.svg?rev=a492cc1069df46bdab38f8cb66573f1c&hash=2617C9FE8A7B0BD1C43269B5D5ED9AE2)
China Law Update begins 2009 with a look at five sets of rules and regulations that were enacted or took effect in late 2008 and might be of interest to foreign investors and foreign-invested companies doing business with and in China.
We first summarize an effort by the China Securities Regulatory Commission to facilitate the launch of margin trading on China's securities markets. The Provisional Regulations for the Examination and Approval of the Business Scope of Securities Companies, which took effect on December 1, 2008, build upon previous, tentative steps towards enabling margin trading and reflect the government's desire to stimulate China's plummeting securities markets by allowing investors to leverage capital. (See page 4.)
Next we follow up on a trio of reports from the December 2008 issue of China Law Update on changes by the State Council to China's tax laws. In mid-December, the Ministry of Finance issued three sets of implementing rules to carry out those tax reforms: the Implementing Rules for the Provisional Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Value-Added Taxes (see page 6); the Implementing Rules for the Provisional Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Business Taxes (page 9); and the Implementing Rules for the Provisional Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Consumption Taxes (page 11).
Our final summary looks at an attempt by China's Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate to curtail corruption, and bribery in particular. Our summary of the Opinions on Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Handling of Criminal Cases of Commercial Bribery begins on page 12.
