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1st Ld-Writethru: China revises inbound investment laws

Xinhua, September 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

China's top legislature on Saturday revised four laws regulating inbound investment, with an easing of rules for foreign and Taiwanese investors looking to start businesses across China.

Legislators voted for and passed the revisions at the close of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee's bi-monthly session, which ran from Monday to Saturday.

Provisions have been added to four laws: the law on foreign-capital enterprises, the law on Chinese-foreign equity joint ventures, the law on Chinese-foreign contractual joint ventures, and the law on the protection of investment of Taiwanese compatriots.

All the revisions will take effect on Oct. 1, this year.

The revisions have suspended administrative approvals for foreign and Taiwanese investors setting up ventures regulated by the four laws, following successful trials in free trade zones (FTZ) in Shanghai, Guangdong, Tianjin and Fujian.

Such investors are only required to report business plans to local regulators if their business is on a "negative list."

In the first seven months of 2016, 5,783 enterprises have been set up in the four FTZs by foreign investors and those from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, securing inbound investment of 7.2 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 66.3 percent, Tang Wenhong, director of the Foreign Capital Department of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), told a subsequent press conference.

Trials in FTZs have proven to be "effective," said Tang, adding that the new revisions mean a more open investment environment in China and more convenience for investors.

Revising the laws is a necessary and feasible move that conforms to the rule of law, said the NPC law committee in a review report to the lawmakers.

Also on Saturday, the MOC released a new set of supporting measures on foreign investors and those from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao reporting to the government, in a bid to avoid the regulatory vacuum after the revisions entering into force.

The MOC is soliciting public opinion on the document.

Chinese authorities have been mulling further revisions to the four laws, targeting major problems exposed by the ongoing reform drive, said Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng while delivering a report to the legislature at the session. Endi