The court is the cheap part. Suing a Chinese company for RMB 1,000,000 costs RMB 13,800 in court acceptance fees — a little over 1% of the claim — and the losing party generally bears it. What foreign creditors underestimate is everything around it: legal fees, translation, authenticating documents executed abroad, and the months of management time. This is the full picture, including the point at which the honest answer is not to sue.
- Court acceptance fees are fixed by regulation on a sliding scale against the amount claimed — roughly RMB 2,300 on a RMB 100,000 claim, RMB 13,800 on RMB 1m, RMB 81,800 on RMB 10m.
- The fee is halved where the case is heard under the simplified procedure, withdrawn, or closed by court-facilitated settlement.
- The loser generally pays the court fee — but each side normally bears its own legal fees unless your contract shifts them. That clause is worth real money.
- The preservation application fee is capped at RMB 5,000 however large the freeze — the best-value step in the process.
- Contingency fees are permitted for commercial claims but capped at 30% of the contract value, and prohibited outright for certain categories.
- The real cost driver is not the court. It is evidence quality, document authentication, and whether the debtor still has assets — assess that before spending anything.
1. The court acceptance fee
Filing fees in China are not at the court's discretion. The Measures on the Payment of Litigation Costs set a single national sliding scale, applied in bands to the amount in dispute — each slice of the claim is charged at its own rate, so the effective percentage falls as the claim rises.
| Slice of the amount claimed | Rate on that slice |
|---|---|
| Up to RMB 10,000 | RMB 50 flat |
| 10,000 – 100,000 | 2.5% |
| 100,000 – 200,000 | 2% |
| 200,000 – 500,000 | 1.5% |
| 500,000 – 1,000,000 | 1% |
| 1,000,000 – 2,000,000 | 0.9% |
| 2,000,000 – 5,000,000 | 0.8% |
| 5,000,000 – 10,000,000 | 0.7% |
| 10,000,000 – 20,000,000 | 0.6% |
| Above 20,000,000 | 0.5% |
Worked through, that gives the figures a foreign creditor actually needs:
| Claim | Acceptance fee | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| RMB 100,000 | RMB 2,300 | 2.3% |
| RMB 500,000 | RMB 8,800 | 1.8% |
| RMB 1,000,000 | RMB 13,800 | 1.4% |
| RMB 5,000,000 | RMB 46,800 | 0.9% |
| RMB 10,000,000 | RMB 81,800 | 0.8% |
The claimant advances the fee on filing. The court then allocates it in the judgment, and it normally follows the event — the losing party bears it. Where you win in part, it is usually apportioned.
2. When the fee is halved
Three situations reduce the acceptance fee by 50%, and two of them are within your control:
- Simplified procedure. Straightforward, lower-value cases heard by a single judge attract half the fee. Note that a case in which the defendant's whereabouts are unknown at filing cannot use it.
- Withdrawal. If the debtor pays and you discontinue, half the fee is returned.
- Court-facilitated settlement. A case closed by mediation before the court also attracts half — one of several reasons settlement is usually the better economic outcome, quite apart from speed.
3. Asset preservation: the capped fee that does the heavy lifting
Applying to freeze the debtor's assets carries its own fee, calculated on the value actually preserved — but with a hard ceiling. The application fee is capped at RMB 5,000 no matter how large the sum frozen. On a multi-million claim that is the single best-value step available.
The cost that is easy to miss is the security. Chinese courts require an applicant to secure the respondent against the loss a wrongful freeze would cause. Posting that in cash ties up capital; in practice it is now commonly handled through a preservation liability insurance policy, whose premium is a small percentage of the amount preserved. For a foreign claimant that difference often decides whether preservation is practical at all — the mechanics are in freezing a Chinese company's assets before you win.
4. What the court's table does not cover
The regulated fees are a minority of the real bill. Budget for:
- Legal fees. Not regulated for commercial matters — they are set by the market and agreed in your engagement letter. Foreign clients are generally comfortable with hourly billing; fixed fees for defined stages (assessment, demand letter, preservation application) are also common.
- Translation. Every foreign-language document filed needs a Chinese translation. On a contract-heavy file this is a real line item, not a rounding error.
- Notarisation and authentication of documents executed abroad — your power of attorney, certificate of incorporation, evidence of authority. Since 7 November 2023 China is a party to the Apostille Convention, so for member states a single apostille replaces the old two-step consular legalisation. That change saves weeks and meaningful cost; for non-member states, consular legalisation still applies.
- Appeals. An appeal attracts an acceptance fee on the same scale as first instance.
- Enforcement. An enforcement application carries its own fee on a separate sliding scale — and it is ultimately borne by the party subject to enforcement, not by you.
- Time. Foreign-related cases are not subject to the statutory trial time limits that bind domestic cases, though courts generally still aim to close a first-instance case within about six months. Service abroad and document authentication add to that.
5. Who pays whose lawyer
This is where expectations imported from England or the United States go wrong. In China, court fees follow the event, but legal fees generally do not — each side normally bears its own, unless a statute provides otherwise or your contract says the defaulting party pays the other's reasonable legal costs.
Where such a clause exists, Chinese courts will commonly award legal fees, though they may assess what is reasonable rather than rubber-stamp the invoice. The practical lesson is not about this case but the next contract: a costs clause, and a clause fixing the language and forum, are worth more than most of the commercial terms people negotiate hardest.
6. "No win, no fee" — what is actually permitted
Foreign creditors arriving from the collection-agency market often expect a pure contingency arrangement. Chinese rules are narrower than that. Risk-based fee arrangements are permitted for ordinary commercial claims, but capped at 30% of the amount agreed in the engagement, and they are prohibited outright for certain categories of case. Separately — and importantly for how you read competing offers — a lawyer may not promise a result, and published "recovery rates" or "success rates" are not something a compliant firm advertises.
So a Chinese law firm quoting you a guaranteed recovery percentage is telling you something about its compliance posture, not about your prospects.
7. The question that actually matters: is it worth it?
Cost is rarely the reason not to sue in China; collectability is. Three checks, in order, before you spend anything:
- Does the debtor still have assets? Check the public record for existing judgments, ongoing enforcement, and whether they are already on the dishonest judgment debtor list. Twelve unsatisfied judgments means you are joining a queue for an empty account.
- Is the evidence there? A chopped contract, matching invoices, delivery records and a written acknowledgment make a strong file. A verbal variation, an unchopped purchase order and a WeChat thread in three languages make a weak one — winnable, but more expensive to win.
- Is the amount worth the process? Court fees are modest, but legal costs, translation, authentication and your own management time are not. Below a certain figure the honest advice is to negotiate a discount, set the debt off against future orders, or write it off and fix the contract — and any lawyer worth instructing will say so at the assessment stage rather than after the retainer.
The practical sequence — and the steps to take in the first 72 hours, which cost nothing — is on our China debt recovery page, with the full recovery route in a Chinese customer won't pay.
Frequently asked questions
It is set by regulation on a sliding scale against the amount claimed: about RMB 2,300 on a RMB 100,000 claim, RMB 8,800 on RMB 500,000, RMB 13,800 on RMB 1,000,000, and RMB 81,800 on RMB 10,000,000. The claimant advances it on filing and the losing party generally bears it in the judgment.
Court fees generally follow the event, but legal fees usually do not — each side normally bears its own unless a statute provides otherwise or your contract states that the defaulting party pays the other side's reasonable legal costs. Where such a clause exists, Chinese courts commonly award fees, though they may assess what is reasonable.
Partly. If you withdraw the case, half the acceptance fee is returned; a case closed by court-facilitated settlement also attracts half the fee. That is one of several reasons an early settlement is usually the better economic outcome.
The preservation application fee is calculated on the value preserved but capped at RMB 5,000 however large the freeze. The larger cost is the security you must provide against a wrongful freeze — in practice often arranged through a preservation liability insurance policy rather than posted in cash.
Risk-based arrangements are permitted for ordinary commercial claims but are capped at 30% of the amount agreed in the engagement, and are prohibited for certain categories of case. A lawyer may not promise a result, and compliant firms do not advertise recovery or success rates.
Foreign-related cases are not subject to the statutory trial time limits that apply to domestic cases, though in practice courts generally still aim to close a first-instance case within about six months. Service on a foreign party, translation and authentication of documents executed abroad add to that; enforcement is a further stage.
Sources
- DLA Piper Global Litigation Guide — China: costs — acceptance fees calculated by reference to the sum in dispute; RMB 13,800 on a RMB 1m claim.
- China Legal Experts — court fees in China — the sliding-scale structure for property claims.
- DLA Piper — China: pre-judgment attachments and freezing orders — the security requirement for preservation.
- Covington — the amended Civil Procedure Law and foreign-related litigation (in force 1 January 2024).
- Internal: a Chinese customer won't pay · freezing assets before you win · China debt recovery.
This article is general information for foreign companies, not legal advice on any specific matter. Rules and practice change; please take advice on your facts.