Piercing the corporate veil of Chinese “husband-and-wife” companies or how do a husband and wife become one flesh?

Zhou Congning (周聪宁), STL 4L student

Limited liability in Chinese corporate law helps the shareholders to reduce the risk of running a company because a company will use its assets to reimburse the debt instead of shareholders’ personal property. However, the shield of the company will be pierced when the shareholder abuses his rights. In 2019, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) issued two different judgments concerning a special rule – reversing the burden of proof in a one-person limited liability company in Chinese Company Law.

The facts of both cases involve a married couple who set up a limited liability company to operate a business and protect their personal and family property from creditors. In the 2019 appeal case, Wuhan Read the rest

Absconding husbands, homeless wives and helpless creditors: Safeguarding the interests of stakeholders during enforcement proceedings

Alvin Sia

LLM Candidate,  Peking University School of Transnational Law

Women’s property rights were restricted by social norms in imperial China.[1] Property was passed down through male heirs.[2] In most cases, wives could not inherit property upon their husband’s death.[3] Most property brought by a wife into marriage belonged to her husband’s family.[4] Meanwhile, a wife was beholden to her father before marriage and subordinate to her husband after marriage.[5] Against this backdrop, there is a Chinese saying that “a wife pays for her husband’s debts”.[6]

This saying still holds true under existing marriage laws of the People’s Republic of China. Creditors may enforce against property owned jointly by the non-debtor spouse Read the rest

Climate Migration to the Russian Federation from a Legal Perspective Itself in Continuous Development

 

Nikita Gonta[1]

Peking University School of Transnational Law

I. Introduction

With numerous catastrophic effects, climate change threatens to increasingly displace countless people around the world. The impending impacts range from entire states disappearing as a result of rising sea levels to nearly one-third of humanity staying in extremely hot and uninhabitable areas, according to most extreme projections.[2] At the same time, projections indicate that due to global warming, the climatic conditions in Russia, which as the northernmost nation-state is largely covered with permafrost, should generally improve.[3] Global warming is already changing the climatic living conditions in Russia: 63 percent of the land was considered unfavorable for living between 1961 and 1990; between 2001 and 2010 Read the rest

Will the Chinese government tax robots?

By Zhu Zhimeng 朱知萌 Peking University School of Transnational Law

1. Introduction

The digitization and automation of the global economy have the potential to destabilize what is arguably the world’s most important tax tool–personal income taxes. Therefore it has wide-ranging economic and social implications.[1]

These effects include but are not limited to, an increase in the gap between rich and poor, an increase in unemployment, and a reduction in national tax revenues. After reviewing global literature, I found that the overall international consensus of experts is that it is imperative to tax robots.

In June 2017, Nobel laureate Robert Shiller said that to alleviate the income gap caused by the robot revolution, it is necessary to reconstruct the Read the rest

The Export of the Chinese Railway “Bill of Lading” System: A Milestone in China’s Global Rule-Making?

Zhang Huiyu 张惠宇 Peking University School of Transnational Law

Table of Contents

ABSTRACT 2

INTRODUCTION 2

SECTION I. Development of the “Railway Bill of Lading” System: from domestic practice to international proposal 5

A. Starting Point: Chongqing Practice and Sichuan Practice constitute the “dual-track” of the Chinese railway “bill of lading” system 5

1. Chongqing Practice: The Innovation of Unimodal Railway Bill of Lading 6

2. From Sichuan Practice to CIFA Bill of lading: The Development of Chinese Unified Railway Forwarder Bill 9

B. Turning point: The domestic legalization of the “railway bill of lading” 11

C. Current Point: The Internationalization of the Chinese railway “bill of lading” System 12

SECTION II. International Impact of the “Dual Track” System 14Read the rest

Do China’s Antitrust Penalties Adequately Deter?

Shao Yang[1]

I. Introduction

In recent years, antitrust has become more and more important for China, which is consistent with the global trend. In 2018, China launched the reform of its antitrust authorities. Under that reform, the antitrust law enforcement functions formerly split among the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Commerce, and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce were merged into the newly established State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), which made good preparation for enhancing antitrust law enforcement. Moreover, the fact that the 2020 Central Economic Work Conference listed antitrust and preventing disorderly capital expansion as one of the eight economic key tasks in 2021[2] shows that the Central Committee Read the rest

Pursuing Corrupt Fugitives: On China’s Trial-in-Absentia System

Yang Xiuzhu

 Ms. Yang Xiuzhu in the dock

Chen Liang (陈靓)[1]

Table of Contents

Abstract

I. Introduction

II. Background of the TIA System

A. National Policies against General Corruption

1. Starting Point in Late 2012

2. Evolving Campaign by 2018

3. New System since 2018

B. Political Incentives on Chasing Corrupt Fugitives

1. Starting from 2014

2. Law Enforcement Projects

3. Calls for a TIA System

C. Conclusion

III. How the TIA System Works

A. Investigation Phase

1. Jurisdiction of the TIA System

2. When to Transfer a Case for Prosecution

3. Conclusion

B. Prosecution Phase

1. Statutory Requirements

2. Discretion

3. Conclusion

C. Adjudication Phase

1. When to Accept a Case with the TIA Procedure

2. What to Do after Read the rest

CHINESE SOES & CORPORATE COMPLIANCE

WANG Zhipei (王之霈) [1]

I. INTRODUCTION

II. CHINA’S CORPORATE COMPLIANCE LAW

A. Laws Regarding SOEs’ Corporate Compliance

B. Relevant Regulations for Party Supervision of SOEs

C. Summary

III. WEAKNESS IN CHINA’S SOEs’ CORPORATE COMPLIANCE

A. Unique Challenges for SOEs Anti-corruption Efforts

1. Case Analysis

2. Deficiencies Reflected in SOEs’ Compliance Program

B. Cases Investigated by CCDI

IV. HOW CHINESE SOEs CAN IMPROVE THEIR CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

A. Analyze Business Risk According to Industry Characteristics and Implement Business Process Standardization

B. Clear Delineation of Functions and Establish a Sound Accountability Mechanism for Every Individual

C. Establish a Compliance Incentive Mechanism Through Legislation

V. CONCLUSION

I. INTRODUCTION

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the corporate behaviorRead the rest

Limitations of Patenting Traditional Chinese Medicine

Xuejiao Cao (Blake)

I. Introduction
The pandemic of COVID-19 has taken a tremendous toll on all of us, as the crisis has ravaged the world.  In China, Traditional Chinese Medicine (“TCM”) has played an important role in the treatment of COVID-19. On 19 August 2020, the General Office of National Health Commission together with the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine announced the Diagnosis and Treatment Plan for New Coronavirus Pneumonia (Trial Version 8)(“Plan”) .  In the Plan, these authorities acknowledged TCM’s contribution to curing Covid-19 patients. Just as the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) has stipulated, “growing commercial and scientific interest in traditional medicine system has led to calls for traditional Read the rest

Duty of Care of Chinese Asset Managers: Can Case Law Fill the Gap?

Yuan Ye (袁野)

Table of Contents

Part I Introduction. 2

1. China’s asset managers and its clients’ dilemma. 2

2. Why is duty of care relevant?. 4

Part II Duty of care law.6

1. US Law on duty of care. 6

2. Chinese law on duty of care. 8

Part III What the Cases Say. 9

1. Search Results: limited substantive application and lack of useful reasoning. 10

1(1) Cases without Application. 11

1(2) Cases with Application. 12

2. Chinese case law and a comparison with US law. 18

2(1) Synthesis of case law: few clarifications on rules 18

2(2) The existing gap compared with US law.. 22

Part IV Conclusion. 22

Part I Introduction

Comment from the editor: law Read the rest