How Long Do You Have to Sue a Chinese Supplier? The Four-Year Rule

Most people who look up the time limit for a lawsuit in China find three years. For a dispute over an international sale of goods, the period is four (Civil Code art. 594). The extra year matters most to buyers who have waited longest. Usually they spent a year or two being promised a refund.

The four years also do not run in one straight line. Under Chinese law, a demand that the other side perform interrupts the period. The count then starts again from that point (Civil Code art. 195). In practice, the questions are what counts as a demand, and whether you can prove it. Two recent judgments answer that from opposite sides of the trade. Time is one of the four points I look at before filing a case against a Chinese supplier.

Urumqi, 2025: text messages and a letter from a foreign ministry

A seller from Uzbekistan supplied goods to a company in Xinjiang. In January 2019, the buyer's legal representative (the person registered to act for the company) signed a personal IOU. It promised to pay by early February. The legal representative then said on the phone that the balance would be paid within two months. It was not.

The seller did not sue until 2024. The buyer said the claim was out of time.

The Urumqi Intermediate People's Court disagreed. The dispute came from an international sale, so the period was four years. Between 2018 and November 2023, the seller had sent text messages again and again asking for payment. They went to the mobile number registered to the buying company. The seller also produced two letters from Uzbekistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from 2022 and 2023. They showed the seller had asked the Uzbek government for legal help in China. They also showed the request had been passed to the Uzbek embassy in Beijing. The court accepted the letters as relevant, since nothing showed the seller had any other dispute in China. Each demand came within four years of the last one. Each one interrupted the period. So the claim was in time. The Urumqi court upheld the judgment of the Xinshi District People's Court. That court had ordered the company to pay the unpaid USD 46,000 with interest.

Two other points in the judgment are worth knowing:

• The legal representative became personally liable. They signed the IOU in their own name, with a personal promise to pay. The court treated that as joining the debt. It held the legal representative jointly liable with the company.
• The actual deliveries decided the price. The buyer said the claim was more than the written contract. The court relied on the IOU and recordings. It noted that the buyer had already paid more than the contract figure. It ordered payment of the balance in US dollars. Interest was worked out under the SPC's rule for foreign-currency debts.

Zhongshan, 2024: one demand, four years less two days

In the second case, the seller in an international sale had asked for payment on 18 November 2019. It sued on 16 November 2023. The buyer argued limitation, meaning the time limit to sue had run out.

The Zhongshan No. 1 People's Court applied the four-year period. It held that the 2019 demand had started the count again. The claim was filed with two days to spare. The court then accepted the seller's platform chat records and customs declaration data as proof of the unpaid amount. The buyer denied the figure. It offered no evidence against it.

What an overseas buyer should take from this

Both claimants here were sellers. The rules are the same when you are the buyer asking for a refund or damages.

Count four years if the contract is an international sale. That covers most buyers who import from a Chinese factory. A purely domestic purchase through a Chinese trading company may fall under the three-year rule. Check which one applies to your contract.

Every written demand matters. The Uzbek seller won the argument over the time limit. Its messages went, year after year, to a number the court could link to the company. A demand that nobody can prove was sent does nothing.

Send demands where the court will accept them. Say you message the personal WeChat account of a salesperson who has since left. That may be hard to link to the company. Use the company's registered contact details, a company email address or a formal letter. Keep proof of delivery.

An acknowledgement from the other side restarts the clock too. A supplier may agree in writing to pay, or offer to pay in instalments. If so, it has done you a favour. Keep it.

Two days is not a margin. The Zhongshan claimant got in just in time. If a deadline is close, file first and negotiate afterwards.

A demand log worth keeping

Part of my guide to supplier disputes in China.

Buying from the Gulf? See China legal work for Gulf buyers.

Has a supplier dispute been drifting for more than a year? Send a short summary and the company names. Once I've checked that I don't act for the other side, I'll ask for the contract and your emails and messages. I will tell you where the limitation period stands. Discuss your supplier dispute →