[아시아경제 황윤주 기자] With 28 enacted and revised laws related to economic and trade in China coming into force from this year, many changes are expected, and it was argued that Korean companies should prepare in advance.
On the 10th, the Beijing Branch of the Korea International Trade Association published a report on’China’s major economic and trade laws that will change in 2021′ in collaboration with Chinese law firm Jingdu. The report cited major changes this year as ▲ enforcement of civil law ▲ strengthening consumer protection ▲ strengthening environmental management ▲ strengthening protection of intellectual property rights ▲ incomplete system legislation.
First of all, China’s first’civil law’ took effect on January 1. The Civil Code consisted of 7 articles including general provisions, real rights, contracts, personal rights, marriage, inheritance, and infringement liability, and 1260 articles. It is actively reflecting social changes such as formal recognition of digital documents, including online contracts, in written form, and in particular, it was the first to establish a mental damage compensation system for infringement of personal rights. It stipulates that in the event of serious mental damage, a claim for mental damage can be claimed along with a claim for penalty.
The new’Cosmetic Supervision and Management Ordinance’ to strengthen consumer goods quality management was also implemented from January 1. This ordinance consists of 80 articles that are more than twice as many as the existing’Cosmetic Hygiene Supervision Ordinance’, and stipulates more specific and strict management. When registering and reporting imported cosmetics, certificates related to production quality management of overseas producers and proof data sold in the product production place and the market of origin must be provided.If it is produced for export to China and it is difficult to submit the country of origin data, it is for Chinese consumers. Data on related research and experiments should be provided.
They are also actively working to protect the environment. As the’Announcement on the Total Ban on Import of Solid Waste’ enacted last year took effect on January 1, the import of all kinds of solid waste was banned, and the export of solid waste generated in China’s bonded zone outside the bonded zone is also restricted. This year, when purchasing electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles, vehicle purchase tax is also exempted.
Efforts to open up to the outside world through income expansion continue. From January 1, the provisional import tax rate for 883 items such as anticancer drugs, hearing aids, and fuel cell circulation pumps (based on 8 units of HS) was applied, and from July 1, the tax rate for 176 IT products was applied. Additional cuts are expected.
Meanwhile, as the importance of biosafety emerged in China during the corona 19 crisis, the’Biosafety Act’ was enforced from April 15th, and biosafety was upgraded to the level of national security and managed. If foreign species are brought in without permission, a fine of 50,000-250,000 yuan will be imposed along with confiscation.
From June 1, the revised bills of the’Patent Law’ and the’Copyright Law’, which are deeply related to intellectual property rights, which are one of the key issues of the US-China trade dispute, will be implemented. In this revision of the Patent Law, the protection period for utility models was extended from 10 to 15 years, and by introducing a punitive damages compensation system, the maximum amount of compensation was significantly increased from 10,000 to 1 million yuan to 30,000 to 5 million yuan. The definition of works subject to the copyright law has also been expanded from’movies or similar films’ to’audiovisual works’ in accordance with the changes of the times, so that online live broadcasting, online games, short clips, and animations are also protected.
Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo [email protected]