On 29 August 2015, the National People's Congress enacted a ninth round of amendments to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, which will take effect 1 November 2015. The changes significantly strengthen the government's ability to enforce China's rules on data protection, network security and bribery and corruption. The amended law:

For further coverage of this development, see Legal update: Criminal Law amendment: new individual and corporate offenses for data privacy and cybersecurity violations and Legal update: Criminal Law amendment: changes to China's anti-bribery regime.

On 27 August 2015, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) issued the Provisions on the Administration of Business Scope Registration for Enterprises 2015, which replace previous provisions of the same name and take effect on 1 October 2015. Most of the requirements on business registration under the old provisions will continue in force under the new provisions. However, under the new provisions, where a company's business scope contains one or more items which require approval (whether this approval must be obtained before or after formation), the company must make public the name, examination and approval authority, content, term of validity and other information contained in any approval document or certificate within 20 business days after issue of the approval. This should be done through the SAIC's new, online enterprise credit information disclosure system. The new provisions also require enterprises subject to preliminary approval to make an identical public disclosure within 20 days after formation. Any subsequent amendments to an approval document or certificate also must be disclosed within 20 business days after issue of the amended approval. Most of the other changes contained in the new provisions reflect recent changes to the law.

For further information on business registration generally, see Practice note: Establishing a China business, Business registration in China. For further information on the recent changes to the Company Law of the People's Republic of China, see Practice Note: Understanding the 2013 Company Law reforms: China.

On 29 August 2015, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress revised the Law of the People's Republic of China on Commercial Banks. The changes take effect from 1 October 2015. The revised law eliminates the 75% loan-to-deposit cap (that is, the requirement that a bank holds RMB1 in deposits for every RMB0.75 that it lends out) for commercial banks. Commercial banks in China had previously been subject to this cap since 1994, in addition to their other prudential requirements. Commercial banks remain subject to a minimum capital adequacy ratio of 8%. The restriction that banks may not lend more than 10% of their capital to a single borrower also remains in place.

On 19 August 2015, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) and five other government regulators, including SAFE and the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), jointly released a notice to encourage foreign investment in the real estate sector for the first time since several restrictions were introduced beginning in 2006 to address an overheated property market. The notice is widely viewed as another step in the government's recent efforts to stimulate China's economy. Of particular interest, the notice:

For further coverage of this development, see Legal update: Restrictions on foreign investment in the real estate sector eased. For further information on the capital requirements applicable to foreign invested enterprises, see Practice note: Understanding the 2013 Company Law reforms: China: Company capitalisation reforms.

On 5 August 2015, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) issued the Provisions on Centralised Operation and Management of Foreign Exchange Funds by Transnational Companies. The new rules replace similar rules released for trial implementation in 2014. The new rules permit the head office of any multinational company (MNC) to designate one onshore subsidiary to open master accounts with designated onshore banks, provided:

The accounts may be used to pool and distribute foreign exchange among the MNC's onshore and offshore group members.

The new rules also include a pilot programme that permits a MNC to pool and share the foreign debt quota of its participating onshore subsidiaries. Under the pilot programme, the amount of the foreign debt quota may be determined by either:

Foreign debt incurred through the pilot programme may be used to conduct onshore equity investments or to refinance domestic RMB loans.

For further coverage of this development, see Legal update: SAFE amends provisions on centralised processing of MNC foreign exchange funds. For further information on foreign debt regulation generally, see Practice note: Foreign exchange control in China: Regulation of foreign debt.

In 2013, the Regional Court of Dusseldorf made a preliminary reference to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in a case involving German subsidiaries of Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, as the holder of standard essential patents (SEPs), and ZTE, as the alleged infringer of the SEPs. When Huawei sought a prohibitive injunction against ZTE for its use of Huawei's SEPs, ZTE asserted as a defence Huawei's abuse of dominance, grounded both on the use of an SEP injunction and on the concept of a willing licensee. The German court decided to seek guidance from the ECJ so that its approach would not conflict with recent holdings in cases involving Samsung and Motorola. The ECJ recently issued a judgment that obligates an SEP holder to provide an alleged infringer with:

The ruling also requires:

If the alleged infringer disagrees with the offer, the infringer must promptly provide a counter offer that expressly addresses the terms of the offer to which it objects before he can assert an abuse of dominance defence.