Features & Analyses

CEPA opens new doors to Hong Kong companies seeking access to mainland markets. The big winners are Hong Kong transportation and logistics companies.

Chinese maritime law and legal practice are gradually coming into conformity with international practice. However one key area that remains unclear is the legal status of the straight bill of lading.

Most analyses of China's WTO commitments haven't shed much light on how the challenge of implementing the sweeping reforms necessary will be accomplished. Nor, the author argues, do they address the fundamental issue of whether PRC government structure is even up to the task.

As foreign investment into China keeps growing, one of the most pressing concerns for the shareholders in a China investment is how to recover and/or realize the company's assets in China when the principal entity is placed in liquidation overseas. How do the creditors and liquidators proceed in such a case?

Although the government hasn't yet issued an overarching antitrust law, there are numerous regulations governing monopolies, price fixing and unfair commercial practices. The latest is a new anti-price monopoly law issued by the State Development Reform Commission.

Hong Kong signed the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement with the mainland in June. What kind of "arrangement" does CEPA call for? And what will change with the new opportunities?

New SPC rules on disputes over futures trading focus on the primacy of contractual issues, and form a counterpoint to legislation that traditionally has focused on regulating the futures industry at the macro-level.

Understanding tax assessment is among the most important issues for foreign-invested companies working in China. The state tax bureau has recently revamped the rules for the tax liability of foreign companies' representative offices in China.

The authorities are playing a game of catch-up with China's booming real estate sector, and have issued regulations recently that attempt to rein in speculative lending for real estate projects.