Firm Profile > Han Kun Law Offices > Beijing , China

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Han Kun Law Offices > Firm Profile

The firm: Han Kun is a leading full-service law firm in China.

Over the years, Han Kun has been widely recognised as a leader in complex cross-border and domestic transactions.

Our main practice areas include private equity, mergers and acquisitions, international and domestic capital markets, investment funds, assets management, competition law, banking and finance, aviation finance, foreign direct investment, compliance, private client wealth management, intellectual property and dispute resolution.

We have nearly 400 lawyers located in our four offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

All our lawyers are graduates of top universities and have extensive experience in complex cross-border transactions as counsel to both Chinese and foreign clients.

Further details on memberships of international associations

Han Kun has joined World Services Group (WSG) to become its exclusive China law firm member. WSG is one of the world’s largest multidisciplinary professional services networks, consisting of leading independent law firms, accounting firms and investment banks. WSG currently has more than 120 member firms from over 135 jurisdictions consisting of over 21,000 professionals.

Han Kun has joined Pacific Rim Advisory Council (PRAC) to become its exclusive China law firm member. The Pacific Rim Advisory Council is an international law firm association established in 1984. The association consists of 30 top-tier independent member law firms with over 12,000 lawyers practicing in key business centers around the world.

Legal Developments

Personal Wealth Planning in the Context of Policy Reform

Authors: Han CHEN, Bing XUE, Qihui TANG

With rapid economic growth in China, wealth planning for high net worth individuals and the demand for establishing family offices have become popular topics in the market. In order to help readers understand the legal issues related to wealth inheritance and planning, we have prepared this article to discuss the reforms in foreign exchange administration and taxation policies that have been undertaken in recent years. This article is part of a series to be written on the topic of wealth management in China.

Overview of the New Regulations for Private Schools

Authors: Yaohua HU, Laixiang LI

On January 18, 2017, the State Council officially promulgated the Several Opinions of the State Council on Encouraging Non-governmental Sectors to Run Schools and Promoting the Healthy Development of Non-governmental Education (Guo Fa [2016] No. 81) (the "Opinions"). On the same day, the Ministry of Education published two regulations regarding private schools on its official website, namely the Notice of the Ministry of Education and other Four Departments on the Issuance of Detailed Rules for the Implementation of Private Schools Classification Registration (Jiao Fa [2016] No. 19) (the “Registration Rules”) and the Notice of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on the Issuance of Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Supervision and Management of For-Profit Private Schools (Jiao Fa [2016] No. 20) ( the “Management Rules”, which, together with the Opinions and the Registration Rules, are referred to as the “Regulations” ). The Regulations mentioned above are regarded as key rules in the private education industry and supplement the Private Education Promotion Law of the PRC (revised in 2016)1 (the “Promotion Law”), as amended on November 7, 2016. The Regulations will help to promote private school classification administration reforms and facilitate the implementation of related preferential policies. This article will provide a brief overview of the Regulations based upon relevant provisions of the Promotion Law.

Internet News Information Service Industry Reshuffle?

Authors: Sheng LI, Xi YAN

On May 2, 2017, the Cyberspace Administration of China promulgated the Administrative Provisions for Internet News Information Services (“Provisions"), which will come into effect on June 1, 2017 and replace the existing Regulations for the Administration of Internet News Information Services (“Regulations”) which was promulgated in 2005.

Drug Procurement GPOs: Antitrust Law Compliance Matters

Authors: Chen MA, Da SHI, Junfeng CUI

The drug market in China has long been subject to both market competition and administrative control. While the government leaves drug prices to market fundamentals in principle, it also actively intervenes in the case of market failures, which includes adjusting the market structure to regulate drug prices.

CII, Core Cybersecurity Law System Issued

Authors: David TANG, Min ZHU, Jundong GUO, Effy SUN

On July 10, 2017, the Cyberspace Administration of China (“CAC”) promulgated the Regulations on the Security Protection of Critical Information Infrastructure (Draft for Comment) (“Draft Regulations”), which will be open for public comment until August 10, 2017.

The Reach of Shareholder Look-through

Authors: Yaohua HU 丨 Xin DU 丨 Yikai WANG 丨 Yunting YE

The PRC Law on Securities (“Securities Law”) and relevant laws and regulations strictly prohibit the unauthorized issuance of shares to the public (the issuance of shares either to nonspecified persons or to specified persons which results in the issuer having more than 200 shareholders). In practice, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (“CSRC”) is intently focused on whether the number of shareholders exceeds 200 upon applying certain shareholder “look-through” rules. In general, “look-through” means to examine the upstream shareholding structure of companies or the subscription structure of private equity (“PE”) funds or asset management plans to determine the ultimate natural person, listed company or State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (“SASAC”) investors. The scope of the look-through rules is an important factor that affects the 200 shareholder threshold determination, although this concept continues to be ambiguous. By analyzing the relevant laws, regulations and cases, this article discusses the scope of look-through in determining the number of shareholders in different types of capital market transactions, including IPOs, backdoor listings, asset purchases through share issuances (not constituting a backdoor listing), cash subscriptions for private share placements of A-share listed companies, public issuances of A-share listed companies (share allotments, additional share issuances), NEEQ listings and the private placements of NEEQ listed companies.

Hong Kong’s Recently Passed Ordinance on Third Party Funding and HKIAC’s Consultation

on Proposed Amendments to the 2013 Rules

on Proposed Amendments to the 2013 Rules

In this June, a long-awaited law was passed and enacted by the Hong Kong Legislative Council, clearing the way for third parties to fund arbitration in Hong Kong.

Repossession of Aircraft in China: Legal Issues and Options for Lessors

Authors: Shu WANG, Jun ZHU

While the aviation industry continues to expand quickly in the PRC market, it is still possible that things can go wrong and an individual lessee may default under a lease when it faces tough times due to various reasons. For all lessors, whether they are financial lessors or operating lessors, it is essential to have a good knowledge of their enforcement rights in the worst scenario and the actions that they can do to recover their aircraft when all other remedies have failed.

Shanghai Circulates Incentive Policy 2.0 for Foreign-Invested R&D Centers

Authors: David TANG, Jun LI, Serina WEI

On October 16, 2017, Shanghai Municipal People’s government circulated the Several Opinions on Further Supporting Foreign-Invested Research and Development Centers to Participate in Shanghai’s Construction of a Science and Technology Innovation Center with Global Influence (Hu Fu Fa [2017] No. 79, hereinafter “Opinions”), which can be regarded as a policy 2.0 to promote the establishment and development of foreign-invested research and development centers (“R&D Centers”) following the issuance in 2012 of the Several Opinions of Shanghai Municipality on Encouraging the Establishment of Foreign-Invested Research and Development Centers by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality and the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission.

The Unveiling of Cybersecurity Reviews

Authors: David TANG, Min ZHU

On May 2, 2017, the Cyberspace Administration of China (“CAC”) issued a trial version of the Measures for the Security Review of Network Products and Services (Trial) (“Trial Measures”), which are slated to become effective on June 1. The Trial Measures are another supporting document of the Cybersecurity Law that is intended to enact the cybersecurity review requirements of Article 35 of the Cybersecurity Law, following its issuance on November 7, 2016.

Personal Information Protection from the Perspective of Criminal Law

Authors: David TANG, Min ZHU, Will HUANG

On May 9, 2017, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate held a press conference to release the Interpretations of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Handling of Criminal Cases Involving Infringement of Citizens’ Personal Information (the “Interpretations”), which will be effective from June 1, 2017.

New Trends in Overseas Investment Administration

Authors: Gloria XU, Claire XIAO

On August 4, 2017, the Guiding Opinions on Further Guiding and Regulating the Direction of Overseas Investment (Guo Ban Fa [2017] No. 74) " (the “Guiding Opinions”) was jointly promulgated, with the approval of the State Council, by the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”), the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”), the People's Bank of China (“PBOC”) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (“MFA”). The Guiding Opinions have drawn wide attention by further categorizing overseas direct investments as “encouraged,” “restricted” or “prohibited” based upon the previous “negative list” for overseas direct investment. In this article, we will summarize the main content of the Guiding Opinions by comparing them to the existing principles governing overseas direct investment in light of recent trends related to the supervision of overseas direct investment.

Guidelines on Data Export Security Assessments

David TANG, Min ZHU

On May 27, 2017, the National Standardization Technical Committee for Information Security (“Technical Committee”) promulgated a draft for comment of the Information Security Technology – Guidelines for Data Cross-Border Transfer Security Assessment (Draft) (the “Guidelines”), in order to supplement the personal information and important data export assessment requirements stipulated under Cybersecurity Law, which came into force on June 1, 2017

Comments on the Measures on Security Assessments for Personal Information

and Important Data to be Transmitted Abroad (for Public Comment)

David TANG, Min ZHU

On April 11, 2017, the Cyberspace Administration of China (“CAC”) issued the Measures on Security Assessments for Personal Information and Important Data to be Transmitted Abroad (for Public Comment) (“Measures”), seeking public comment. The Measures will act to support the Cybersecurity Law of the People’s Republic of China (“Cybersecurity Law”) which comes into effect on June 1, 2017. As one of the important supporting documents to the Cybersecurity Law, the Measures are intended to specifically implement the personal information and important data export security assessment requirements found in Article 37. Although the current Measures are only a draft for comment, much regulatory focus has been placed on the cross-border transfer of data.

Brief Comment on the General Provisions of the Civil Law

Author: Han CHEN

As a prelude to the civil code of the People's Republic of China, the General Provisions of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China (the “General Provisions”) was adopted with votes at the Fifth Session of the 12th National People's Congress on March 15, 2017 and will enter into force on October 1, 2017. This marks an important first step of China on its path to compiling a civil code.

Hong Kong New Board – To Embrace the New Economy

Authors: Han Kun Hong Kong Associate Law Firm Yurong YE, Felix MIAO, Fredric HUANG

Recently, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (“SEHK”) has published the New Board Concept Paper for the purpose of seeking market feedback on SEHK’s proposed establishment of a New Board. This newsletter is a brief introduction to the New Board Concept Paper.

PRC Court for the first time Recognizes and Enforces a Commercial U.S. Court Judgment

Authors: Andy LIAO, Alan LIN

On June 30, 2017, the Wuhan Intermediate People's Court ("Wuhan Court") issued a verdict (the "Case") ordering the recognition and enforcement of a commercial judgment rendered by the Los Angeles County Superior Court, California, USA (“LA Court”). This marks the first time for a PRC court to recognize and enforce a commercial judgment from a U.S. court, which is of landmark significance and is thus noteworthy for all law practitioners and interested parties

Foreign Direct Investment Law

Shanghai further optimizeslocal policies to promote the establishment of regional headquarters of multinational corporations.

David TANG | Jun LI | Serina WEI

Shanghai, as the leader of further opening up and attracting foreign investment in China, has recently promulgated the revised Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Encouraging Multinational Corporations to Establish Regional Headquarters ("2017 Regulations") on February 14 2017, which further optimizes the investment, economic development and governmental service environments, in order to spur multinational corporations ("MNC") to consider Shanghai as their first choice for establishing regional headquarters.

AMAC Issued New Guidance on Private Fund Service Business

Authors: James Yong WANG, Shawn Xiao DING

On March 1, 2017, Asset Management Association of China (the “AMAC”) promulgated the Administrative Measures for Private Investment Fund Service Business (Trial) (the “Administrative Measures”) which became effective on the same day. The Administrative Measures superseded the Guidelines on Fund Outsourcing Services (Trial) issued in February 2015 (the “2015 Guidelines”) and became the new guidelines for institutions that desire to provide various professional services for private fund within China.