By Yang Hua King & Wood Mallesons’ IP Group

C杨华hina Trademark Office (CTMO) announced on its official website on Thursday, March 24, that it is introducing some new practical measures in order to provide more efficient and convenient services for the brand owners in their trademark application procedures. It is the first time in recent years that CTMO makes efforts to take such convenient-for-applicant measures to meet the needs of brand owners and trademark agencies. We may expect some improvements especially in the office actions concerning amendment of goods/services and acceleration of the administrative process for some after-registration services (such as trademark assignment) in urgent need.

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作者：杨华 金杜律师事务所知识产权部

近untitled日中国商标局公开发布七项新措施为商标申请人提供更加高效便捷的注册申请服务，这也是近年来官方首次公开推出一系列便民措施以回应商标权利人和代理机构的呼声，其中在细化补正通知书、开通部分业务加速审查通道等方面尤为引人注目。这些措施包括。

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By Susan Ning, Cheng Liu, and Hazel Yin King & Wood Mallesons’ Commercial & Regulatory Group

Ountitlednuntitled Muntitledarch 23, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) published the draft Antitrust Guidelines for the Auto Industry (“Draft Guidelines”), and invited public comments by April 12, 2016. NDRC is entrusted by the State Council Antimonopoly Commission to take the lead in drafting these Draft Guidelines. Before this draft on March 23, it had circulated several versions among a smaller group and received comments from major market players, industry associations, consumer associations, academic experts and legal practitioners. Continue Reading NDRC Invites Comments on Draft Antitrust Guidelines for Automotive Industry

作者：叶永青 赵文祥 金杜律师事务所商务合规部

2ye_bill016年3月24日，财政部的网站上落下了营改增的“第二只靴子”，财政部和国税总局联合发布了财税[2016]36号文，明确了营改增最后一战的具体方案，这意味着营业税即将退出历史舞台，增值税将彻底取代营业税，成为唯一的普遍流转税，包括此前仍征收营业税的特定收入（例如佣金）也将改为增值税。

五月一日起，“营改增”将全面扩围。试点范围会扩大到建筑业、房地产业、金融业和生活服务业，并将所有企业新增不动产所含增值税纳入抵扣范围。其中，建筑业和房地产业适用11%的税率，金融业和生活服务业适用6%的税率。

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By Susan Ning, Cheng Liu, Weiqing Qiu and Yun Bi King & Wood Mallesons’ Commercial & Regulatory Group

Ountitledn untitledOctober 12, 2015, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Several Opinions on Promoting the Price Mechanism Reform (“Opinions”). The Opinions call for strengthening the market price supervision and the antitrust enforcement, and target to establish a scientific, orderly, and transparent price supervision regime and antitrust enforcement mechanism by 2020.

Following the Opinions by the central government, many provincial governments (such as provinces of Henan, Hebei, Hunan, Hubei, Inner Mongolia, etc.) have recently issued their own guidelines to promote price mechanism reform and enhance the antitrust enforcement. Continue Reading Local Government in China to Enhance Antitrust Enforcement

作者：李强 李明阳 金杜律师事务所公司证券部

自liqiang2009年国务院发布《中共中央国务院关于深化医疗卫生体制改革的意见》开始，到2010年国家发展改革委、卫生部等五部门的《关于进一步鼓励和引导社会资本举办医疗机构的意见》，特别在2015年国务院办公厅转发国家财政部、发改委、人民银行的《关于在公共服务领域推广政府和社会资本合作模式指导意见的通知》中，国家鼓励促进非公立医疗卫生机构发展，明确将医疗、卫生等社会事业列入社会资本以PPP模式参与公立医院改制，为医疗领域制度创新提供了空间。

在此背景下，有必要拓宽国际视野，了解世界各国在医疗行业运用的成功经验和创新理念。

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By David Parkes  and Ofei Kwafo-Akoto  King & Wood Mallesons’ London Office

Gparkes_dhana has faced a series of macroeconomic challenges over the past year, with sustained depreciation of the cedi against major foreign currencies, high fiscal and current account deficits and a slowdown in real GDP growth. Despite this, the country remains one of the bright spots for investment in the West African sub-region. Attracting foreign investment continues to be a key priority for the Government and certain recent legislative developments reveal strong efforts to create an enabling regulatory environment for investors.

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作者：David Parkes  Ofei Kwafo-Akoto 金杜律师事务所伦敦办公室

加parkes_d纳在去年遭遇了一系列宏观经济上的挑战，包括塞地兑主要外汇持续贬值、财政账户和经常账户严重赤字、以及实际国内生产总值增长率减缓。尽管如此，该国仍然是西非次区域的投资亮点之一。吸引外国投资依然是政府的核心任务，最近的立法发展体现了政府在为投资者创造有利监管环境方面做出的巨大努力。

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By Susan Ning, Cheng Liu and Shenglan Liu  King & Wood Mallesons’Commercial & Regulatory Group

Cning_susanhuntitledina’s top antitrust authority, the Anti-monopoly Commission (“AMC”) of the State Council is to issue the integrated IPR antitrust guidelines. AMC has entrusted three antitrust enforcement agencies, the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”), the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (“SAIC”) and the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”), and the State Intellectual Property Office (“SIPO”) with the task of drafting antitrust guidelines on intellectual property rights (IPRs). It is reported that these agencies are finalizing their respective draft guidelines and will submit the drafts to AMC by the end of March 2016. Since AMC is responsible for coordinating antitrust policies in China, it will take the lead to consolidate the said four draft IP guidelines and issue an integrated one. Continue Reading China’s State Council to announce integrated IPR antitrust guidelines

By Adrian Brown, David Calligan, Tim Dolan, Tamasin Little  King & Wood Mallesons’ London Office

The Senior Managers and Certification Regime (the “SM&CR”) is the tough new regulatory framework for individuals working in the banking sector, under which the UK regulators seek to increase individual accountability. The SM&CR will apply to UK-based subsidiaries of Hong Kong banks and will also extend, in slightly modified form, to UK branches of Hong Kong banks. Accordingly, Hong Kong banking groups which have UK subsidiaries, UK branches, or a combination of the two, will be affected by the SM&CR.

The need for approval as a Senior Manager under the new regime is based upon an individual’s role in practice, not their job title or location. This means that Hong Kong banking groups with a UK presence must think carefully about who is in scope, and senior individuals located outside the UK cannot assume that these UK reforms do not apply.

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