Dear Working Group members,
The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China would like to invite you to join the next joint Legal&Competition and Investment working group meeting. It will be held on Friday, 4 November 2016, 10:00 h – 12:00 h at the European Chamber Beijing office. Members in Shanghai will join this meeting via videoconference.
At this meeting, Ms. Mieke Vanderstraeten, Acting Head of the Trade Section at the Delegation of the European Union to China and Mongolia, will provide you with an update on the status of the amendment of the four foreign investment laws.
The four investment law were amended by the Decision of the Standing Committee of the NPC on Revising Four Laws, Including the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises (the “Decision”) of 1 October 2016. According to this Decision, certain foreign companies will no longer need to obtain a prior approval from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) for corporate matters in China, such as their establishment, change of business scope, etc., provided that special restriction measures shall not be implicated. Following the new system, the prior approval shall be replaced by a simple registration. This new system of registration became effective with the Interim Measures adopted by MOFCOM on 8 October 2016. On the same day, MOFCOM, together with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), specified that the special restriction measures which would prevent the application of the new system of registration, shall be referred to the catalogue of restricted and prohibited foreign investment industries, i.e. the Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries (Revised in 2015), i.e. the “Catalogue”. Therefore, if the scope of business of a foreign company does not fall into the Catalogue, MOFCOM approval will no longer be required and a record filing will be sufficient.
Ms. Vanderstraeten will explain the ongoing legislative reform in details and will reply to the members ‘questions on the topic.
Tentative Agenda:
10:00 – 11:00: Update on the status of the amendment of the four foreign investment laws by Ms. Mieke Vanderstraeten, Acting Head of the Trade Section at the Delegation of the European Union to China and Mongolia;
10:00 - 11:00: Q&A session.
As usual, we welcome your suggestions for agenda topics and possible speakers for this and future meetings.