MINISTRY OF COMMERCE
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

In 2015, the MOFCOM earnestly implemented the deployment of comprehensively deepening reform and ruling of the country by law, focusing on the construction of a new system of open economy and commercial centers, and making new progress in commerce legal construction.

Comprehensive improvement in commercial legislation. In the area of foreign investment, we unified domestic and foreign investment legislation, studying and drafting Foreign Investment Law. We carried out post-establishment national treatment and negative list management mode, structuring unified management of foreign investment access and regulatory system during and after the event, perfecting national security review system of foreign investment. We accelerated the study and revise of regulations in the areas, including foreign-funded leasing trade, foreign-invested listed companies and shareholding transfer of investors in foreign-invested enterprises. In the area of domestic trade, we steadily carried forward the legislation of Commodity Circulation Law, clarifying the boundary between the government and the market, regulating the overall process of commodity circulation, and building a unified and open market system of commodity circulation with orderly competition, security and efficiency as well as integration of urban and rural area. We participated in the legislation of Electronic Commerce Law, cooperating in enactment of administrative regulations, including the recycling and disassembling of scrapped motor vehicles, pawn industry, and the regulation of commercial franchise and financial leasing enterprises. We accelerated the deliberation of regulations on the service network of direct sale corporations, non-store retailing, single-purpose commercial prepaid card and car sales. In the area of foreign trade, we revised Investigation Rule of Review during Dumping and Dumping Margin, Hearing Investigation Rule, and Investigation Rule of Anti-dumping and Anti-subsidy Questionnaire, studying and drafting Method for Regulation on International Tendering Agencies of Mechanical and Electrical Products. In the area of export control, we implemented the requirements of overall concept of national security of the Party’s Central, leading the drafting of Export Control Act and solving the key and difficult issues, taking shape a comprehensive and systematic, scientific and effective, synergistic and powerful systems of list, permit, law enforcement and coordination, perfecting the export management of dual-use items and military products, and safeguarding national security and development benefits. In the area of foreign aid, we introduced Method for Qualification for Enterprises of Foreign Aid Projects (for Trial), Method for Management of Complete Foreign Aid Project (for Trial), Method for Management of Material Foreign Aid Project (for Trial) and Method for Management of Technology Foreign Aid Project (for Trial), promptly revising Method for Management of Foreign Aid Material Inspection and Passage and Method for Management of Foreign Aid Identification Utilization.

In-depth promotion of law-based governance. Focusing on the transformation of government functions, we deeply advanced the policy of streamlining administration and delegating power to the lower levels and the policy of law-based governance. We formulated Program of the Ministry of Commerce for Further Strengthening Law-based Governance, raising requests for improvement of the ability and standard of law-based governance under the new situation. In accordance with the requests of the registered capital registration system reform of the State Council, we revised 29 rules and normative documents. We investigated administration and law enforcement of domestic trade in an all-round way, studying the reform of the system of commercial administration and law enforcement. We managed 11 administrative review cases and 10 administrative lawsuit cases, studying the improvement of the procedures of administrative punishment of the MOFCOM. We stepped forward the normalization of recruitment and selection of lawyers, formulating Administrative Measures for Purchasing Legal Services.
We opened tendering to update and reconstruct the layer bank of the MOFCOM and took full advantage of global legal resources so as to provide support for international economic and trade disputes. With the focus on the hot and hard issues in commercial laws, we carried out training of law popularization in commerce system in such areas as Heilongjiang Province and Sichuan Province. We cooperated with Germany to hold China-Germany Economic Law Training Class, comprehensively improving legal quality and standard of staff in commercial departments.

Active participation in formulating international economic and trade rules. We held 6 rounds of Sino-US Investment Treaty Negotiation, exchanging and improving the offers of negative lists, striving forward in the negotiations in accordance with the consensus reached by both heads of the state. We held 5 rounds of Sino-EU Investment Treaty Negotiation, basically reaching a consensus on the range of treaty subject, and making arrangement for the merging of negotiation texts. We formally signed Sino-Turkey Bilateral Investment Treaty Negotiation. We actively propelled Sino-Kazakhstan Investment Treaty Negotiation and Sino-Iran Investment Treaty Negotiation. We took charge of negotiations of issues such as investment of free trade agreement, resolving disputes, transparency, intellectual property right and articles of law. We probed into establishing legal advisory system for free trade negotiation. We led the negotiation of agreement for solving the disputes in The Cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement. We participated in the related meetings of UNCITRAL, WTO, OECD and APEC, actively elaborating the Chinese stance on the issues such as investment, the settlement of disputes, intellectual property right, bankruptcy, security interests the settlement of online disputes, and profoundly participating in the formulation of international economic and trade rules.

Proper settlement of trade and investment disputes according to law. We actively employed WTO rules to fight back against trade protectionism. We energetically advanced our lawsuit against the US anti-dumping measures, lawsuits against EU anti-dumping measures for fastener and against poultry customs quota. We urged the US to implement the verdict made by WTO on our lawsuits against the US anti-dumping measures and against the US anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures, working hard to let our enterprises to obtain actual benefit from wining the lawsuits. We properly coped with the US lawsuits against our measures for demonstration base of foreign trade transformation and upgrading as well as public service platform , and against our measures for anti-dumping and anti-subsidy of oriented electrical steel, with the EU and Japan’s lawsuit against our measures for anti-dumping of seamless steel tube, with Canada’s lawsuit against our measures for anti-dumping of pulp, and with Mexico’s lawsuit against our subsidy of textile and apparel, all of these helping to safeguard our national and industrial benefits. We participated in the third party cases in WTO disputes, building a favorable legal circumstance for our export. We properly dealt with the enforcement of the US Lawsuit against our measures for electronic payment and the WTO disputes of the US, the EU and Japan’s lawsuit against our measures for export management of products related to rare earth, wolfram and molybdenum. We appropriately handled the cases of international investment disputes, probing the formation of system and mechanism for preventing and responding to the international investment disputes.

Carrying forward legal exchange and cooperation between China and foreign countries. We held Sino-US legal exchange activities and Sino-US dialogue of administrative law. Under the Sino-Germany cooperation projects, we exchanged and deliberated the issues of commodity circulation, market surveillance of electronic commerce and export control. We promoted International Development Law Organization to establish the office in China. We convoked Sino-US, Sino-EU, Sino-Swiss, Sino-Japanese and Sino-Russian working group meetings of intellectual property right, developing Sino-US exchange of legislation of intellectual property right, promoting the enforcement of Sino-US and Sino-EU cooperation projects of intellectual property right, and establishing the BRICS cooperation mechanism of intellectual property right. We conducted negotiation of Sino-EU geographical indication agreement text. We continued to carry on overseas protection and aid for right protection of intellectual property right, setting up service station for intellectual property right of the Chinese enterprises, introducing Guidelines for Intellectual Property Right of Overseas Enterprises, releasing the list of overseas service agencies of intellectual property right and the case base, and establishing information submission platform of overseas rights protection cases.

In 2016, the MOFCOM will adapt to the new commercial situation, continuing to work well on commercial law and contributing to the development of commercial business.

Translated by Hou Zuowei
Proofread by Eddiea