Summary of Law Updates:

Labour

1. < Notice on Premium Rate Reduction of Employee Maternity Insurance > of Tianjin (2015-10-01)

The Notice on Premium Rate Reduction of Employee Maternity Insurance of Tianjin (hereinafter referred to as Notice) was gazetted by the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, jointly with the Finance Bureau in Tianjin on 29th September, 2015.

The Notice provided that, since 1st October, 2015, the premium rate of employee maternity insurance paid by all employers is reduced from 0.8% to 0.5%, and employees do not need to pay.

Business Ethics

1. < Patent Ordinance in Anhui Province > (2016-01-01)

The Patent Ordinance in Anhui Province (hereinafter referred to as Ordinance) was gazetted by the Standing Committee of Anhui Provincial People’s Congress on 24th September, 2015, and will come into force on 1st January, 2016. This Ordinance superseded the Ordinance on Patent Protection and Facilitation in Anhui Province (came into force on 1st January, 2006).

The Ordinance provided a number of new measures on motivation, protection and legal liabilities on patents. It is summarized as follows,

• The government shall establish a motivation system, encourage invention and creation, subsidize patents and inventions, and support in priority for those with clear market application prospect.
• Given no prior agreement on the incentive or reward, the entity shall allocate no less than 50% of the net income to reward the staff having significant contribution to the invention, upon disposal of the patent ｃｒｅａｔｅd in the course of employment.
• On patent protection and legal liabilities, the Ordinance refined the legal liabilities of counterfeits, and increased the penalty in breach of patent ordinance in exhibition.
• Empowered the patent administration of the People’s Government at county level ｗｈｅｒｅ the e-commerce transaction platform locates or online shop operator registers, to be responsible for the investigation and penalty of the counterfeits in the course of e-commerce.

Furthermore, for entities and individuals who defrauded patent subsidy or award from government, subsidy shall be forfeited, award shall be revoked, no eligibility for patent subsidy and award shall be granted in five years, and it shall be publicized on their credibility.

Health and Safety

1. < General Rule on Censorship of Food Operation Permit (Trial) > (2015-10-01)

The General Rule on Censorship of Food Operation Permit (Trial) (hereinafter referred to as General Rule) was gazetted by China Food and Drug Administration on 30th September, 2015 and it has  come into force on 1st October, 2015. The main requirements of the General Rule are as follows:

• Food operation enterprises shall equip with food safety manager(s). Food safety manager(s) shall be trained and having passed the required examination. For those who have obtained relevant national or industrial food safety qualification, the examination may be exempted.
• Food operation enterprises shall establish management system to ensure food safety. Food safety management system shall include health and training management system for employees; food safety administrator system; food safety self-inspection and reporting system; food operation process and control systems; cleaning and disinfection, repair and maintenance system for premises, facilities and equipments; incoming quality control (IQC) and records system; food storage management system; waste disposal system, emergency response program on food safety.
• Dedicated production room shall be set up for onsite preparation and selling of cold-served food and raw-served food.
• Dedicated production premise shall be allocated for onsite preparation of pastries, and dedicated and isolated pattern mounting room shall be set up for making mounting patterns on pastries.
• Dedicated operation premise shall be set up for staff canteen, and it shall meet the following requirements:
     (1) No open trench inside the premise, floor drain is equipped with water seal.
     (2) Be equipped with cleaning and disinfection facilities and dedicated cold storage facilities.
     (3) Hand washing and disinfection facility is set up in the entrance.
• Staff canteen shall be equipped with dedicated containers and cold storage facilities to reserve food samples, and allocated with staff to manage food samples.

2. < Rule of Boiler Periodical Inspection > (2015-10-01)

The Rule of Boiler Periodical Inspection (hereinafter referred to as Rule) was revised by General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the PRC on 7th July, 2015 and it has come into force on 1st October, 2015. The previous version of the Rule which had been in force since 2000 was repealed simultaneously. The main changes of the Rule are as follows:

• Amendment to the inspection conclusion wordings: The conclusions of boiler internal inspection were “allow running, running after rectification, running with conditions, and stop running”, the conclusions of boiler external inspection were “Allow Running, Running under Supervision, and Stop Running”, both kinds of conclusions changed to be “Meet Requirements, Meet Requirements Marginally, and Not Meet Requirements”. The conclusions are re-defined.
• Added the provision of initial internal inspection: Boiler internal inspection shall be carried out one year after it put into operation.
• Added principle on dealing with defects: Inspectors shall notify the boiler owner if defect or problem identified in the process of inspection, and the registration authority shall be reported to immediately if any serious potential accident identified.

Environment

1. < Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Pollution > (2016-01-01)

The amended Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Pollution (hereinafter referred to as New Version) was adopted and promulgated by the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress on August 29th, 2015, and will come into force on 1st January, 2016. It has been expanded from 7 chapters of 66 articles to 8 chapters of 129 articles. The number of articles for the New Version was nearly doubled. The main changes are listed as below:

• Strengthen the accountability of local governments
  Conditional approval shall be enforced for the area in ｗｈｅｒｅ the control indicators for total emission volume of National key atmospheric pollutants exceeded or failed to achieve the objective of environmental quality improvement. And the principal officer of the local government shall be interrogated.
• Adhere to Pollution source governance
  Strengthen pollution source governance. To commence from formulate industrial policy, adjust energy structure, improve coal quality, and strengthen pollution control of vehicles. More explicit provisions on treatment of pollution source are provided.
• Solve crucial problems by identifying major cause
  Targeted and specific provisions are provided for the key problems from coal, industries and motor vehicles that the society commonly appealed.
• Enable the participation and supervision by citizens
  A number of provisions to protect the rights of citizens on participation and supervision of the environmental protection of the atmosphere are provided.
• Increased penalty
  30 out of total 129 articles in this New Version are linked with legal responsibility. With nearly 90 kinds of explicit penalties, the enforceability and specificity of this law is enhanced.
  The upper limit of RMB 500,000 penalty to an enterprise which caused an atmospheric pollution accident is abolished in the New Version. The penalty is changed to be the multiple of loss, and the penalty will be an accumulation on a Daily Basis.
  The New Version provides that the responsible person directly in charge and other directly responsible person can be penalized by less than 50% of his income of the previous year from the enterprise or public institution when an atmospheric pollution accident is caused.
  If the atmospheric pollution accident is an ordinary or larger one, the penalty shall be calculated on the basis of 1 to 3 times of the direct loss caused. If the atmospheric pollution accident is a serious or extraordinarily serious one, the penalty shall be calculated on the basis of 3 to 5 times of the direct loss caused.

China Minimum Wage Standard Update– November 2015

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