JC Master Legal News Issue 1185

Key Takeaways for This Issue

The State Council has issued a series of measures to promote the development of private investment.
On November 10, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Several Measures to Further Promote the Development of Private Investment,” which sets forth 13 policy measures and calls on all regions and departments to strengthen service provision and standardize regulatory oversight.
Nine departments have issued the “Guidance on the Fulfillment of Principal Responsibilities by Bidders.”
Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural Development, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council jointly issued the “Notice on Issuing the Guidelines for the Fulfillment of Principal Responsibilities by Bidders.”
The Supreme People’s Court has released a new batch of carefully selected Q&A on antitrust cases.
On November 13, the Supreme People’s Court released “Selected Q&A from the Legal Answers Website (Batch No. 30) — Antitrust Special Topic.”
The Beijing International Arbitration Center’s Hong Kong Office Has Been Launched, with Multilingual International Arbitration Rules in Eight Languages Released Simultaneously.
On November 12, the Hong Kong Center of the Beijing International Arbitration Center was officially inaugurated in Hong Kong, China. The Beijing Arbitration Commission/Beijing International Arbitration Center/China (Beijing) Securities and Futures Arbitration Center has, for the first time, established an overseas branch and simultaneously released the Rules of International Arbitration in eight languages.

Finance & Capital Markets

Two departments have revised the Measures for the Administration of the Securities Settlement Risk Fund.
Recently, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Finance issued the Measures for the Administration of the Securities Settlement Risk Fund, which will take effect on December 8, 2025.
The Measures stipulate that the Securities Settlement Risk Fund is to be used to advance or compensate for losses arising from default in settlement, technical malfunctions, operational errors, or force majeure. The fund is financed through a 9% levy on the business income and profits of securities registration and clearing institutions, as well as daily contributions by settlement participants based on their transaction amounts. For equity products, the contribution rate is 9 per million; for fixed-income cash securities, it is 3 per million; and for repo transactions with collateral, rates are tiered according to maturity. The fund’s total net assets must not fall below RMB 3 billion, and participants who have been members for at least one year are exempt from further contributions. Funds may only be invested in bank deposits and purchases of government bonds with key maturities, with bank deposit balances required to remain no less than 70% of the fund’s total net assets as of the end of the preceding month. Any use of the fund must be reported retroactively, and the minimum payment threshold is RMB 20 million. The Measures also set forth clear requirements for risk prevention, internal management, and recovery and accountability measures applicable to both settlement participants and relevant institutions.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission plans to issue the “Guidelines on Performance Benchmarks for Publicly Offered Mutual Funds.”
Recently, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued a notice soliciting public comments on the “Guidelines on Performance Benchmark for Publicly Offered Mutual Funds (Draft for Comments),” with the deadline for submitting feedback set for November 29, 2025.
The Guidelines comprise twenty-one articles, stipulating that the selection of performance benchmarks must be representative, objective, binding, and sustainable. They require fund managers, custodians, sales agencies, and rating agencies to standardize the processes for benchmark selection and modification, information disclosure, management of investment‑style stability, and performance evaluation. Any change to the performance benchmark must be announced in advance or subject to the procedures of a unitholders’ meeting, and periodic reports must disclose the benchmark‑aligned performance. For existing products, a one‑year transition period is provided for benchmark adjustments, with certain requirements taking effect after six months.

Commercial & Corporate

The State Council has issued a series of measures to promote the development of private investment.
On November 10, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Several Measures to Further Promote the Development of Private Investment,” which sets forth 13 policy measures and calls on all regions and departments to strengthen service provision and standardize regulatory oversight.
The “Several Measures” focus on the following key areas: encouraging private capital to participate in projects in priority sectors such as railways and nuclear power, while specifying equity‑holding ratios; removing market access restrictions in the service sector and supporting private enterprises’ participation in concession‑based projects and government procurement; safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of private offices in infrastructure fields like electricity, oil, and gas; accelerating digital transformation and the development of pilot‑scale testing platforms; increasing investment from the central budget and leveraging policy‑oriented financial instruments; requiring banking and financial institutions to set annual service targets for private enterprises and refine their credit‑granting mechanisms; and supporting private‑sector investment projects in issuing REITs, while continuing to implement the “green channel” policy for technology‑driven companies seeking IPO financing.
Nine departments have issued the “Guidance on the Fulfillment of Principal Responsibilities by Bidders.”
Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural Development, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council jointly issued the “Notice on Issuing the Guidelines for the Fulfillment of Principal Responsibilities by Bidders.”
The Guidelines clearly define the principal responsibilities of procurers in tendering and bidding activities, including organizing tenders in accordance with the law, standardizing the preparation of tender documents, ensuring information disclosure, managing the evaluation process, supervising contract performance, and upholding integrity and self-discipline. Procurers are required to strengthen management throughout the entire tendering process, fulfill obligations related to information disclosure, impartial evaluation, and contract implementation, reinforce internal controls and risk prevention, and promote the sound and orderly development of the tendering and bidding market.

Taxation

Ministry of Finance: Strengthen Accountability in Accounting Work and Enhance the Implementation of Accounting Laws, Regulations, and the National Unified Accounting System.
Recently, the Ministry of Finance issued the “Opinions on Further Strengthening Accountability in Accounting Work and Enhancing the Implementation of Accounting Laws, Regulations, and the National Unified Accounting System.”
The Opinions clearly define the principal responsibility of accounting entities, requiring them to maintain accounting books in accordance with the law and ensure the authenticity and completeness of accounting records, while promoting the informatization of accounting and data security. They stipulate measures such as segregation of accounting duties, the appointment of a chief accountant, qualification requirements for accounting personnel, and conflict-of-interest avoidance mechanisms. Internal and external oversight are strengthened, with financial fraud and improper auditing strictly prohibited. The responsibilities and regulatory requirements of agency bookkeeping offices, accounting offices, and accounting software service providers are explicitly set forth. Fiscal, auditing, tax, and other relevant departments will enhance supervision, and industry associations will enforce self-regulation. All entities are required to establish accountability mechanisms to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of accounting personnel.

Litigation & Arbitration

The Supreme People’s Court has released a new batch of carefully selected Q&A on antitrust cases.
On November 13, the Supreme People’s Court released “Selected Q&A from the Legal Answers Website (Batch No. 30) — Antitrust Special Topic.”
The clarifications provided in the Q&A indicate that, for administrative litigation cases involving antitrust enforcement agencies’ failure to perform their statutory duties, jurisdiction at both first and second instance should be determined in accordance with ordinary administrative case procedures, without requiring centralized jurisdiction by intellectual property courts. The calculation of unlawful monopoly gains shall be based on total sales revenue less reasonable operating costs (including turnover taxes), and corporate income tax as well as any assumed “normal income” shall not be deducted. The determination of unlawful gains shall be grounded in the actual revenue obtained through monopolistic conduct, and no deduction may be made for revenues that might have been earned had the monopolistic behavior not occurred.
The Beijing International Arbitration Center’s Hong Kong Office Has Been Launched, with Multilingual International Arbitration Rules in Eight Languages Released Simultaneously.
On November 12, the Hong Kong Center of the Beijing International Arbitration Center was officially inaugurated in Hong Kong, China. The Beijing Arbitration Commission/Beijing International Arbitration Center/China (Beijing) Securities and Futures Arbitration Center has, for the first time, established an overseas branch and simultaneously released the Rules of International Arbitration in eight languages.
Following its inauguration, the Hong Kong Centre will offer international‑standard, multi‑faceted dispute resolution services to parties both within and outside China, supporting agreements that designate Hong Kong, China, as the seat of arbitration. The newly promulgated International Arbitration Rules are available in eight languages—Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, and Korean—and are broadly aligned with the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. They seamlessly integrate with the Hong Kong Arbitration Ordinance, thereby meeting the multilingual arbitration needs of global parties. The Centre will foster the integrated development of arbitration, mediation, and litigation, promote mutual learning among legal frameworks, and facilitate talent exchange, thus enhancing the international competitiveness of Chinese arbitration.
The Supreme People’s Procuratorate has released typical cases demonstrating how procuratorial organs have integrated the core socialist values into the rule of law.
On November 13, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate released typical cases demonstrating how procuratorial organs, in performing their duties in accordance with the law, have promoted the integration of the core socialist values into the rule of law.
The cases cover areas such as the protection of national industrial heritage, pension benefits for land‑displaced farmers, non‑prosecution in traffic‑accident cases, sentence reductions for community‑correction participants, the improvement of village self‑governance charters to safeguard rural women’s rights, and the discretionary reduction of liquidated damages in contract disputes. Key examples include: the Shanghai procuratorial organs urging the digital preservation of archives from the Hero Fountain Pen Factory and their inclusion in the industrial heritage register; the Jiangxi procuratorial organs pressing the social security bureau to reinstate urban employee pension benefits for land‑displaced farmers; the Shandong procuratorial organs lawfully deciding not to prosecute a traffic‑accident case involving friendly mutual assistance; the Henan procuratorial organs supervising sentence reductions for community‑correction participants who performed acts of bravery; the Sichuan procuratorial organs urging the revision of village self‑governance charters to ensure rural women’s membership in collective economic organizations; and the Shaanxi procuratorial organs filing an appeal to uphold contractually agreed liquidated‑damages standards, thereby upholding the principles of business integrity and the rule of law.
The Supreme People’s Court, in conjunction with the Ministry of Public Security and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, has released typical criminal cases involving avian conservation.
On November 14, the Supreme People’s Court, the Ministry of Public Security, and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration jointly held a press conference to release five typical criminal cases involving avian conservation.
Key highlights of the released cases include: rigorously prosecuting, in accordance with the law, the illegal hunting and trafficking of nationally protected wild bird species; cracking down on emerging criminal schemes such as itinerant operations, cross‑provincial offenses, and online sales; and dismantling, across the entire supply chain, criminal networks involved in the hunting, transportation, and sale of birds. The cases involve species such as the Chinese bulbul, the yellow-breasted bunting, the brown-headed parrotbill, and the Mongolian lark, resulting in prison sentences and fines. The cases underscore that “three‑category” wildlife is likewise protected by law, and that online sales and interprovincial transport will not escape enforcement. Meanwhile, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration has expanded the scope of bird protection, advancing the conservation of migratory flyways, conducting targeted law‑enforcement campaigns, and implementing measures to mitigate harm caused by wildlife.

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