In the News: New Negative List; FX Rules Upgrade; and Shareholders Litigation

MOFCOM to release shortened foreign investment negative list in H1

China's Ministry of Commerce is set to release a shorter negative list for foreign investment in the first half of this year. This was revealed by Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen at a recent press conference. Wang said the shorter negative list for foreign investment is aimed at expanding market access to foreign investors. China started revising its negative list for investment in April, a month after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced that China would revise and issue the list by the end of June at the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference in Hainan Province. Wang, who is also deputy International Trade Representative, said the ministry was collaborating with relevant departments to shorten the list to further open the investment environment to foreign firms. Additionally, Wang said the ministry is also considering optimizing existing rules so that complaints of foreign-invested firms could be timely and better handled.