt and Road initiative, six different models have been adopted in the ascertaining process. While, it is argued that a unified-combined model is needed in Chinese legal practice.

A legal dispute between a Chinese racecourse developer and the UAE owner led to complex procedures and a 90-page arbitral award, almost nine times the length of a regular one, said Huang Wen, deputy secretary-general of Shanghai International Arbitration Center.

Anselmo Reyes, a Singapore International Commercial Court Judge, suggested that legislators paid close attention to both the due process and convenience issues in the procedures. Endi

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