On November 10, 2010, China’s State Council promulgated a regulation that updates registration and related rules for resident representative offices of foreign firms (the “Regulation”), which will become effective on March 1, 2011. Foreign firms include those based in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. The Regulation replaces the last set of registration rules, promulgated in 1983, to which representative offices were subject (the “Prior Regulation”). The Regulation supplemented the gaps of the Prior Regulation, but it changed a few substantive rules as well. The key updates are summarized below.Continue Reading China Updates Registration Rules for Representative Offices of Foreign Firms

Beginning December 1, 2010, foreign-invested enterprises, foreign enterprises, and foreign individuals are now required to pay the city maintenance and construction tax as well as the education surcharge, from which these entities and individuals were formerly exempt. Prior to this regulation, the PRC levied those taxes only on Chinese-owned and funded enterprises and Chinese citizens.Continue Reading China Ends an Era of Special Tax Treatments for Foreign Companies and Individuals

On October 28, 2010, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Application of Law for Foreign-related Civil Relationships” (the “Law”). It will become effective on April 1, 2011. Until now, China’s civil code had buried its choice-of-law provisions within the substantive laws, causing uncertainty and confusion. The Law established a clearer standard of what the applicable law is in foreign-related civil relationships. The most significant provisions of the Law are summarized below.Continue Reading New Law Integrates China’s Scattered Private International Law Rules For Foreign-Related Civil Relationships

On September 22, 2009, China made its last-minute appeal of the August 12, 2009 World Trade Organization ("WTO") panel ruling on Chinese publication and entertainment distributions restrictions, invoking "public morals" as a defense. The case was brought to the WTO by the United States in April 2007, attracting extensive attention from both sides. The appeal again escalates the trade tensions between the two partners, following the United States’ imposition of tariffs on tires from China and appeal of another WTO ruling on China’s protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.Continue Reading China Appeals WTO Ruling Against Chinese Import Restrictions on Publications and Entertainment Products