Legal News

Article 12 of the “Anti-unfair Competition Law” stipulates three types of internet unfair competition behaviors, which are traffic hijacking, malicious interference and malicious incompatibility. In addition, it also has a catch-all provision. Article 21 and 22 of the “Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Anti-unfair Competition Law” furtherly prescribes the determination of traffic hijacking and malicious interference. However, with the development of online commercial behaviors, the above provisions could not solve the new problems. In view of this, the SAMR released the “Interim Provisions Against Unfair Competition in Cyberspace” on May 11,…

In 1985, China promulgated the “Regulations on Import and Export Duties”, which has undergone six revisions in nearly 40 years of implementation. In view that Article 11 of the “Legislation Law” stipulates that only laws can be formulated for the basic system of taxation, although the “Customs Law” stipulates duties, the specific duty rates and administrative management are mainly implemented in accordance with the “Regulations on Import and Export Duties”. In addition, with the development of market, especially the e-commerce, the original duties collection policy faces a huge challenge. Therefore, the 9th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th…

With the development of the internet economy, there have been some new changes in behaviors that infringe on consumer rights and interests. In the traditional consumption market, problems such as false advertising, unfair format clauses, and infringement of prepaid consumption, are prominent. In the online consumption market, problems such as price discrimination, big data fraud, excessive collection of consumer’s personal information, and online live sales fraud, are severe. Therefore, the “Implementing Regulation for the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests” (hereinafter referred to as the “Regulations”) have been issued and will…

On March 10, 2024, the State Council issued the “Decision of the State Council on Amending and Abolishing Some Administrative Regulations”, in which, the “Provisional Regulations on Enterprise Information Disclosure” (hereinafter referred to as the “New Regulations”) has been partially revised. The key changes are as follows: To add the investigation right The New Regulation adds Article 16, which stipulates that the market regulatory authority may exercise functions and powers when investigating into and punishing the acts that are suspected of violating the provisions of the regulation. The specific functions and powers include: (1) entering the business premises of an enterprise to…

The “Penalty Provisions for Fines for Work Safety Accidents (Trial)” (the “2015 version”) is published and implemented in July 2007, and revised in 2011 and 2015. Due to the revision of the “Law on Administrative Penalties” and the “Work Safety Law” in 2021, and the issuance of the “Opinions on Further Regulating the Formulation and Management of Administrative Discretionary Power Benchmarks” by the State Council in 2022, the Ministry of Emergency Management of the People’s Republic of China approved the “Penalty Provisions for Fines for Work Safety Accidents” (the “2023 version”) on December 25, 2023. Compared to the 2015 version,…

Since the “Company Law” is adopted on December 29, 1993, it has undergone multiple revisions. On December 29, 2023, the 7th meeting of the 14th National People’s Congress Standing Committee voted to pass the newly revised “Company Law” (hereinafter referred to as the “2024 Company Law”), which will come into effect on July 1, 2024. The 2024 Company Law has made significant adjustments compared to the current one in many aspects, such as the company capital system, shareholder’s contribution responsibility, protection of minority shareholder’s rights and interests, organizational structure, effectiveness of company resolutions, company registration and etc.. Article Title Key…

Following the revision of the “Patent Law” in 2020 and China’s application to join the “Hague Agreement on International Registration of Industrial Designs” of the World Intellectual Property Organization on February 5, 2022, in response to these changes, the State Council passed the revised draft of the “Implementing Regulations of the Patent Law” on December 11, 2023, which will be implemented from January 20, 2024. The key points of this revision include: To furtherly clarify the criteria for identifying circumstances where novelty factor shall not be affected. Article 24 of the “Patent Law” stipulates that, “Where an invention-creation for patent…

In recent years, the administrative function has gradually changed from pre-supervision to post-supervision in China. The administrative supervision regarding enterprise standardization is no exception. The “Measures for the Promotion of Enterprise Standardization” (hereinafter referred to as the “New Measures”) will come into force on 1 Jan. 2024, which will replace the “Administrative Measures on Enterprise Standardization”. The following is a brief introduction to the main contents of the “New Measures”. Q1: Whether an enterprise must formulate its enterprise standards? A1: It depends. According to Article 7 of the “New Measures”, if enterprise uses mandatory standards, recommended standards, without adding its…

Foreign personnel, foreign companies, and foreign-related businesses inevitably involve foreign public documents, such as identity certificates, subject qualification certificates, credit certificates, ownership certificates, etc. For a long time, any foreign public document which shall be submitted to the administrative or judicial departments in China, shall go through notarization and authentication procedures. Specifically, the document shall be notarized in the country where it is produced (hereinafter referred to as the “host country) , then be authenticated by the ministry of foreign affairs of the host country or the consulate assigned by the ministry of foreign affairs, and finally be authenticated by…

On August 29, 2023, the SAMR issued the “Implementing Measures for the Administrative Provisions on the Registration of Enterprise Names” (hereinafter referred to as the “New Measures”), which revised the 2004 version and will come into effect on October 1. The main reason for this revision is that the upper-level law ” Administrative Provisions on the Registration of Enterprise Names ” came into effect on March 1, 2021, which changed the legal approval system for enterprise names to the voluntarily declaration system for enterprise names, and changed the prior review to the post supervision. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust…