On November 5, 2008, the PRC State Council passed The Provisional Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Value-Added Tax, extending VAT reforms to all industries nationwide from January 1, 2009.
Stephen Nelson, Partner, Taxation & Alice Zhang, Legal Assistant
There has been a great deal of media coverage in China in the past weeks regarding the impact of Microsoft’s making available its Windows Genuine Advantage (hereafter, “WGA”) to users with Chinese language versions of Windows operating systems. For users going to Microsoft for many of its software updates (excluding some security updates), a validation is required where WGA would notify the user if unlicensed Microsoft Windows software was found on the user’s computer. Microsoft contends that WGA has been made available to warn users of the presence of unlicensed software and to give them the opportunity to purchase licensed software which would then allow them to have the benefits associated with said software, such as product support and ongoing software updates.
Shi Yusheng, Partner, IP Litigation
Mr. Shi Yusheng has also discussed this issue recently on CCTV – 9’s Dialogue
Under the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), “developed country Parties should provide new and additional financial resources to support the transfer of technology and take all practical steps to promote, facilitate and finance the transfer of, or access to, environmentally sound technologies and know how to developing country Parties.” However, a UNFCCC report revealed that a large portion of developing nations do not take advantage of CDM projects to import technology.
As long as technology transfer from developed countries is a convenient low-cost means for China to reduce GHG emissions, why doesn’t China have more CDM projects that involve technology transfer? [continue reading to see our analysis]
Wang Rui, Partner, International Trade
Continue Reading Clean Development Mechanism: Untapped Potential
The Hong Kong Government has decided to introduce a cross-sector competition law during the 2008-09 legislative session. The Government has published a draft framework for the competition law and is currently seeking public comments on this draft.
The introduction of a competition law is a significant step for an economy to take. Not all competition laws are the same and the most important thing is that the law is designed well to suit the Hong Kong economy.
Continue Reading Hong Kong’s Proposed Competition Ordinance: Unsettled Issues of Design