Hogan Lovells (LexBlog China)

On March 31st, President Biden unveiled a massive $2 trillion infrastructure and clean energy plan called the American Jobs Plan that aims, in part, to tackle what the White House calls two of the greatest challenges of our time: the climate crisis and competition with China.  Among the proposed investments, the American Jobs Plan calls...

On Friday, May 22, 2020, the US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced in two separate press releases that it would be adding a number of companies and governmental entities to the Entity List.

Representative Jim Banks introduced a bill on 5 May 2020 to “place temporary restrictions on acquisitions [of U.S. companies] by the People’s Republic of China. . .” during the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill would mandate, with certain exceptions, that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review, and the President deny, certain...

Three important regulatory developments were published yesterday in the Federal Register by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security: A Final Rule eliminating the Civil End Users (CIV) license exception. The Final Rule goes into effect 29 June 2020. A Final Rule expanding license requirements for exports, reexports and in-country transfer for military end...

On 19 April, President Trump issued an Executive Order providing for a temporary 90‑day deferral, of estimated payments of duties, taxes, and fees to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) by importers “suffering significant financial hardship” due to the coronavirus pandemic. The deferral solely applies to most-favored nation (MFN) tariffs and duties and explicitly does not...

On 27 February 2020, China’s Ministry of Finance (“MOF”) published its legislative agenda for 2020 and released a plan to amend a series of laws and regulations regarding public procurement (see here).  As China is speeding up the negotiation process for its accession to the Agreement on Government Procurement (“GPA”) within the WTO framework, significant...

Our Asia insurance regulatory tracker for the third and fourth quarter of 2019 is attached. The tracker covers a range of developments across the region, including China’s measures to further open up China’s insurance sector, the guidelines issued by the Hong Kong Insurance Authority in light of the regulatory regime for insurance intermediaries from September...

Businesses are increasingly turning to trade secrets as a mechanism to protect their innovations and know-how. From the implementation of the EU Trade Secrets Directive, to recent amendments to China’s Anti-Unfair Competition Law, many countries have taken significant strides to increase protection for trade secret owners and their rights.  However, mobile workforces, advancements in technology,..

Two years on since the first draft, the final act of the legislative passage saga of the long-awaited People's Republic of China Encryption Law ended with its passage on 26 October 2019. It will take effect on 1 January 2020. The final text of the Encryption Law clearly represents a step in the right direction in terms of putting in place a comprehensive law in the encryption field, a sensitive...

Our Asia insurance regulatory tracker for the first and second quarter of 2019 is attached. The tracker covers a range of developments including the Hong Kong Insurance Authority’s newly issued Guideline on Qualifying Deferred Annuity Policy, the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Guidance to Capital Markets Intermediaries on Enhancing AML/CFT Frameworks and Controls, and China’s recently adopted..

China is a market that represents a paradox for many telecoms, media and technology (“TMT“) companies. On the one hand it offers the promise of almost unlimited growth potential if you get the product right, but on the other it presents huge challenges from the regulatory and compliance perspective in terms of establishing a foothold...

On Thursday, August 8, 2019, the Department of Justice (“DoJ”) announced that Danish medical device company Ambu, Inc. (“Ambu”) will pay $3.3 million to settle False Claims Act (“FCA”) allegations that it violated the Trade Agreements Act (“TAA”) (19 U.S.C. § 2518) by selling products to the Defense Logistics Agency (“DLA”) and the Department of...

On May 28, 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China released the draft Measures on the Administration of Data Security (“Data Security Measures“, see our in-house English translation here) for public consultation. These Data Security Measures will be a great leap forward in China’s current data protection landscape, which mainly consists of scattered provisions contained in...

During this year’s 2019 INTA Annual Meeting, our Greater China IP team discussed the following key issues around China’s evolving IP landscape. What’s in store for brand owners in China? Partner, Helen Xia discussed recent updates on strategies to curb trademark hijacking and factors leading up to this phenomenon. In recent years, China has had a...

What is in store for data protection and cyber security regulation in Asia Pacific (APAC) in 2019? 2018 was a momentous year for data protection and cyber security regulation globally – the implementation of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was, of course, the main event. The shockwaves of GDPR hit APAC with...

2018 was a momentous year for data protection and cyber security regulation globally – the implementation of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was, of course, the main event. The shockwaves of GDPR hit APAC with full force, coupled with the promulgation of an important GDPR-inspired national standard in China and the tabling of a draft data protection law in India...

In a recent move involving both the Chinese legislature (the National People’s Congress) and the executive branch (the State Council), China has overhauled two of its most important pieces of legislation governing inbound IP-related investments. The first major change was the adoption of the new Foreign Investment Law (“FIL”) on 15 March 2019 (full text...

Recently, a piece of news was published in many media outlets in China saying that the Ministry of Education (“MOE“) announced its termination of cooperation with universities of the U.K., the U.S., Australia and Canada. There are a total of 234 cooperative education institutions (“CEIs“) and cooperative education institutions (“CEPs“) involved. It is not clear...

On 3 January 2019, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) released a draft of the Regulation on the Prohibition of Monopoly Agreement Conduct (Draft) on its website, inviting comments from interested stakeholders. The consultation period ends on 3 February. The Draft is the first significant normative output in the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) field after...

On January 4, China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) released draft amendments to the Chinese Patent Law, proposing expanded and enhanced protections that may provide real benefits to companies that develop new drugs.  A potentially important condition to one of the key proposed changes specific to new drugs is that it would be available only for...

It’s been almost a year since the new “Internet clause” in China’s Anti-Unfair Competition Law (AUCL) is in force. The enforcement authority hasn’t used it much in 2018. But one decision is noteworthy. AUCL amendment On 1 January 2018, the first amendment to the AUCL since its enactment in 1993 came into effect. One of...

It’s been almost a year since the new “Internet clause” in China’s Anti-Unfair Competition Law (AUCL) is in force. The enforcement authority hasn’t used it much in 2018. But one decision is noteworthy. AUCL amendment On 1 January 2018, the first amendment to the AUCL since its enactment in 1993 came into effect. One of...

With the opportunity for global pharmaceutical companies to gain new access to the Chinese market presenting itself like never before (see our previous blog posts here and here), significant news broke on December 7, 2018, regarding a newly implemented pilot centralized drug procurement program (the “program”) that will have significant ramifications for global pharmaceutical companies. ...

On December 29, 2017, the Standardization Administration of China, jointly with the PRC General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, issued the Information Security Technology – Personal Information Security Specification, which officially came into effect on May 1, 2018. The Specification has, in very practical terms, become an important point of reference in...

On 9 August and 28 September 2018, the new Cyberspace Courts in Beijing and Guangzhou were officially opened. These new specialised courts, along with their equivalent one that was formed in Hangzhou in August 2017, are meant to tackle the quickly swelling stream of internet-related court procedures in China. The establishment of these specialised courts...

In a development that could cause every advanced reactor startup to reexamine its growth strategy, the US government (USG) yesterday afternoon issued a new framework concerning exports to China, which largely closes the export market to advanced reactor companies. The framework document, which is available here and was described to a limited audience in a...

In stark contrast to the rapid development of e-commerce in China, it has taken nearly five years and no less than four drafts for China to finalise its first e-Commerce Law. The new law will enter into force on 1 January 2019. This new law has a remarkably broad scope, encompassing many aspects of e-commerce,...

China announced a second round of American products that could be subject to retaliatory tariffs between 10 to 25 percent. The proposed list would target $60 billion worth of additional United States products, including many food products. China has not yet identified the effective date in the event it implements these tariffs. Click here to...

Foreign investment in cloud services is heavily restricted in China. For years, international cloud operators have been struggling to identify structures that address regulatory concerns, but at the same time enable a service delivery model that is consistent with international offerings. Teaming up with Chinese companies is not something new, but it has become a...

On 28 June 2018, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce released the Foreign Investment Market Access Special Administrative Measures (Negative List) (2018 Version), which will become effective from 28 July 2018. This Negative List is significant because it will replace the Guidance Catalogue for Foreign Investment Industries, the latest iteration of which...