Company News

China’s Premier Wen Jiabao hosted an executive conference with China’s State Council standing committee on July 25, where it was decided that the scope of China’s value-added tax (VAT) pilot project will be expanded, the development of China’s central region will be further promoted, and the minimum living standard guarantee will be strengthened and improved.

To standardize the enforcement of taxation law and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of taxpayers, China’s State Administration of Taxation (SAT) issued the “Guiding Opinions on Regulating the Administrative Discretion of Taxation Authorities (guoshuifa[2012] No.65, hereinafter referred to as ‘Opinion’)” on July 3. The Opinion puts forward five guiding opinions based on the current situation of tax collection.

To better facilitate trade and further enhance the foreign exchange services and administration of trade in goods, China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), General Administration of Customs (GAC) and State Administration of Taxation (SAT) jointly released the “Announcement of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the General Administration of Customs and the State Administration of Taxation Concerning the Reform of the Foreign Exchange Administration System for Trade in Goods (gonggao[2012] No. 1, hereinafter referred to as ‘Announcement’)” on June 29, which is scheduled to take effect on August 1, 2012.

Over the past 20 years, China has entered into various DTAs with its foreign counterparts in order to avoid double-taxation regarding dividends, interest and licensing fees, as well as other income.

CIETAC-Shanghai has declared its independence from CIETAC-China, and claims it is a separate arbitral institution. This has implications for any party that includes a China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) arbitration clause in its contracts. The highlights of the current situation are as follows:

Jim Zimmerman, the China managing partner of U.S. law firm Sheppard Mullin, is a good friend of China Briefing and is also both the chairman emeritus of Amcham China and the author of the China Law Deskbook – considered by many to be the bible of China law. Jim has recently introduced a regular update service to the China Law Deskbook and has kindly given permission for China Briefing to host it here.

To enhance cooperation between Hong Kong and Mainland China in the services sector, and to facilitate mutual economic development, the Chinese central government and the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region signed the “Ninth Supplement to the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) (hereinafter referred as ‘the Ninth Supplement’)” on June 29, which is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2013.

The Ninth Supplement introduces a total of

Over the past few years, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and State Administration of Taxation (SAT) have issued a series of regulations regarding value-added tax (VAT) and consumption tax (CT) on export goods and processing, repair and replacement services. In an attempt to clean up the multitude of regulations and clarify China’s export refund policies, two regulations have been issued recently.

The announcement of negotiations on a Vietnam-European Union (EU) free trade agreement (FTA) this week is promising for business leaders with interests on the intersection of Europe and the whole of the Southeast Asian region.

Paths have been cleared for reintroduction of the Companies Bill, 2011, in the monsoon session. If the bill is passed after endorsing all the propositions made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, corporate social responsibility (CSR) would become mandatory for the first time in the world in any country.