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Written by: Sandra Link, Mark Schaub KWM overseas office

What is GSCA?

GSCA requires German companies to analyze and report compliance with certain human rights and environmental standards along their supply chain.

GSCA does not intend to implement German social standards world-wide but aims to ensure compliance within the supply chain with minimum international standards (i.e. no child labor or forced labor or meeting basic environmental protection requirements).
Continue Reading German Supply Chain Act (GSCA) – Implications for Chinese companies

At the beginning of 2021, China issued another important statute on trade compliance – the Rules on Counteracting Unjustified Extra-territorial Application of Foreign Legislation and Other Measures (the “Rules”), following the promulgation and implementation of the Provisions on the Unreliable Entity List (“UEL Provisions”) and the Export Control Law and other relevant laws and regulations in the second half of last year. The Rules have attracted wide public attention and media coverage since its introduction. China has not yet issued any prohibition order on the application of any specific extra-territorial laws in accordance with the Rules, and the enforcement requirements of the relevant provisions thereof are still up in the air. However, a number of enterprises have already encountered various problems in practice. In this article, we will continue to discuss the following key issues upon the implementation of the Rules by referring to similar rules and relevant cases in other countries.
Continue Reading International Comparative Study on Several Issues of the Blocking Rules

On 21 October 2020, the Personal Information Protection Law (Draft) (“Draft”) was finally unveiled to the public. By comprehensively deepening China’s personal information protection system, the Draft strengthens the protection of personal information while taking into account the complexity of economic and social life. The release of the nearly 8,000-character Draft marks China’s first attempt to systematically and legislatively define, establish, and integrate the provisions on the protection and regulation of personal information. The Draft not only incorporates China’s legislative, regulatory and practical achievements regarding data security in recent years, including the PRC Cybersecurity Law (“Cybersecurity Law”), but also learns from the varied legislative experience of the other jurisdictions in data protection such as the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).
Continue Reading Personal Information Protection Law (Draft): A New Data Regime

On December 26, 2019, the Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation (“Shanghai AMR”) released the “Shanghai Anti-monopoly Compliance Guide for Undertakings” (“Compliance Guide”) and thus introduced us another guiding reference for corporate anti-monopoly compliance.
Continue Reading How to Do Anti-Monopoly Compliance in the Coming Year? The Shanghai Anti-Monopoly Compliance Guide for Undertakings May Come in Handy

By Monique Carroll and Jessica Bounds King&WoodMallesons’ Melbourne office

Australia’s regulatory landscape is constantly changing and companies must stay ahead of the curve. In the anti-bribery and corruption space, a large number of legislative changes have been proposed which, if introduced, will significantly increase the level of vigilance required by companies.
Continue Reading Anti-bribery and Corruption in Australia

By Susan Ning King & Wood Mallesons’ Commercial & Regulatory group

ning_susanThe reform and opening up in China has been a process of establishing and improving a modern market system. As this process deepens, “building a unified, open, orderly and competitive market” has become the goal of the market economy reform. The year 2017 is the second year of China’s 13th Five-year Plan, in which “market” and “competition” are the key points that cannot be overlooked. According to the Plan, establishment of a modern market system requires accelerating the development of a unified, open, orderly and competitive market, establishing mechanisms for ensuring fair competition, overcoming regional segmentation, breaking up industry monopolies, and removing market barriers in order to promote the free and orderly flow and equitable exchange of goods and factors of production [1]

The Plan obviously lays an unprecedented emphasis on the market’s fundamental role in resource allocation. Meanwhile, the government is taking or strengthening regulatory measures to control market disrupting risks, resorting to the law to ensure orderly operation of the market economy and to resolve externality problems of the market. Compliance issues regarding anti-corruption, employment, tax, anti-monopoly, and environmental protection are now under strict government supervision. Reinforcing the compliance system, therefore, by incorporating it into the “Now Normal” management mechanism is a path enterprises must take in their development.
Continue Reading Compliance Challenges for Businesses in the “New Normal”

By Mark Schaub and Chen Bing King & Wood Mallesons’ Corporate & Securities group

schaub_m1On April 28, 2017, China Food and Drug Administration (“CFDA”) released for public comment a draft Opinion on the Further Strengthening of the Supervision of Health Food (“Draft Opinion”).

The Draft Opinion leans heavily on principles already set out in the new Food Safety Law and the Administration Measures on Registration and Filing of Health Food (“Administration Measures”) of 26 February 2016 but also does give a hint as to their current thinking in relation to health food registration and filing:…
Continue Reading CFDA Further Strengthen the Supervision of Health Food

BY Lucy Lu,Li Xin and Hang Ying. King & Wood Mallesons’ Commercial & Regulatory group.

陆慧文According to the PRC labor laws, an employer is obliged to ensure employee’s right to stipulated medical treatment period if an employee is suffering from illness.  In practice, when an employee goes to the hospital and seeks professional advice from a doctor, the doctor will take account of all factors concerning illness and health risks of the employee and then issue official medical certificate, with which the employee may apply for sick leave with the employer.  Accordingly, under this general sick leave application practice, if an ill-meaning employee is well acquainted with some doctors from the hospital who provides him or her with fake or improper medical certificate, the employee may apply for sick leave with the employer, an act deemed as unreasonable application for sick leave. What measures can an employer prepare to prevent the abovementioned situations from happening? And what measures can an employer take against the employee who has already enjoyed unreasonable sick leave? Below we recommend several tricks to employers for dealing with such occasions.
Continue Reading How to deal with Employees’ Unreasonable Application for Sick Leave

By Yin Juquan, Zhang and Yuanhao. King & Wood Mallesons’ Commercial & Regulatory group.

yin_juquanReduction of an employee’s salary is often a consequence of the employer’s decision to demote the employee for some reason. However, the employer should refrain from meting out a pay cut arbitrarily. Usually, lawful pay cuts occur in two circumstances – when both employer and employee agree on it, or when the employer enforces it by law.

Pay cut agreement between employer and employee

Remuneration is a necessary clause of an employment contract. Article 35 of the Labor Contract Law provides that the terms and conditions of an employment contract may be modified if employer and employee agree so, and any modification must be made in writing. A pay cut derived from consultation and confirmed in writing is of course in accordance with legal requirements.
Continue Reading Employers: Be Cautious with Pay Cuts

By LUO Ai and TANG Xiaojing  King & Wood Mallesons’ Commercial & Regulatory group.

luo_aiOn November 28, 2016, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (“MHRSS”) issued the Notice on Several Issues in the Transfer and Continuation of Basic Pension Insurance of Urban Enterprise Employees (the “Notice”) clarifying several issues arising from the implementation of the Interim Measures for the Transfer and Continuation of Basic Pension Insurance of Urban Enterprise Employees(the “Interim Measures”) since 2010.

Regulations on Urban Employees’ Basic Pension Transfer and Continuation

Under the Social Insurance Law of the People’s Republic of China enacted in 2010, the basic pension fund should gradually be pooled at a nationwide level, and other social insurance funds gradually be put under provincial pooling. Currently, however, the basic pension fund is provincially pooled.
Continue Reading New Rules for Basic Pension Transfer and Continuation