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According to Bloomberg – China’s legislative body has passed new legislation to replace three main laws that impact non-Chinese companies doing business in China:(1) Law of Joint Ventures with Chinese and Foreign Investment, the (2) Law on Foreign-Capital Enterprises and the (3) Law on Chinese-Foreign Contractual Joint Ventures.

To summarize, the new legislation includes: (1) promise of equal support to foreign and domestic firms, (2) equal treatment for license applications, (3) foreign companies can participate in setting industry standards and in government procurement, (4) right of foreign companies to appeal non-security related decisions and (5) a complaints mechanism for foreign companies.

The law was passed on March 15th and will take effect on January 1, 2020. Whether this will impact the current trade negotiations is still yet to be seen.