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By:  Kenneth Y. Choy of King & Wood’s Hong Kong office and Antitrust & Competition Group

Tai Po is a traditional village located in the northeastern part of the New Territories in Hong Kong. Its historical relics, old temples, quaint fishing village and natural scenery make it a popular destination for both tourists and local residents alike.

The Hong Kong government began building up Tai Po in the late 1970’s, transforming it from a sleepy fishing community into a bustling new town of 300,000. In the last decade, the Government decided to tear down the old to make way for new facilities in the area. As part of the development, the old Tai Po Temporary Market which had housed many small cooked food stalls was replaced with a brand new complex. Stallholders who operated the cooked food stalls were vacated by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, the governmental agency that manages cooked food markets and relocate to the new facility.Continue Reading Legal for now: Collusion among bidders at Hong Kong auctions

By: King & Wood’s Insurance Group

This August, the Chinese Insurance Regulatory Committee disclosed its provisional measures on equity investments made by Insurance Funds (“Equity Investment Measures”). With the introduction of the new PRC Insurance law in October 2009, domestic insurance companies have begun making equity investments into private companies. The new Equity Investment Measures lay out a detailed framework outlining the ways in which insurance companies may participate in direct and indirect equity investment activities, including investments in private joint-stock companies and LLCs.Continue Reading Big Change in a Big Market – New PRC Insurance Regulation Potentially Hampers Investment Options

By: Susan Ning, Shan Lining, Liu Jia and Angie Ng

On 10 December 2010, the State Council published and enacted a set of revised penalty regulations[1] (vis-à-vis the Price Law 1997). 

Broadly, the penalties set out in these revised penalty regulations are more severe than the previous version. 

Of note is the fact that there is a new Article 5 which outlines more severe and specific remedies in relation to breaches amounting to price-fixing. In addition, the new Article 19 introduces criminal sanctions for breaches of the Price Law 1997 which severely disrupt the market order in China.Continue Reading If You Fix Prices, Beware of the Price Law and the Anti Monopoly Law

Interview with Tony Dong

By: He Ran and Zhang Tianhui of King & Wood‘s Publications

Unlike its invisible counterpart that made 18th century economist Adam Smith famous, the Chinese government’s use of taxation is one of the most ‘visible hands’ controlling the Chinese domestic economy today. In this article, King & Wood partner Tony Dong gives his opinion on new tax regulation encouraging M&A, structural reform and restructuring activity found in the recently promulgated Decree No. 27.Continue Reading The Visible Hand: Taxation and Economic Control

By: Susan Ning, Ding Liang and Huang Jing

On 22 November 2010, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced1 that it was in the process of determining remedies against eight oil companies for selling diesel above the maximum prices set by the Government.

The eight companies are: (a) Shaanxi Petroleum Chemistry Industry Trade Company; (b) Shaanxi Yanchang New Resources Co., Ltd; (c) Shanxi Yanlian Petroleum Chemistry Co., Ltd Xi’an Supply Store; (d) Shandong Jincheng Petroleum Chemistry Group Company; (e) Jiangsu Province Lianyungang PetroChina Sales Co., Ltd; (f) Sinopec Wuhan branch company; (g) Sinopec Luoyang branch company; (h) PetroChina Wuhan branch Company. [Note: The companies listed in (e) to (h) are State Owned Enterprises (SOEs).]Continue Reading Eight Oil Companies in Trouble for Breaching Price Law

By: Zhang Xiaomin, Yang Xiaoyu and Yang Wei

Recent government policy adjusting the number of central state-owned enterprises is likely to lead to numerous new opportunities for law firms hoping to participate in large scale restructuring and capital markets transactions. The Stated-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) recently stated that by the end of 2010, the number of central state-owned enterprises must be reduced to 80-100, of which 30-50 should be large internationally competitive corporations, and that by 2015, there should be no more than 1000 regional stated-owned enterprises.  Industry insiders expect the recent policy change to lead to widespread potential for large scale securitization and IPO projects.Continue Reading New Government Policy Spurs on SOE Restructurings and Listings

 By Susan Ning, Tao Huang, and Yang Yang

As was the case throughout the world, the global economic downturn beginning in 2008 caused many in the Chinese market to face difficulties in fully performing executory contacts which had been formed prior to the crisis. As such, many parties to such contracts requested modification or even rescission of their contracts under the changed circumstances. As a response to these trends, the Judicial Interpretation on Contract Law II was issued by the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter the “SPC”) to further clarify certain legal rules under current Chinese Contract Law . In particular, Article 26, Chapter 4 of the Judicial Interpretation on Contract Law II (hereinafter “Article 26” or the “Fundamental Change in Circumstances” Provision") provides guidance on a party’s right to modify or rescind a valid contract when a Fundamental Change of Circumstances occurs after contract formation. A Fundamental Change of Circumstances in this regard is differentiated from a force majeure event and does not cover changes that may arise from normal commercial risks, and under which the purpose of the contract would be frustrated or performance will result in extreme unfairness.Continue Reading New Provision Could Change Contract Law in China but Judges Remain Conservative

By: Susan Ning, Ding Liang and Angie Ng.

Recently, the disputes between Tencent’s QQ and Qihoo’s 360 software have caused quite a stir in the press (see our article entitled “QQ vs 360 – an anti unfair competition case”.

We set out the “whos”, “whats”, “where” and “when” or the background to these disputes. We also provide our preliminary views or analysis re these disputes vis-à-vis the Anti Unfair Competition Law (AUCL) and the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML).Continue Reading The QQ / 360 Disputes – Who, What, Where, When and Preliminary Antitrust Analysis