LexBlog (LexBlog China)

  On 4 Dec. 2023, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) issued the “Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the General Provisions of the Contract Section of China’s Civil Code” (hereinafter the “Interpretation”, 关于适用〈中国民法典〉合同编通则若干问题的解释). To ensure that courts nationwide correctly adjudicate contract disputes and those involving non-contractual obligations, the SPC...

  On 7 Dec. 2023, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the 39th batch of guiding cases. This batch consists of eight cases numbered 217 to 224, all involving intellectual property rights (IPR). The details are as follows. Guiding Case No. 217 involves disputes over IPR infringement on e-commerce platforms. Guiding Case No. 218 involves...

[TL; DR: don’t even bother with it in most cases. Likely the only way to get effective service in Hong Kong lies in Article 10.] In 1997, Hong Kong ceased to be an outpost of the waning British Empire and returned to Chinese control for the first time since the Opium Wars early in the...

On April 23, 2024, ICL-IP America, Inc., a subsidiary of the ICL Group (“ICL” or “Petitioner”), filed a petition for the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties on U.S. imports of certain alkyl phosphate ester from the People’s Republic of China. SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION The following language describes the imported merchandise from China that...

The House Ways & Means Committee is set to review a slate of bills addressing trade with China, among which is a bill to renew the Generalized System of Preferences (“GSP”)—which expired in 2020—until 2030. The “Generalized System of Preferences Reform Act” proposes the “largest reforms to the GSP program since inception,” including permanently banning...

Introduction On 22 March 2024 at 2000 hours, the Cyberspace Administration of China (“CAC”) released the long-awaited Regulations for Promoting and Standardising Cross-Border Data Transfer (“CBDT Regs”), which took effect immediately. The CBDT Regs undo or further clarify some of the requirements under: This article explores the CBDT Regs in detail and discusses their practical...

Interpretation of the Guidelines on Antitrust Compliance for Undertakings (Draft for Public Comments) On September 18, 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation (“SAMR”) released the Guidelines on Antitrust Compliance for Undertakings. On March 21, 2024, SAMR released a draft for public comments of the revised Guidelines on Antitrust Compliance for Undertakings (the “New Compliance...

China’s Company Law was initially enacted in 1993, and was subsequently amended in 1999, 2004, 2013, 2018, and 2005. On December 29, 2023, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress approved a comprehensive amendment to the Company Law (as amended, the “New Company Law”). The New Company Law will come into effect on July...

On January 17, 2024, the Supreme People’s Court of China (“SPC”) published its decision upholding a ruling in favor of Sennics Chemical Technology Co., Ltd. (“Sennics”), granting them an award of RMB 201.54 million (around USD 27.86m) in a case against Chen Yonggang (“Chen”) and Yuncheng Jinteng Chemical Technology Co., Ltd. (“Jinteng”). This is currently...

Cyber adversaries in China and Russia continue to be a formidable threat to U.S. based companies. In the past, scams might be detected because a word was misspelled or the context didn’t make sense. Now, with the help of young Western hackers, cyber adversaries in Russia will be able to use insider knowledge of language...

  On 14 Dec. 2023, the Chongqing First Intermediate People’s Court issued a first-instance judgment on a standard essential patent (SEP) dispute between OPPO and Nokia,  siding with OPPO’s arguments. The judgment affirmed the global fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) rates for Nokia’s 2G-5G standard essential patents, and set the global cumulative rates for the...

  Can I sue Chinese companies in France and then enforce a French judgment in China? You probably don’t want to travel so far away as to file a lawsuit in China. You may just want to take your case to the court on your doorstep because you are more familiar with your home country....

  Where a person drives a motor vehicle on the road with his or her blood alcohol content (BAC) level of 80 milligrams per 100 milliliters (80mg/100ml) or higher upon a breath test, he/she may be considered criminally liable. On 13 Dec. 2023, China’s Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public...

  In order to help parties in better understand how Chinese courts will apply the HCCH 1961 Apostille Convention, the Beijing International Commercial Court (BICC) has prepared the “Understanding and Application Guidelines for the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents” (《取消外国公文书认证要求的公约》理解适用诉讼指引, hereinafter the “Guidelines”). On 8 Mar. 2023, China...

17 months since it’s last issuance of a Withhold Release Order (WRO), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) revives its enforcement mechanism to target a Chinese importer and its affiliates operating in the safety products industry. Effective Wednesday, April 10, 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will detain work gloves manufactured by Shanghai Select...

As you can see from our short list of stories below, it was a relatively quiet week in the online travel world.  I hope you enjoy: DerbySoft Moves Into Airline Industry.  Hotel distribution connectivity provider, DerbySoft, announced plans last week to acquire China-based Pkfare.  Pkfare provides connectivity services for hotels similar to DerbySoft, but also...

The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process, or if already pending, when the final step can be adjudicated. Below is a summary of the May Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates.

On 19 Dec. 2023, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court issued the Guidelines for Handling Supporting Documents Certifying the Subject Qualification in Foreign-related Cases.The Guidelines is available in both Chinese and English. The Guidelines explains in detail the authentication procedures for relevant documents in combination with the relevant contents of the Convention on the Abolition of..

On 18 Dec. 2023, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) issued the “Decision on Amending the Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Establishment of International Commercial Courts (CICC)” (关于修改的决定). The decision took effect from 1 Jan. 2024. According to the amended provisions, the CICC may now have jurisdiction over the first-instance...

中国正式发布《促进和规范数据跨境流动规定》 On March 22, 2024, nearly six months after the release of the “draft Provisions on Regulating and Promoting Cross-border Data Transfer” (the “Draft Rules”), the Cybersecurity Administration of China (the “CAC”) formally released the “Regulations on Facilitating and Regulating Cross-border Data Flow” (the “New Regulations”), which came into effect on the date of release....

On 1 Dec. 2023, the Shanghai Justice Bureau (SJB) granted registration to the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board Shanghai Center (hereinafter the “KCAB Shanghai Center”). The KCAB Shanghai Center becomes the first foreign arbitration institution to establish a business presence in Shanghai, following the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Shanghai Service,...

On March 29, 2024, BIS issued an interim final rule (IFR) updating and correcting its advanced computing and semiconductor regulations[1] published in October 2023 (which we discuss here in Episode III). This marks the third release of such semiconductor-related regulations since the key regulations were issued in October 2022 (which we discuss here in Episode...

On February 28, 2024, President Biden announced an Executive Order (“EO”) directing the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) to promulgate regulations that restrict or prohibit transactions involving certain bulk sensitive personal data or United States Government-related data and countries of concern or covered persons. The DOJ’s initially identified countries are China (including Hong Kong and Macau),.

On 1 Dec. 2023, a local court in Shanghai issued an investigation order for an arbitration institution, marking the first instance of Chinese courts providing such an order to assist an arbitration institution. The Shanghai Arbitration Commission (SHAC) accepted a case involving a dispute over an industrial property purchase agreement, which required the retrieval of...

Key Takeaways: In the field of recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments (REFJ), the 2023 Civil Procedure Law (CPL) improves the rules with an open and inclusive attitude, aiming to enhance the handling of REFJ cases with transparency and standardization and to promote cross-border circulation of judgments. The 2023 CPL, in Art. 300, for the...

On 23 Nov. 2023, the Standing Committee of the Shanghai People’s Congress adopted the “Regulations on the Promotion of the Establishment of the International Commercial Arbitration Center in Shanghai” (上海市推进国际商事仲裁中心建设条例, hereinafter the “Regulations”). Article 20 of the Regulations provides that: Shanghai will explore the possibility of agreeing to conduct ad hoc arbitration in Shanghai for...

On April 2, 2024, U.S. Epoxy Resin Producers Ad Hoc Coalition (hereinafter the “Coalition,” or “Petitioner”), filed a petition for the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties on U.S. imports of certain epoxy resins from China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION The following language describes the imported merchandise from China,...

In case you missed it, below are recent posts from Privacy World covering the latest developments on data privacy, security and innovation. Please reach out to the authors if you are interested in additional information. China Finalizes New Regulations to Relax Personal Data Exports from China | Privacy World Squire Patton Boggs Lawyers to Present...

Over the past decade I’ve submitted dozens– if not hundreds– of Hague Service Requests to the People’s Republic of China. It takes quite a while for proof of service (or failure) to come back, usually many months but sometimes as long as two years. That’s not a typo, and it’s incredibly frustrating for U.S. and...

Nearly six months after the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) was first introduced for public consultation, with its draft regulations proposing to ease outbound data transfers from China (Draft Regulations) (see our article at China Releases Draft Regulation to Significantly Ease Cross-border Data Transfers | Privacy World), the much-awaited final rules on Regulating and Facilitating...