In general, foreign funds are not freely movable into China. There is a long history of exercising comprehensive control over foreign investment since China opened its door in the early 1980s. As the economy continues to grow, China has been gradually loosening the substantive and procedural requirements on foreign investments and carefully testing the water for national treatment for foreign investors in the past decade. On January 1, 2020, the Foreign Investment Law came into force, which marked a new height of the Chinese government’s supportive attitude towards foreign investment. It abolished the pre-approval scheme for foreign investments in existence for over forty years and officially effected a regime of “national treatment plus negative list” for foreign investment. The Foreign Investment Law further clarified the principle that foreign-invested enterprises and domestic enterprises enjoy equal treatment, requiring foreign-invested enterprises to adjust their organizational forms, organizational structures, etc., in accordance with the provisions of the Company Law and other laws within 5 years after the implementation of the Foreign Investment Law (i.e., no later than December 31, 2024).
Please see full publication below for more information.
