Draft foreign investment law to be submitted to NPC for review

A draft foreign investment law will be submitted to the second session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) for deliberation, according to an explanatory document on the draft available to the press Friday afternoon.

The foreign investment law, once adopted, will become a new and fundamental law for China’s foreign investment, says the explanation to be delivered by Wang Chen, vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, to deputies attending an NPC plenary session.

The draft law has gone through two readings by the NPC Standing Committee, which made the decision in late January to submit the draft for a third reading.

With unified provisions for the entry, promotion, protection, and management of foreign investment, it is an innovative improvement of China’s foreign investment legal system, says the explanation.

The foreign investment law is a comprehensive and fundamental set of legal standards for foreign investment activities in China under new circumstances, and shall play “a leading role as an overarching law in this field,” it says.

“It is a full testament to China’s determination and confidence in opening wider to the outside world and promoting foreign investment in the new era,” reads the document.

The draft aims to improve transparency of foreign investment policies and ensures that foreign-invested enterprises participate in market competition on an equal basis, says the document.

It includes many stipulations that ensure domestic and foreign enterprises are subject to a unified set of rules and compete on a level playing field.

The draft also makes it clear that the state shall manage foreign investment according to the system of pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list.

Post-establishment national treatment shall be afforded to all foreign investment, and the management and oversight of domestic and foreign capital shall apply the same legal system and rules, according to the document.