ICC issues unique guide to business law in China
Paris, 19 September 1997- The International Chamber of Commerce has published the first comprehensive legal guide to doing business with China produced with official Chinese participation. This unique ICC Guide provides up-to-date information on how laws and regulations are being adapted as the Chinese economy opens up to international markets. It was jointly developed with authors from official Chinese bodies, such as the Ministry for Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation. Each chapter was produced by a team composed of both Chinese and foreign experts.
"Business Law in China" is thus an especially authoritative reference work, ranging over the entire spectrum of business with and within China, including descriptions of national and local government structures and the special economic zones. Describing how private initiative is now welcomed and even encouraged in many sectors, it notes: "China's weight in the world economy has only begun to be felt and already the very foundations of strategic business decisions have shifted...
"Whether the 21st century will be China's will largely depend on the country's ability to institute a legal system adapted to the needs of a modern industrialized nation."
The book points out that the share of exports and imports in the Chinese economy is now comparable to that of France and several times greater than in the United States. It says that, as multinational corporations step up their investment in China, a portentous trend for the future is the rising foreign investment by Chinese enterprises following the wave of Chinese exports towards overseas markets.
Daniel A. Laprs, a Paris-based China specialist, lawyer and law professor, and Zhang Yuejiao, Director General of the Department of Treaties and Laws at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation are joint chief editors. Authors and contributors are international law and business experts from China
and its main trading partners. Their brief was to produce an objective account of the legal situation confronting companies in China, describing recent reforms favourable to business but also realistically pointing to remaining disadvantages.
For example, the chapter on real estate issues says that, while foreign direct investment in this sector is booming and potential demand for office and residential buildings remains enormous, in the short term, increasing costs and complications are bound to be encountered by international investors involved in land acquisitions and real estate transactions. It adds: "As the granting of contracts is primarily subject to official discretion, perpetual real property rights are not likely to arise in the near future."
The book's opening sections explain culturally specific traits in Chinese business law. They describe the organisation of the Chinese State, the sources of Chinese law, and the oganization of the legal profession in China. Recent business statistics and administrative charts are added to help newcomers to the Chinese business scene to understand the country's complex markets and legal system.
Chapters are structured according to the natural progression of international trade, beginning with export and import operations. Subjects of special interest to foreign businesses active in China receive detailed coverage, including the laws governing local marketing, intellectual property, setting up, real estate, labour, and taxation.
The book breaks ground with its inclusion of extensive material on the Chinese financial sector. Specific chapters are devoted to the legal aspects of money and banking, local financial instruments and capital markets, and insurance. The chapter on insurance introduces the regulatory framework covering environmental risk management.
The final chapter provides an innovative and authoritative summary of evolving dispute resolution law and techniques. The two principal co-authors are the top western and Chinese experts on international arbitration in China, Michael Moser of Baker & Mackenzie and Wang Shengchang of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC).
To produce the guide, the ICC worked closely with its Chinese affiliate, ICC China, in cooperation with China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and other government bodies. Valuable input came from the ICC International Court of Arbitration and the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission.
Business Law in China is available from ICC national committees around the world and from:
ICC Publishing S.A
38 Cours Albert 1er
75008 Paris