Earlier this year, China released the final version of the national standard on personal information protection, GB/T 35273-2017 Information Technology – Personal Information Security Specification (信息安全技术 个人信息安全规范) (the “Specification”). The Specification will take effect on May 1, 2018. The Specification is not a law or regulation that requires mandatory compliance. However, it likely will be
If you are an expat working or seeking a job in China, your China employment contract matters. If you plan to travel to China to take a new job there (or even just take a new job there) you should do all of the following Have your proposed employment contract checked by a China employment
Online gaming in China is subject to the same overall regulatory framework that applies to software as a service (SaaS) in China. The regulatory framework comprises no less than a dozen key components that have developed over the past twenty years or so. The development has not evolved neatly. Earlier regulations have not been comprehensively
Not a month goes by without a company telling me how great their relationship is with their Chinese counterparty, be it the Chinese company with which they are contemplating a joint venture or the Chinese company that manufactures their widgets. As a lawyer, my thoughts when hearing this sort of thing tends to be as
Smart Chinese manufacturers know that with their costs rising, they need to be able to distinguish themselves from their peers. One of the ways they are choosing to do this (even more frequently than in the past) is by copying and selling products they are making for their foreign customers. See Your China Factory as
The basic rule for foreign companies hiring an employee in China is that you cannot do so unless and until you have a Chinese legal entity (e.g., a WFOE), and violating this rule can (and nearly always does) cause problems. See Doing Business in China with Deportation or Worse Hanging Over Your Head. What though
1. China Prohibits Foreign Investment in Online Game Publishing Goreign companies are not allowed to invest in online game publishing in China. Reiterated in the 2016 Administration Rules for Online Publishing Service (2016 OPS Rules), online games are considered online publications and offering such publications via information networks is providing online publishing services. According to
Companies often use share incentive programs to motivate their employees. It is possible for a PRC employee of a foreign company’s Chinese subsidiary to participate in the foreign company’s employee share incentive plan (“SIP”). However, due to China’s currency controls, whether such an employee can actually “cash out” on the benefits of such a program
The PRC National People’s Congress last week promulgated a second discussion draft of the PRC E-Commerce Law (电子商务法草案). This statute is an attempt to gain greater control over China’s online consumer markets, which have exploded with little regulation. The lack of regulation has not slowed development of e-commerce in China. The success of online marketing
China has many special laws/rules related to protecting female workers, especially those who are pregnant, nursing, or on maternity leave. For example, Chinese law generally prohibits employers from unilaterally terminating the employment contract of a pregnant or nursing employee or an employee on maternity leave. The only exception to this is that the employee may be unilaterally
