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By Yuan Min, Wang Jianzhao , and Kirby Carder, King & Wood Insurance Department, Beijing Office

During a press conference held last week during the National People’s Congress, China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) Chairman Wu Dingfu annouced that the the CIRC will set up an insurance exchange in Shanghai as part of the Chinese government’s goal of making Shanghai an international finance center. This official announcement shows that the CIRC is serious about setting up an exchange. Yet, at present this announcement probably should just be considered a statement of their intentions because the CIRC did not offer any details on what the purpose of that exchange will be or who will participate in that exchange.…

Continue Reading The China Insurance Regulatory Commission has Announced that it will Create a Pilot Insurance Exchange Project in Shanghai

By Susan Ning, Liu Jia and Angie Ng

In March every year, lawmakers and political advisers from the National People’s Congress (NPC) (Chinas equivalent of Parliament) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Committee (CPPCC) (China’s top advisory body) conduct sessions in Beijing to take stock of social, legal and economic issues in China for the preceding year; and discuss objectives (in relation to the same issues) for the year going forward1.    These sessions are often referred to as the "two sessions".

Two statements which have arisen during these two sessions; are of particular interest (from an antitrust law perspective):
 …

Continue Reading The annual “two sessions” and antitrust law noises

By Yuan Min, Wang Jianzhao , and Kirby Carder, King & Wood Insurance Department, Beijing

On February 18th, 2011 the China Insurance Regulatory Commission ("CIRC") Chairman Wu Dingfu made an announcement that the CIRC will be focusing more attention on regulating bank assurance based insurance policy sales. He noted that insurance purchasers are being given misleading advice about the best insurance policies for for their needs when they are consulting with insurance agents at Chinese banking institutions. The Chairman stated that protecting insurer purchasers interests is one of the CIRC important interests, and is one of the cornerstones to the sustained growth of the Chinese insurance industry.…

Continue Reading The China Insurance Regulatory Commission has Announced that it is Requiring its Local Offices to Issue Written Instructions for its Enforcement Staff to Reduce Illegal Activities in Bank Assurance Insurance Policy Sales

By King & Wood’s Trademark Practice

The Law of the Application of Law for Foreign-related Civil Relations of the People’s Republic of China was promulgated on October 28, 2010 and will come into force on April 1, 2011. The new law absorbs the latest achievements of the research and legislation in the field of the private international laws, which is widely viewed as having reflected the contemporary legislation ideas and incorporated innovative rules, and the issuance of this law would have accomplished the systemization and modernization of the conflicting rules concerning foreign-related relations in Chinese legislation system.…

Continue Reading China’s New Foreign-Related Civil Relations Law Harmonizes Conflicting Rules

By Susan Ning, Angie Ng and Shan Lining

On 3 February 2011, China’s State Council released a notice which governs a national security review process for foreign acquisitions of domestic companies1.   This national security review process will be implemented on 5 March 2011.

Since the release of the notice, there has been a flurry of articles and commentaries in both the legal and business media circuit.  Foreign businesses who wish to invest in China are concerned that this is potentially another tedious clearance process (on top of the corporate, regulatory and antitrust clearance processes) to pass before they are free to close their proposed transactions.…

Continue Reading More on China’s national security review regime – the American regime vs the Chinese regime

By Susan Ning, Liu Jia and Angie Ng

We understand from media reports that on 18 February 2011, Hudong1  (a Chinese internet search engine) made an Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) complaint to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) against Baidu2  (arguably the most often or commonly used internet search engine in China; often referred to as China’s equivalent of "Google"). …

Continue Reading Wiki-Hudong against Wiki-Baidu – an abuse of dominance?

By Richard  Wigley of King & Wood’s Intellectual Property Group

China’s packaged software market is estimated to "grow from $4.7 Billion in 2008 to $8.3 Billion by 2013, with a five-year CAGR of 12.1%"1. China’s domestic software industry has, however, long suffered from the effects of rampant software piracy, making it difficult for domestic industry players to proportionally benefit from China’s economic rise over the past 30 years. Though the trials and travails of major global software companies, such as Microsoft, in China have been well-documented, domestic software companies, though with a seeming "home market" advantage, have often found it difficult to build viable business models in this environment. This environment for domestic software companies, however, appears to be changing for the better.…

Continue Reading China’s Support of Domestic Software Industry Strengthened by State Council Release of P.R.C. Government Policies

By Yuan Min, Wang Jianzhao and Kirby Carder, King & Wood Insurance Department

Recently, the Shanxi Provincial China Insurance Regulatory Commission ("CIRC") provided a report on the results of its insurance industry transparency project. The overall goal of the project was to promote the stable, secure, and sustained development of the insurance industry in Shanxi province by meshing together government regulation, internal insurance ocmpany protocols, insurance industry self-regulation, and public participation in the insurance industry.…

Continue Reading The Shanxi Provincial China Insurance Regulatory Commission has Provided a Report on the Success of its Insurance Industry Transparency Project

ByYuan Min, Wang Jianzhao , and Kirby Carder, King & Wood Insurance Department, Beijing

The State Council has ordered the Foreign Enterprise Representative Institution Registration and Administration Regulations (Order of State Council No. 584) (《外国企业常驻代表机构登记管理条例》) to come into force on March 1st, 2011. This new regulation alters the rules for a foreign insurance institution to register a representative office in China, and it regulates the activities that a foreign insurance institution representative office can engage in once it is properly registered.…

Continue Reading China Implements New Rules for Registering Foreign Representative Offices

By King & Wood’s Trademark Practice

Foreign companies often have concerns regarding whether the litigation process in an overseas venue will be efficiently handled by the relevant courts. In China, given the large increase in IP-related lawsuits in recent years, this is a reasonable concern. In 2009, P.R.C. courts had concluded 6,262 cases with a yearly increase of 31.89%. 1With such an upsurge in litigation, the P.R.C. courts have faced a very significant challenge.…

Continue Reading P.R.C. Courts Show Improved Efficiency in Handling Foreign-related IP Lawsuits