What is Included in the Concept of Online Arbitration in China?

The article provides an overview of new forms of dispute resolution – online arbitration on the example of China. Chinese scientists divide online arbitration into two categories: mandatory online arbitration and optional online arbitration. It is proved that optional online arbitration in China, which is currently conducted by private e-commerce platforms (“Taobao ODR”, “Tmall ODR”, “Jingdong ODR”, “Gome ODR”, etc.) and providing crowdsourcing dispute resolution services, can be considered as a fullfledged online arbitration. The only difference between mandatory and optional online arbitration is that the decisions of the latter cannot be enforced through a state court. But e-commerce platforms in China have effective incentives to force the losing party to enforce the arbitration award.