This January, the Foreign Investment Law of the People’s Republic (Draft for soliciting opinions) drafted by the Ministry on Commerce (MoC) was publicized for soliciting social opinions. The draft had made further amendment and improvement based on opinions solicited and will be submitted to the State Council for early promulgation, said insiders. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce has initiated the research and formulation of relevant laws and regulations.

 

Analysts believe that the launch of Foreign Investment Law will signify the termination of the three foreign investment laws issued in the early period of China’s reform and opening up, namely, Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Venture Law, Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise Law and Sino-Foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Law, and the integration of the said three laws on foreign investment.

 

The launch of Foreign Investment Law is a must for China in deepening reform and expanding opening-up. In July 2013, China agreed to have an investment agreement negotiation with the US in the model of pre-establishment national treatment and a negative list. On September 29, China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone was established. And the Special Management Measures (Negative List) for Foreign Investment in China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (2013) was publicized. It is the first negative list in China’s foreign investment field.

 

A standard to evaluate whether the reform in four pilot free trade zones succeeds or not is to see whether the system innovation can be successfully repeated across the country, said Li Chenggang, director of Department of Treaty and Law, MoC. The launch of Foreign Investment Law is a nationwide reproduction of the success in the form of a law, which will surely produce huge reform benefits and boost a higher-level opening-up across the country. In order to adapt to the change of management concepts of foreign enterprises, match international conventional rules and build new foreign management system in the new period, the launch of Foreign Investment Law is in urgent need.

 

“In the new period, Foreign Investment Law is set to be a law for deepening system reform, expanding foreign opening-up, boosting foreign investment and standardizing foreign capital management,” Li said. The model of pre-establishment national treatment and a negative list described in the draft established the foreign capital access management system of “limited permission plus comprehensive report”, improved the national security censorship for foreign investment, strengthened investment promotion and protection and created a more stable, more transparent and a more foreseeable investment environment for foreign investors.