The China Law Blog focuses on the practical aspects of Chinese law and how it impacts foreign companies that do business in or with China. The goal is to help readers understand what works and what does not work and what businesspeople can do to use the law to their advantage. China Law Blog’s aim is to assist businesses already in China or planning to go into China, not to break new ground in legal theory or policy.

Part time employees in China

China Expat Pay: Splitting with Hong Kong is Illegal and Dangerous

As China steps up its tax enforcement against both foreign companies and foreigners, we are seeing increasing instances where expat employees working in China are having their salaries “split” by their Chinese or foreign company employers. We strongly counsel our employer clients against doing this sort of salary splitting and we even more strongly counsel

manufacturing red flags

China Expat Employment Contracts: Red Flags

As part of our China employment work, our China employment lawyers are often tasked with helping expats navigate the China employee onboarding process, including reviewing and revising their employment-related documents, such as employment contracts. This involves our making sure our clients’ contracts protect their interests and achieve their goals and minimize the likelihood of confusion

China translators

China Unreliable Entity Regulations

On September 19, China’s Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) issued the Regulations on Unreliable Entity List (“Regulations”), which took effect on the same date. Though we have not seen an actual list of unreliable entities, the Regulations set out the general principles for the Unreliable Entity List (UEL) system. Who can be included on the UEL? The

cybersecurity

China Cybersecurity: No Place to Hide

Contents of this Article: I. Cybersecurity with Chinese Characteristics: The Party is the leader of everything. II. China’s Comprehensive Network Security Program III. China’s Regulatory System: The Multi-Level Protection Scheme (MLPS 2.0) IV. Cryptography is not a solution. V. A Concrete Example: The Golden Tax Malware Program  VI. How Companies are Pushed into an Insecure

code

SaaS in China: Resistance is Futile

Software as a Service (SaaS) works great when confined to the Internet of a single country or region such as North America or the European Union. The core concept of SaaS is that an open Internet exists on which SaaS can be built and delivered. But what happens when companies attempt to deliver SaaS into

pipe bursting

Stop Your IP and Key Information from Leaking when Manufacturing Overseas

This post focuses on protecting against intellectual property losses arise from what we call leakage — the situation where a company has a contract preventing its foreign counter-party (usually a foreign manufacturer) from using its proprietary information, but fails to prevent that information from leaking to third parties not bound by such a contract. When

china law blog

Mitigating China Supply Chain Risk: Should I Stay or Should I Go, Part 2

This is Part 2 in the series Mitigating China Supply Chain Risk: Should I Stay or Should I Go? by David Alexander* This part gets into the nitty-gritty of what it takes to find new suppliers. We have an American client who has approached us several times over the past 5-7 years with questions or

china law blog

China Forced Labor: Be On the Right Side of History

By Roberto De Vido* The Economist recently noted in a column headline that Forced labour in China presents dilemmas for fashion brands. The writer introduced the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), which he described as “a nearly 3m-strong paramilitary-style business in western China” founded in 1954 to provide economic incentives for recently demobilized soldiers

International manufacturing lawyers

Verifying and Monitoring Your Chinese Suppliers

The below post is by Renaud Anjoran, CEO of Sofeast, a leading Asia-focused quality assurance, product engineering, and supply chain management solutions company. Our law firm’s international manufacturing lawyers have worked with Renaud on countless Asian sourcing and manufacturing transactions over the last fifteen or so years.  Most China commentators have been focusing on the

China Employment Handbook

China Employer Rules and Regulations: You Need This

China employers must have written employment contracts with each of their full-time employees. Not having a written employment contract exposes employers to penalties (payable to their employees), administrative fines and the risk of being deemed to have entered an open-term employment contract with the employees lacking the written contract. Most companies now understand this, but