In April 2010, China's State Council issued guidelines
aimed at improving the legal environment for foreign investment
(Guidelines). The Guidelines do not have a
normative value, but they instruct the various governmental
departments under the State Council's supervision to update
or adopt implementing regulations.
The Guidelines are considered by many as an effort aimed at
reassuring foreign investors. Indeed, just a few months before the
issue of the Guidelines, foreign investors had expressed concerns
about draft regulations on government procurement giving preference
to Chinese-owned suppliers. More recently, foreign investors have
raised questions about China's new "Plan for National
Security Review Mechanism", which finally indicated
China's intention to make operational the provisions
subjecting foreign investments to a national interest test in the
Anti Monopoly Law (AML) and the Provisions on
Merger and Acquisition of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign
