It has been four years since China became a member of the World Trade Organisation. During that time it has implemented a number of changes to its formerly command-based economy to open up its markets to foreign investment and competition. The latest move to "westernise" itself and improve the legal and business environment for foreign investors came at the start of 2006 when wholesale revisions to the Company Law of the People's Republic of China (PRC) came into force.
The revised Company Law has incorporated wholesale revisions to the regulation of Chinese corporate entities – the most significant of these include changes to registered capital requirements, corporate governance and the increased protection of minority shareholders. The revisions to the Company Law affect primarily the regulation of the two most common forms of domestic enterprise namely limited liability companies ("LLCs") and companies limited by shares, but will also have an incremental impact on the way
