Company News

Hong Kong has recently introduced a new aspect to its well-regarded arbitration laws, and has enacted the new Arbitration Ordinance, which came into effect on June 1, 2011. This legislation, based on the widely-used United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL, or the Model Law), further underlines Hong Kong’s pro-arbitration stance and is an important tool when dealing with cross border cases that affect mainland China partners.

In order to promote the robust development of the country’s logistics industry, China’s State Council issued new guidelines (guobanfa [2011] No.38) on August 19 offering fiscal and administrative incentives to logistics enterprises.

China has released new regulations to formalize its security check system for inward merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions. The new law will make it relatively difficult for foreign investors to avoid security reviews, even though many investors tend to merge with or acquire Chinese companies through ways such as establishing variable interest entities or trust companies.

India’s Economic advisory council has released its outlook for the year 2011-12. Some vital points are given below:

Multi-brand retailing, perhaps the most vital issue of the new century in terms of FDI in India, has gone ahead by one more step. The top notch secretaries of the Indian government have forwarded 10 recommendations to the Commerce and Industry Ministry.

On July 27, China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Finance, and the General Administration of Customs jointly published the “Circular on Issues Concerning Tax Policies for In-depth Implementation of Western Development Strategy” (Caishui [2011] No.58, “Circular”), effective from January 1, 2011.

Roughly two years after China launched its pilot program for using RMB settlements during cross-border trading transactions and overseas investments, the People’s Bank of China (PBC) released a new circular on June 3 to clarify agent banks’ authority limits and operational details for both enterprises and banks.

Produced in cooperation with the U.S. Commercial Service and Dezan Shira & Associates, the China Business Handbook (Second Edition) is now available for immediate PDF download on the Asia Briefing Bookstore – offering readers an informative guide to starting and growing a business in this dynamic market.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance has issued Circular No. 91/2011/TT-BTC dated June 20, 2011, amending import tax rates for certain goods in the Preferential Import Tariff.

The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCIN), a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department, issued an immediate release on July 18 announcing the availability of an electronic filing system that will accept Form TD F 90-22.1 – Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).