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By Susan Ning, Kate Peng and Yunlong Zhang

The Price Bureau of Guangdong Province (“GDPB“) recently published an article about an investigation in a price-fixing cartel among sea sand dredging companies on its official website 1.  According to the article, the price of sea sand in Guangdong province rose from around RMB20 per cubic meter to over RMB40 per cubic meter since 2009, which seriously affected the progress of many major infrastructure projects of the State.  This unusual trend attracted the attention of the government of Guangdong province.  In order to find out the reason behind the price increase, GDPB initiated an investigation in February 2012 under the guidance of the Price Supervision and Anti-monopoly Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC“).
Continue Reading Price Bureau Uncovered and Punished a Price-Fixing Cartel under the Leniency Program

By King & Wood Mallesons

King & Wood Mallesons has updated its guide to doing business in Australia.

Australia welcomes and encourages foreign investment and has a favourable investment environment.  Investments that create exports, replace imports, introduce new technology or create employment are

particularly welcome.

Australia offers significant benefits for foreign investors, including:

  • a resilient and diverse economy with low inflation;
  • a transparent and liberal process for approval of foreign investment;
  • low barriers to trade and investment, with business-oriented corporate regulation;
  • a competitive company tax rate; and
    Continue Reading A guide to doing business in Australia

by Ariel Ye  King & Wood Mallesons‘ Dispute Resolution Group

Introduction

On 31 August 2012 a revision of the PRC Civil Procedure Law (the “CPL”) was adopted and is scheduled to take effect on 1 January 2013. This is the third revision of the CPL to be adopted and affects 85 articles, which cover a wide range of matters including case filing, evidence and enforcement procedure. Several new procedures have also been added which cover public interest litigation, small claims litigation, mediation agreements and other topics.

Background and Policy Objectives

The National People’s Congress Committee on Law commenced revision of the CPL in 2010.
Continue Reading Insight into China’s Revision on Civil Procedure Law

by Xia Dongxia  Yang Ting King & Wood Mallesons’ Dispute Resolution Group

The Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on Issues Concerning the Application of Law for Hearing Cases of Sale and Purchase Contract Related Disputes (the “Interpretation”) was ratified at the 1545th Meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People’s Court on March 31, 2012, and became effective on July 1, 2012. The Interpretation, which includes eight parts and forty-six articles, further clarifies the application of laws regarding the establishment and validity of sale and purchase contracts, delivery and transfer of title, risk allocation, inspection and acceptance of the subject matter, liabilities for breach and retention of title, as well as special sales transactions. It is believed that the Interpretation will function significantly in enhancing the practicability of the existing contract rules, providing instructions to the people’s courts of all levels for the fair trial over contract disputes, protecting relevant parties’ lawful rights and interests and regulating market transactions.Continue Reading The Principle of Balancing Benefits and Losses Established – New Judicial Interpretation to the PRC Contract Law

By Rupert Li  King & Wood Mallesons

People frequently observe the cultural barriers which the Chinese companies find difficult to overcome in relation to China’s nascent outbound investment program.  Since China is culturally and politically different from the mainstream trading countries, an attribution of the anguish on both sides of the negotiation table to cultural barriers is indeed tempting but often misplaced.  Any professionals operating in places other than in the rule setting non Anglo-American jurisdictions always have war stories to share with their colleagues.  The Mexican tycoons prefer to negotiate their deals in the smoking rooms of their vast hacienda guarded by private soldiers.  The Indians nod to signify their disapproval and shake their heads for approval, or sometimes vice versa.  The Japanese entertain their foreign guests with stylized geisha dance and ocean dainties of whale meat and blow fish. 
Continue Reading Cross Border Transactions– How Many Hardships does China Need to Overcome?

By Denning Jin King & Wood Mallesons’ IP Litigation Group Shanghai Office

In June of 2012, the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People‘s Court issued several orders against individuals responsible for violating a preliminary injunction, including fines and detention. This event was significant because it was the first time a court in Shanghai took such measures to compel enforcement of a preliminary injunction.

In June, 2012, a Belgian Company discovered that a Guangdong Company was likely infringing one of its design patents. According to the Belgian company, the Guangdong Company was selling products with an appearance that was substantially similar to designs covered by the Belgian Compan’s design patent at an exhibition being held at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. Subsequently, the Belgian company applied to the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court for a preliminary injunction.
Continue Reading Shanghai Courts Adopt New Methods to Compel Compliance of Preliminary Injunctions in Intellectual Property Infringement Disputes

By Mark Schaub Chen Bing King & Wood Mallesons’ FDI Group Shanghai Office.

State Administration of Taxation of the PRC (“SAT”) promulgated the Administrative Rules on Income Tax for Policy-based Relocation of Enterprises on August 10, 2012 (“Rule 40″) which is set to become effective on October 1, 2012.   Policy based relocation refers to relocations at the request of the authority rather than voluntary relocations by enterprises (see below for more details).

Rule 40 aims at establishing more specific and systematic rules in terms of preferential tax treatments which apply to policy-based relocations. This new rule will replace the Circular on Relevant Issues concerning Enterprise Income Tax on Incomes from Policy-based Relocation or Disposal of Assets promulgated by State Administration of Taxation on March 12, 2009 (“Circular 118”).Continue Reading New Enterprise Income Tax Rule in relation to Enterprise Relocation

By Richard W. Wigley King & Wood Mallesons’ IP Litigation Group

Under the Civil Procedure Law of the P.R.C. (“CPL”), Articles 53-56 of the current CPL define requirements for filing a “joint litigation”, including those suits where said joint litigation may involve “one party with numerous litigants”.[1] To this latter scenario, Article 55 of the CPL notes that where “one of the parties has numerous litigants, but the exact number of litigants is uncertain when the lawsuit is filed, the People’s Court may issue a public notice to explain the nature of the case and the claims of the litigation and inform those persons who are entitled to the claim to register their rights with the People’s Court within a fixed time period.”[2] Article 55 goes on to provide that the litigants may elect “representatives” and further defines the binding nature of the Court’s ruling on not only the “representative”, but upon all litigants.[3]
Continue Reading China’s Civil Procedure Law Reported to be Amended to Broaden Definition of Types of Litigants Allowed to File Class-action Lawsuits

By Liu Zhigang King & Wood Mallesons’ Finance Group

The history of Project Finance in China is not long, but it is rich. In the earliest days, Project Finance was used mainly in power plant deals, then later extended to water plant deals and petrochemical projects. At that time, Chinese sponsors were short of funds and experience, and Chinese banks were short of foreign exchange and caught up in bad loans. Furthermore, China’s infrastructure base was very weak, and the production capability of Chinese entities was also unreliable. Therefore, the lenders in the Project Finance market were mainly foreign banks, and the loans included commercial loans, export credit, and soft loans. The loans were used mainly to import the machinery and equipment produced by the foreign producers. As well as the collateral on all project assets, the lenders also requested and were able to obtain sponsors’ guaranties and even governmental guaranties for almost every project, although such arrangements are not typical under the project finance model.
Continue Reading Development of Project Finance Deals in China and with Chinese Banks

By Susan Ning and Ding Liang King & Wood Mallesons’ Antitrust Group

The Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Dispute Cases Arising from Monopolistic Conduct (“Anti-Monopoly Judicial Interpretation”), as adopted at the 1539th Session of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) in January 2012, were issued on May 3, 2012 and came into force on June 1, 2012. The Anti-Monopoly Judicial Interpretationreflects important experience accumulated in the judicial practice of monopoly civil disputes and is expected to play an important role in monopoly civil dispute cases. This article will briefly discuss the key issues involved in the Anti-Monopoly Judicial Interpretation. 

I .The Drafting Background of the Anti-Monopoly Judicial Interpretation
Continue Reading Commentary on the Anti-Monopoly Judicial Interpretation