To meet its undertakings upon the entry into the WTO, China has promulgated the Regulation on Travel Agency (“Regulationsâ€), effective as from May 1, 2009, which also incorporates rules for setting up foreign invested travel agencies (“FITAâ€). Previous regulations issued by Ministry of Tourism (“MOTâ€) and Ministry of Commerce (“MOCâ€)…
Trial Measures for the Investment in and Establishment of Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Venture Enterprises and Sino-foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Enterprises by Domestic Natural Persons in Pudong New Area
Promulgating Institution: Shanghai Administration of Industry and Commerce; Shanghai Pudong New Area People’s Government
Document Number:…
For many years, when a foreign natural person or entity wants to set up a joint venture in China, he can only find a Chinese entity as partner instead of a Chinese natural person. It is not clear why China has maintained this rule for so many years while in practice there are easy ways of circumventing this restriction.
However, with the adoption of PRC Foreign Invested…
Frequently I was inquired by people working in a representative office (hereinafter “Rep Office”) of a foreign Company about labor & employment issues. Recently I have also represented a foreigner, a representative in a Rep Office of a foreign architecture firm, in a labor dispute. I feel it necessary to clarify some of the rules regarding…
China state council is considering revising the current Work Injury Insurance Regulation, according to news.
The major focus is on whether injury happening on the way to office or home should be regarded as work injury. Currently, it is provided in the regulation that injury caused by road accident involving motor vehicle (on the way to office or home) shall…
On November 19, 2010, China Cabinet, the State Council, promulgated a new piece of regulation, entitled “Regulation on the Administration of Registration of Representative Offices of Foreign Enterprisesâ€, overhauling and replacing the old rules that have been in operation as from March 15, 1983.
There are a number of notable changes in these new rules.…
In Shanghai, there are basically two ways of hiring an Ayi from market. (1) you find the Ayi by yourself or through a friend and you pay her directly and thus establish an employment relationship with the Ayi; (2) you hire the housekeeping/babysitting service from a company or firm in the market and the company sends their staff to your house but you pay the company…
China has promulgated a very important law governing foreign-related legal matters, entitled “Law of the People’s Republic of China on Choice of Law to Foreign-related Civil Relations”, set to be effective as from April 1, 2011.
This new law is organized into eight chapters:
Chapter 1 General provisions;
Chapter 2 Civil subjects;…
In China, a company (in this article we take the limited liability company, the LLC, for illustration), either domestic or foreign-invested, has to have its own registered capital in order to be recognized as a legal entity at law. As to the timing of capital injection, Chinese laws have treated domestic firms and foreign invested firms differently. To set …
An investment in China is often subject to regulation of more than one level of the governments. However, it is very often confusing to a foreigner to understand the political divisions through reading some scattered information in that regard. I will try to make my introduction accurate and comprehensive to help you understand this issue.
Bear in mind before…
1. the Catalogue of Industries for Guiding Foreign Investment in China
China has put in place for long a Catalogue of Industries for Guiding Foreign Investment in China (the “Catalogueâ€) which may from time to time be amended to reflect economic changes in reality. In this Catalogue, industries are basically classified into four types: encouraged, restricted,…
Though there is plenty of moaning and groaning in the real estate market in China, due to the central government’s tight monetary policy, it seems the tether is going to be further tightened. In a new effort stepped up by the central tax ministry, a new circular was issued on April 7, 2008 regarding the prepayment of income tax by property developers.
The new …
Recently this year saw a string of shifts in tax policies that affect businesses in China, in particular, foreign invested enterprises.
â… City and Township Land Use Tax
At the end of the year of 2006, the state cabinet revised the Interim Regulation of the People’s Republic of China on the City and Township Land Use Tax and the revised version came into force…
Representative Office’s Taxation Issues in China
Written by Yang, Shujuan
The most direct way to indulge into the China market is to set up local presence. Various forms of foreign investment vehicles are available for different business objectives and operations, including, among other things, equity joint ventures, cooperative joint ventures , or…
The national levy of the property tax has been in rumor for years and actually it has been imposed as pilot projects in some cities across China.
Today, a piece of news from Anbound (www.anbound.com.cn) newsletter titled “property tax possible to be imposed on commercial real estates next near†seems to make the property tax loom large. The dean of the real…
1. Provision in the law
On October 1, 2007, the Property Law of China comes into effect, a landmark event in China’s legislation history and in the cause of establishing rule of law in China.
Among those shining points in this new law, I single out and introduce the pre-registration system for your reference.
Article 20 of the Property Law provides:
“the parties…
Notarization Law of the People’s Republic of China
（Adopted at the 17th Session of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People’s Congress on August 28, 2005）
Chapter I General Provisions
　　Article 1 This Law has been enacted for the purposes of regulating notarization activities, ensuring that the notarization institutions…
Recently one of our clients complained to us that the real estate exchange center (an authority in charge of real estate registration, “Exchange Centreâ€) refused to accept their lender-approved lease contract designed for their service apartment project simply because their lease had not adopted the Shanghai model lease contract form. Without such…
1. types of land
According to the Land Law of the People’s Republic of China, effective as from January 1, 1999 (the “1999 Land Lawâ€), land in China is basically categorized into three kinds, namely, agricultural land, construction land and unutilized land. The agriculture land refers to those directly used for agricultural production, including …
On December 29, 2007, the China’s parliament, the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, has just enacted an amendment to the Individual Income Tax Law, raising the threshold of the amount of taxable income from RMB 1,600 to RMB 2,000, a move aimed to alleviate the embarrassment of the pockets of the low income earners against the backdrop…