According to Article 16.2 of Commercial Arbitration Law, an arbitration agreement must be in written form in order to be valid and enforceable. “Written form” can be interpreted to include, among others, “reference to a document such as a contract, document, company charter or other similar documents which contains an arbitration agreement”. 

The express reference to “company charter” confirms that it is possible for a company charter to have an arbitration clause. In the context of a public joint stock company (JSC) with more than 100 shareholders, it is likely that not all shareholders sign the charter of such company. Therefore, a shareholder of a public JSC may object an arbitration clause contained in the charter of the public JSC on the basis that such shareholder did not sign the charter and therefore, there is no arbitration agreement in written form binding on such shareholder.

On the other hand, under Enterprise Law, it is already provided that the shareholders, and company officers of a public JSC are obliged to comply with the charter, even they do not sign the charter. Therefore, it is reasonable to say that the arbitration clause provided in the charter of a public JSC is enforceable against the persons referred to in the Enterprise Law but do not sign the charter. That being said, to prevent any objection of a shareholder who did not sign the charter of a public JSC, the charter should contain a clause expressly providing that the arbitration clause in charter will also cover persons who do not actually sign the charter.