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ARTICLE · 11 JANUARY 2019

China Rolls Out New Draft Foreign Investment Law

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China has accelerated its foreign investment legislative process, in part as a goodwill gesture before resuming face-to-face trade talks with its U.S. counterparts.

ChinaGovernment, Public Sector
Lester Ross
Lester Ross
Jennifer Zhao
Jennifer Zhao
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China has accelerated its foreign investment legislative process, in part as a goodwill gesture before resuming face-to-face trade talks with its U.S. counterparts. The National People's Congress released the Draft PRC Foreign Investment Law ("Draft Law") on December 26, 2018 for public comment through February 24, 2019. It constitutes a significant departure from the draft released by the Ministry of Commerce almost four years ago on January 19, 2015. The Draft Law addresses key demands by the U.S. to end the trade war, including protection of foreign investors' intellectual property rights ("IPR"), prohibition of forced technology transfer by administrative means, national treatment of foreign-invested enterprises, and equal treatment in government procurement processes for products produced in China by foreign-invested enterprises. However, the Draft Law's provisions are lacking in detail and leave many areas of longstanding concern unaddressed. It remains to be seen

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