McDermott Will & Emery (LexBlog China)

This post was guest authored by lawyers from MWE China Law Offices, McDermott Will & Emery’s strategic alliance in Shanghai.  Data compliance in China’s health care industry is multifaceted and highly sensitive, and applies to numerous types of data generated across the continuum of care. Multiple pieces of legislation prescribe complex regulatory requirements governing different...

As Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) takes effect, companies around the world are racing to implement compliance measures. In parallel with the GDPR’s development, China’s new data protection framework has emerged over the past year and is in the final stages of implementing the remaining details. With similar and often overlapping obligations, full compliance...

The Chinese government announced on March 13, 2018, that it will consolidate the duties of three competition agencies into a new government agency to handle all antitrust matters. While it is too early to tell how this reorganization will impact China’s review of transactions and conduct cases, we believe that this change could lead to...

In the final days of 2017, the vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) submitted a report to the Standing Committee of the NPC detailing the Network Security Law enforcement inspection project that began earlier in the year. This inspection had focused on five key points under the government’s overall...

China’s new data protection framework clearly creates a requirement for local storage and conducting a security assessment before personal information or important data is shared with other jurisdictions, but it is currently much less clear what types of entities fall under this requirement. Localization and Transfer Assessment Requirements Related to CII Operators Under the People’s...

With more and more expatriates working in China, and some even applying for long-term residence permits, complicated applications procedures have been deemed an impediment to attracting more talented expatriates. In later 2015, for the purpose of facilitating the establishment of the “technology innovation center,” Shanghai issued several local policies encouraging more senior level expatriates...

On December 28, 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China released the newly revised Classification Catalogue of Telecommunications Services, which is due to take effect as of March 1st, 2016. This round of revision has long been awaited since its last amendment in 2003, and is expected to reflect the advancement and...

The strong correlation between economic instability and corruption is a worrying reality for China’s already challenging legal environment. Digital due diligence can be of huge value in uncovering violations, as long as it is utilized correctly. Read the full article.

China’s current compliance challenges are a continuous source of concern for multi-national companies operating in China.    When conducting internal investigations, China has strong privacy protections for its employees.  Overstepping legal limits can lead to a variety of issues, from inadmissibility of evidence to tort actions, to criminal penalties in extreme cases. For more about the...

In order to direct the ongoing reform of Chinese public hospitals, the Chinese central government recently issued the Guiding Opinions on Pilot Comprehensive Reform of Urban Public Hospitals, which highlight various strategies to replace the current profit-driven model, reduce patients’ medical expenditures, improve the current management system, establish appropriate remuneration mechanisms to...

On 4 May 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, and four other ministerial departments of the Chinese central government jointly published the Notice of Promoting the Reform of Drug Pricing. As of 1 June 2015, the price ceiling for most drugs has been eliminated, with the intention...

On July 24, 2014, the district court in Animal Sci. Prod., Inc. et al. v. China Nat’l Metals & Minerals Imp. and Exp. Corp. et al., Case No. 2:05-cv-04376 (D.N.J.), dismissed direct purchaser plaintiff’s Amended Complaint without prejudice in favor of magnesite producers accused of engaging in a price fixing scheme for magnesite and magnesite...

Beginning on October 28, 2013, all merger control cases before China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) will have to be filed, and only be filed, in electronic form.  In the past, it was required by MOFCOM to provide both hard and soft copies (i.e., paper or scanned copies) of all materials submitted.  The new filing system...

Recent events in China underscore the importance of dealing effectively with whistleblowers. To read the full article, click here.

by Henry L.T. Chen, Frank Schoneveld, Alex An and Jared Nelson Recently Shanghai High People’s Court reached a decision in the first lawsuit involving resale price maintenance (RPM) since China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) came into effect five years ago.  Shortly thereafter, a key enforcement agency announced RPM-related fines against six milk powder companies, five of which...

by Henry Chen, Frank Schoneveld and Alex An China’s Ministry of Commerce recently issued two new draft regulations.  The first provides a wider range of potential remedies to obtain the clearance of a concentration (e.g., a merger, acquisition, joint venture, etc.); the other defines the standards for “simple” merger cases that are eligible for a...

Contact: Frank Schoneveld, Kevin Qian, John Huang and Winston Zhao McDermott Will & Emery is pleased to offer “Distribution in China – Legal Issues*,” a one-stop resource covering distribution in China, including: The business models and legal structures most commonly used for distribution in China Important issues to consider in the design of a distribution...

by Frank Schoneveld Corporations doing business in China, based on their intellectual property (IP) rights, need to be aware of the potentially serious impact of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law and other antitrust rules.  China’s Anti-Monopoly Law prohibits the holder of IP rights from abusing those rights when it has a dominant market position.  Such dominance can...

Contact: Frank Schoneveld, Kevin Qian, John Huang and Winston Zhao “Distribution in China – Legal Issues” is a four-part series.  Part I discussed the business models and legal structures most commonly used for distribution in China.  Part II looked at important issues to consider in the design of a distribution system for China, such as...

Contact: Frank Schoneveld, Kevin Qian, John Huang and Winston Zhao “Distribution in China – Legal Issues” is a four-part series.  Part I discussed the business models and legal structures most commonly used for distribution in China.  Part II looked at important issues to consider in the design of a distribution system for China, such as taxation,...

by Frank Schoneveld Last week one of China’s antitrust regulators, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), imposed fines of RMB419 million (+/- US$72 million) on two of the most famous producers of Chinese liquor, Moutai and WuLiangye.  The fines were imposed for restricting the minimum price at which their distributors could resell the liquor....

For more information, please contact Frank Schoneveld, Kevin Qian, John Huang or Winston Zhao. “Distribution in China – Legal Issues” is a four-part series.  Part I discusses the business models and legal structures most commonly used for distribution in China.  Part II will look at important issues to consider in the design of a distribution...

by Henry L.T. Chen, Frank Schoneveld, Jared Nelson and Sean Pan China’s Ministry of Commerce recently announced that it opened four investigations during 2012 into suspected non-compliance with China’s merger control notification procedures.  The outcomes of the investigations are still uncertain, but the actions clearly show increased efforts to ensure compliance through enforcement of the...

by Henry L.T. Chen, Frank Schoneveld, Jared Nelson and Sean Pan Recently China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) imposed an RMB 353 million (USD 56.7 million) penalty against an international price-fixing cartel of LCD manufacturers, the largest the NDRC has ever imposed for antitrust infringement.  The penalty is China’s first enforcement action against an...

by Frank Schoneveld In the last six months, China’s antitrust enforcement agencies have signed five Memorandums of Cooperation with antitrust authorities in the United States, European Union, South Korea, Australia and Brazil. During this same period, Chinese antitrust enforcement agencies have substantially increased their personnel resources.  So far, in 2012 more than 10 cartel investigations..

by David J. Levine and Pamela D. Walther As a result of several recent actions, developers of solar energy projects may face increased costs.  Two cases pending before the World Trade Organization challenge domestic content requirements of solar sector feed-in-tariff programs, and China, the European Union and the United States have initiated actions under domestic...

by Henry L.T. Chen, Frank Schoneveld, Jared Nelson and Sean Pan Several major actions taken against price-fixing cartels by China’s enforcement authorities in the last year have sent a clear message that this is not a temporary campaign.  It is a new reality. To read the full article, click here.

by Henry L.T. Chen, David Henry, Frank Schoneveld and Philipp Werner On September 20 , 2012, European Commission officials concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chinese officials in respect of antitrust law.  Signed by the Directorate General for Competition and two of China’s antitrust law enforcement authorities, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)...

On August 2, 2012, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) published in the Federal Register its preliminary determinations in the antidumping (AD) investigations of Wind Towers from China and Vietnam.  DOC calculated preliminary AD margins for the Chinese mandatory and cooperative respondents ranging from 20.85 to 30.93 percent, while non-participating producers will face a margin...

by Lawrence Hu and May Lu Stock option plans, stock appreciation rights plans, performance shares, phantom and restricted shares and other equity incentive plans may apply for registration under China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).  In February 2012, SAFE issued a Notice on Administration of Foreign Exchange Used for Domestic Individuals’ Participation in Equity...