Monday, July 18, 2005
More about the Chinese legal system for business
There are three investment vehicles for foreigners doing business in China
- Equity joint venture
- Cooperative or contract joint venture
- Wholely foreign-owned enterprise
General laws: PRC foreign economic contract law.
Accounting: PRC Accounting Law. Laws Concerning Enterprises with Foreign Investments. The General Accounting Standard for Enterprises. The Specific Accounting Standards.
Equity Joint Venture: PRC Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Venture Law. PRC Sino-Foreign Equity Join Venture Law Implementing Regulations.
Cooperative Venture: PRC Sino-Foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Law. Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the PRC Sino-Foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Law Regulations.
The practical effect of the People's Republic of China legal system on our business operations in China can be viewed from two separate but intertwined considerations.
First, as a matter of substantive law, the Foreign Invested Enterprise laws provide significant protection from government interference. In addition, these laws guarantee the full enjoyment of the benefits of corporate Articles and contracts to Foreign Invested Enterprise participants. These laws, however, do impose standards concerning corporate formation and governance, which are not qualitatively different from the General Corporation Laws of the several states. Therefore, as a practical matter, a Foreign Invested Enterprise needs to retain or have ready access to a local Chinese law firm for routine compliance purposes.
Similarly, the People's Republic of China accounting laws mandate accounting practices, which are not co-existent with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The China accounting laws require that an annual "statutory audit" be performed in accordance with People's Republic of China accounting standards and that the books of account of Foreign Invested Enterprises are maintained in accordance with Chinese accounting laws. Article 14 of the People's Republic of China Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise Law requires a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise to submit certain periodic fiscal reports and statements to designate financial and tax authorities, at the risk of business license revocation. As a practical matter, a Foreign Invested Enterprise must retain a local Chinese accounting firm that has experience with both the Chinese standards and U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. This type of accounting firm can serve the dual function of performing the annual Chinese statutory audit and preparing the Foreign Invested Enterprise's financial statements in a form acceptable for an independent U.S. certified public accountant to issue an audit report in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Auditing Standards.
Second, while the enforcement of substantive rights may appear less clear than United States procedures, the Foreign Invested Enterprises and Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises are Chinese registered companies which enjoy the same status as other Chinese registered companies in business-to-business dispute resolution. Because the terms of the respective Articles of Association provide that all business disputes pertaining to Foreign Invested Enterprises are to be resolved by the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce in Stockholm, Sweden applying Chinese substantive law, the Chinese minority partner in our joint venture companies will not assume a privileged position regarding such disputes. Any award rendered by this arbitration tribunal is, by the express terms of the respective Articles of Association, enforceable in accordance with the "United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (1958)." Therefore, as a practical matter, although no assurances can be given, the Chinese legal infrastructure, while different in operation from its United States counterpart, should not present any significant impediment to the operation of Foreign Invested Enterprises.
