Legislation roundup: Pharma and industry pricing and bank card access

Pricing

Department of Price of the National Development and Reform Commission, Central Pricing Catalogue (Draft for Comments)
国家发展改革委价格司中央定价目录 (征求意见稿)

The Draft reduces specific pricing items to 25, representing a reduction of approximately 80% as compared to the 2001 edition. The Draft retains only seven types of items, including natural gas, water supply, electricity, special pharmaceuticals and plasma, important transport services, important postal services and important specialised services.

See the digest for more details.

National Development and Reform Commission and Six Other Departments, Opinions on Promoting Pharmaceutical Price Reform
国家发展和改革委员会等七部委推进药品价格改革的意见

Commencing from June 1 2015, pharmaceutical prices originally set by the government will be abolished, except those for narcotics and Class I psychotropic pharmaceuticals.

See the digest for more details.

Further reading
PRC Pricing Law
PRC Law on the Administration of Pharmaceuticals (2nd Revision)
Pharma firms deal with clinical trial complexity
Avoiding the pharma blacklist


Banking

State Council, Decision on Exercising Administration over Access by Bank Card Settlement Institutions
国务院关于实施银行卡清算机构准入管理的决定

The Decision completely liberalises the bank card settlement market, allowing access to both domestic and foreign investment. Overseas institutions that wish to provide bank card settlement services are required to establish foreign-invested enterprises.

Further reading
PRC Wholly Foreign-owned Enterprise Law (Revised)
PRC Sino-foreign Equity Joint Venture Law (2nd Revision)
PRC Sino-Foreign Co-operative Joint Venture Law (Revised)