Meeting with Shanghai People's Congress Vice Chairman Sha Hailin
2019-08-05 | Shanghai
On 5th August, Ioana Kraft, general manager of the European Chamber Shanghai Chapter received Hailin Sha, vice chair of the Shanghai People’s Congress and the newly appointed president of the Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.
Dr. Kraft congratulated Mr Sha on his new appointment and expressed gratitude for the opportunity to refresh the friendship between the Chamber and the association. Dr. Kraft also discussed the situation for foreign businesses in China, touching upon some of the key findings in the European Chamber’s Business Confidence Survey 2019.
Dr. Kraft then presented the Chamber’s stance on the Foreign Investment Law (FIL); that despite the stated good intentions of treating both foreign and domestic companies equally, the FIL itself upholds a fundamental distinction between domestic and foreign enterprises. The European Chamber had recommended that there should be one law applicable to all companies in China. Now that the law is passed, however, implementation is key. Consultation is key and draft implementing rules should be issued for consultation. Mr Sha in return said that as the implementation rules will be promulgated in the second half of this year, local and central People’s Congress are conducting a revision of all the regulations relevant to investment.
Mr Sha stressed that Shanghai will continue to open up despite the ongoing US-China trade dispute, and will prioritise the improvement of the business environment and seek to construct a transparent and predictable legal framework.