Legal News

The fundamental law for the e-commerce industry —- “E-Commerce Law” has been issued on 31st Aug., 2018, and will come into fore on 1st Jan., 2019. The promulgation of this law has prescribed many regulations on the obligations and liabilities of the e-commerce operator, and other aspects, which might impact the parties who are involved in e-commerce transactions. “E-Commerce Law” is divided into 7 chapters and 89 articles, including the definition and obligations of e-commerce operators, the formation and implementation of e-commerce contracts, the dispute resolution and so on. In practice, the disputes between consumers and e-commerce operators are very…

Since the implementation of “General Provisions of Civil Law” on October 1, 2017, the difference on the Extinctive Prescription Rules between this law and “General Principles of Civil Law” has not been solved. Recently, the Supreme People’s Court issued the “Interpretation”, and clarified several rules. The details are as follows: 1.The two-year or one year prescriptive period has been abolished. Where the prescriptive period begins after “General Provisions of the Civil Law” come into force, the provision of Article 188 of “General Provisions of the Civil Law” on a three-year prescriptive period shall apply. A party’s claim for the application…

On 5th July, 2018, Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court issued the first “White Paper on Trials of Cases with the Non-competition Restrictive Covenant Disputes” (hereinafter referred to as the “White Paper”). The “White Paper” has selected 5 typical cases, and put forward the judicial judgement standards in dealing with the relevant disputes from 5 aspects, which has a certain guiding significance for the practical operation. 1．Where an employee is obliged to the non-competition restrictive covenant, shall not be employed by another employer which engages in production or business in the same type of products or provision of the same type…

The CPC and the State Council have jointly released the “Opinions” on 24th June 2018. The “Opinions” has mentioned the comprehensive objectives of the environmental governance, the guidance on the industry administration, the plan on the governance of atmosphere and water, and so on. For enterprises, the industry administration, the encouraging trends, and the supervision methods are worthy of attention. 1.Industry administration and the encouraging trends On the industry administration, the “Opinions” proposes to adjust the industrial layout, scale and structure of those industries which are not in line with the ecological function arrangement, which include: (1)To centralized rectify the…

Although the “Civil Procedure Law” has prescribed specifically on the time limit for trial and the time for hearing, in the judicial practice, for many cases, the time limit for trail was extended, and the time for trial was postponed, which brought unfavorable effects to the plaintiff or defendant. In order to prevent such bad practice, Fa Shi [2018] No.9 was released on 23 April, 2018. The following points are recommended to be focus. 1.To set a review and approval period on the application for extending time limit for trial The “Civil Procedure Law” prescribes if an extension of the…

It is difficult to obtain the real estate registration materials in practice. In some cities, such materials could only be provided to public security organs, procuratorial organs or people’s courts; to the parties in a lawsuit; or to the lawyers who have been assigned by the parties in a lawsuit. Because of those differences, it might difficult for the creditor to get back the debt, especially for those lawsuits which involve different provinces. Recently, the Ministry of Land and Resources issued the” Interim Measures for the Consultation of Real Estate Registration Materials” (the “Measures”), which prescribed the practical rules for…

Since the “Environmental Protection Law” has been revised and implemented in early 2015, the Chinese government has released several relevant supporting laws and regulations. For the pollutant emission permitting administration, the General Office of the State Council has released the “Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Issuing the Implementation Plan for the Permit System for Controlling Pollutants Emission” in Nov. 2016, and 1 month later, the MEP released the “Interim Provisions on the Administration of Pollutant Emission Permits” (“Interim Provisions”). In order to strengthen the administration on pollutant emission permitting, just 1 year after the “Interim…

In 2006, MPS has issued “Several Provisions on the Public Security Organs’ Handling of Cases Involving Economic Crimes” (the “Original Provisions”), which was the main guidance on the jurisdiction, filing and withdrawing a case, compulsory measures, cooperation in case handling and so on. However, with the development of internet, new-type economic crimes became more and more, such as the cross-regional, cross-sectoral, and group crimes, in addition, the cooperation between public security organs and procuratorates shall be improved. In Nov. 2017, MPS and SPP jointly issued the “New Provisions”. Here are some highlights related to business operations. 1. In the general…

After the transition years, from 19th Nov. 2017, China repeal Business Tax. Despite to expand the scope of VAT, the Amendment has several aspects shall be highlighted. 1. To adjust the scope of taxpayers The “Amendment” has added entities and individuals that sell services, intangible assets, or immovables shall be deemed as taxpayers. 2. To adjust some VAT rate (1) To extend the scope for applying 17% tax rate, such as a taxpayer selling labor services, or tangible moveable property leasing service (except some specific properties and services). (2) To change the 13% tax rate into 11%. The applicable objects…

In recent years, Chinese government has gradually strengthened the management of market competition. From the perspective of the legislation，after 3 times discussion, the 2nd draft of the amendment to the “Anti-unfair Competition Law” has been approved finally; “Opinions of the State Council on Establishing a Fair Competition Review System During the Development of Market-oriented Systems” was promulgated in 2016, all these series of legislation action are the signals. From the perspective of enforcement, the punishments on many giant companies are the signals too. In order to weaken the improper intervention of the authorities, NDRC and other 5 departments have joint…