The Shanghai Lawyer
Vol. 1 , No. 11 - August 29, 2002
Shanghai is one of the most dynamic and fastest growing mega-cities in the world. It is quickly establishing itself as the leading financial and economic center of the Far East, on par with the likes of Paris and New York. The Shanghai Lawyer is a bi-weekly publication providing up-to-date newsworthy articles and legal information to professional and business persons around the world. We hope you enjoy the newsletter and welcome your comments and feedback.
Did you know?
Before Shanghai was liberated in 1949, the city had a population of only 5.2 million. By the end of 2000, Shanghai's population had grown to 13.2163 million (according to the permanent residence registration), representing 1% of China's total. |
New copyright protection for foreigners
Foreign copyright owners will receive legal protection equal to that of their Chinese counterparts, according to a new regulation for the implementation of the Copyright Law. The current regulation stipulates that only the State copyright authority is eligible to handle complaints of infringement on foreigners' copyrights.
The new regulation, expected to take effect on September 15, eliminates this restriction and allows foreign copyright owners to seek redress from local administrations. Based on the Copyright Law which was revised by the top legislature in October of last year, the new regulation was designed by the State Council to honor China's commitments to the World Trade Organization and make the law more practical.
The revised Copyright Law empowers administrative bodies to stop infringements on copyrights and confiscate illegal products and the profits made from them. The new regulation mainly deals with the handling of administrative disputes over copyrights concerning foreign parties, ownership and practice of copyrights and punishment for copyright infringement.
The regulation says protection of the copyrights held by foreigners or stateless persons whose works were first published in China starts from the day their works are published. The same level of protection will be given if their works are published in China within 30 days after being first published outside China.
Performances and recorded works produced and issued in China by foreigners or stateless persons are also under protection. The State also protects programs broadcast by foreign radio and television stations, according to the new regulation.
(Source: China Daily)
China mulls 2014 World Cup bid
China will put in a bid to host the 2014 soccer World Cup if the tournament returns to Asia. China's facilities and experience in hosting international sports competitions already qualify it to stage world soccer's premier event, Zhang Jilong, president of the Chinese Football Association, was quoted saying in an official Xinhua News Agency report published in the Beijing Youth Daily and the Beijing Morning Post on Thursday.
"If it is decided that the World Cup that year be hosted in Asia, China of course will participate in the bidding. We're prepared to hold this major soccer tournament," Zhang said from Malaysia, where he was attending the Asian Football Confederation's annual congress.
By 2014, China will have hosted the 2003 women's World Cup championship, the 2004 Asian Cup and the 2008 Olympic Summer Games.
CFA spokesman Dong Hua declined to comment further on Zhang's reported remarks, saying he had not yet spoken to Zhang. Because South Korea and Japan hosted this year's event, it is considered unlikely that an Asian nation will be picked again so soon.
After the 2006 tournament in Germany, the Cup is expected to go to an African nation and then possibly to the Americas or Oceania. Australia has already launched its bid to host the 2014 cup and the United States, which hosted the 1994 games, has said it will likely bid for it also.
FIFA, world soccer's governing body, will make its decision in 2008.
(Source: CNN)
Shanghai Essentials
Wireless Internet access is making inroads Wireless Internet access is still far from popular in Shanghai, but the service is growing rapidly, possibly meaning that in a few years local residents will routinely check their e-mail and surf the Web on wireless connections while enjoying a cappucino at Starbucks. The ubiquitous coffeeshop is one of many places in the city that has already installed equipment allowing customers to surf the Web wirelessly, although few are currently taking advantage of the new service. The Pudong International Airport announced that it too has installed a wireless local area network, and will soon provide passengers waiting for their flights with access to wireless online services, although no definite date has been announced. Once a public area installs a wireless LAN, anyone with a laptop computer and wireless-LAN PC card can log onto the Internet at speeds of up to 11 mega bits per second without connecting cables between the computer and a fixed port. Wireless networks have already been set up at Shanghai Jiao Tong University's library, the Pudong District Education Commission, Hongqiao Airport, Hotel Equatorial Shanghai and the Sheraton Grand Tai Ping Yang Shanghai, according to managers with Intel and Cisco Systems, both providing equipment for the networks. The wireless-LAN market should grow by 180 percent this year it has been reported, however the growth figures can be misleading because the number of networks were too small to begin with. (Source: Shanghai Daily) |
Labor inspection finds firms bypassing laws
In response to rising complaints, the Shanghai Labor Inspection Team recently launched a month long crackdown on illegal practices in the local employment sector.
During the first inspection raid on 205 companies, team officers discovered that 60 of them were underpaying the social welfare commissions - including medical insurance, unemployment insurance, housing subsidy and pensions - required for their employees.
Meanwhile, 40 companies were found to defraud employees in work contracts and 10 were cited for other illegal practices, including forcing staff to work excessive overtime.
At a Shanghai Yongle Household Electric Appliance Co. outlet in Changning District, officers found sales-people had to slog for six days a week without getting paid for the extra work.
Overtime work should not exceed three hours a day and 36 hours a week. The overtime payment should reach 70 percent of the staff's normal pay. However, working hours are set by the headquarters and it is not clear about the legal maximum overtime hours.
Violators will face severe fines. For instance, in case of overtime, the employers will be fined up to 100 RMB (US$12.20) for each exploited staff and will have to compensate the staff.
(Source: Shanghai Daily)
Shanghai to maintain double-digit growth
Steady economic growth in the first half of this year gives Shanghai great confidence of a double-digit increase of gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of December.
Despite the economic fluctuation in the three months immediately following the country's entry into the World Trade Organization in December, the city still managed to increase its GDP by 10 per cent to 252.33bn RMB (US$30.4bn) by June.
The economic situation will be even better in the latter half of the year, as the main world economies including the United States, Europe and Japan have shown signs of warming up, which will help a lot in expanding the city's export volume.
The latest statistics also showed the domestic economy has recovered from its year's decline. All these provide a good environment for better economic growth in the latter half of this year. The country's go-west campaign has also provided many opportunities to the city's industrial sector. Some have predicted that the added value of this sector will exceed 10 per cent by the end of the year.
However, difficulties remain. The recovery of the world economy is still stuttering as military clashes and fluctuation of international oil prices are still having negative effects. Shanghai's relatively higher business costs, accompanied by its GDP growth per capita, is forcing many manufacturing firms to move out of the city.
Shanghai is thinking of developing industry zones and giving them certain favorable policies to reduce business costs and attract more foreign investment. A main task for the following year is to speed up the city's railway construction. So far Shanghai has only 65 kilometers of railway including the metro and light rail, accounting for only 5 per cent of the total ground traffic.
The city's plan is to construct 200 kilometers of new rail lines by 2005, and let the network shoulder 35 per cent of the ground traffic. The city's environment will continue to be improved - the goal is to turn Shanghai into one of the cleanest of all big cities in China and the focus for the remainder of this year will be improving air and water quality.
Regarding the unemployment problem, the Shanghai authorities have encouraged all government sectors to help more laid-off workers find work. The commitment of creating 100,000 new jobs for the unemployed by the end of this year will remain.
The government website, apart from publicizing its work, will also provide a place for local residents to voice their opinions on the work of officials. This has already been put at the top of the agenda.
(Source: China Daily)
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Trade and foreign investment booming in China after WTO entry
BEIJING - Months after joining the World Trade Organization, China is already seeing the benefits of membership in booming trade and foreign investment. Imports and exports both grew by double digits to reach a combined total of dollars 270 billion for the first six months of the year. Foreign investment rose 31.5 percent to hit US$ 44 billion during the same period,
About a quarter of those funds were invested in China's service industry as a direct result of that sector's opening to foreign investment under the terms by which China joined the WTO.
The rise in foreign investment in China was even more significant given an overall fall in foreign investment worldwide.
Chinese officials say the country is on track to reach a goal of 7 percent economic growth for the year, spurred on by trade, foreign investment and massive government spending on infrastructure such as new roads and airports.
China joined world trade's rules-making body last December, concluding a 15-year quest by one of the world's last socialist states to embrace global capitalism.
Officials have praised WTO entry as opening up trade and investment opportunities and providing protection against foreign trade retaliation. But the opening of the economy to foreign competition will also put China's inefficient farmers under pressure from cheaper food imports and sharpen the battle for markets among Chinese manufacturers, especially in the ramshackle state sector.
(Source: Associated Press)
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Citibank May Buy Pudong Bank Stake for $170m
Citigroup Inc. is in talks to buy a stake of as much as 8.26 percent in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co. for about 1.4bn RMB ($170 million) from the city government.
Shanghai State-Owned Assets Operation Co. is seeking a price similar to the 60 percent premium to net asset value it won from HSBC Holding Plc. for a similar-sized stake in Bank of Shanghai in December. That translates to about 5 RMB (US$ 0.60) a share, less than a third of the price of the common stock of 17.24 RMB (US$ 2.10) because the city's shares can't be traded.
Chinese banks like Pudong, which last week said it may sell a stake to the world's biggest financial company, are seeking allies to make them more competitive. Citigroup's Citibank NA unit would become the first foreign bank to hold shares in a publicly traded mainland bank, gaining better access to the 1.3 billion Chinese depositors with US$1 trillion (8.2 trillion RMB) of savings.
The government may give the deal the green light because it wants to assist domestic banks to improve asset quality and stay competitive. It is believed that HSBC's US$63m (516m RMB) acquisition of an 8 percent stake in the unlisted Bank of Shanghai from the city's asset management company was being used as a reference. Pudong Bank's net asset a share was 2.97 RMB (US$0.36) at the end of June. Furthermore, the asset management company wants to sell the whole stake but may keep a small amount of stock.
Citigroup, which has had a presence in China since 1902, has four branches, one sub-branch and two representative offices on the mainland. Pudong Bank was founded in 1993 to help fund the development of Shanghai's Pudong district into China's new financial hub. The bank, which employed 5,743 staff operating 261 branches at the end of last year, has a market capitalization of 41.4bn RMB (US$5.05bn).
Many believe that the purchase would bring a reshuffling to the bank's top management. Moreover, if Citibank were to take the helm after becoming the largest shareholder, Pudong Bank may undergo a deep and thorough change.
Citigroup was reported in May to be in talks to buy an undisclosed stake in Bank of Communications, China's fifth largest lender, China Minsheng Banking Corp., the country's only privately owned bank, and China Life, the nation's largest life insurer.
Citigroup would become the biggest shareholder of the bank were it to buy the entire stake. The city's ownership of the bank is spread through several investment units. Shanghai International Trust and Investment Co. owns 6.97 percent, Shanghai Industrial (Group) Co. owns 6.56 percent, Shanghai Jiushi Co. owns 6.35 percent and Shenergy Co. owns 2.07 percent.
(Source: Bloomberg)
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