If you have employees in China, you must have a written employment contract with each and every one of your employees. Employing anyone (Chinese citizen or expat) in China without a current, enforceable, China-centric employment contract puts you at massive risk for financial penalties and worse. Late last month, China’s Ministry of Human Resources and
We Americans do not like foreign governments or their agents meddling in our domestic affairs, whether it is China, Russia, Iran, Syria, or some less reprehensible regime. We do not even like friendly foreign governments meddling in our affairs. I am not talking about traditional CIA/007 spies or agents who operate in the shadows, mainly
Since October 6, 2018, one of our recurring themes has been that China has become far more difficult for foreign companies. It is what we have been calling the New Normal. This New Normal extends to all foreign companies that do business in or with China, but it has hit U.S. and Canadian companies particularly
The PRC National People’s Congress on October 26 enacted the long awaited Encryption Law (密码法）, which will come into effect on January 1, 2020. The official text of the law can be found here and an English language summary can be found here: The Law is another piece of the comprehensive cybersecurity system China is rolling
Pull out and look at your contract with your Chinese counter-party. Does it have a force majeure clause? If it does not, put it away and count yourself lucky. If it has a force majeure clause, pour gasoline or lighter fluid or nail polish all over it and light it. JUST KIDDING. Well only sort
As we have been writing of late, IP theft is on the rise in China. In Tariffs Against China Increase China IP Problems, we explained why this is the case: I first wrote about the increase in China IP risks back in August, 2018, in China Trademark Theft. It’s Baaaaaack in a Big Way. Back then I
Contents of this Article: The Situation: Foreigners at Risk in China The Inconsistency of Chinese Law and Punishment Important Points of Chinese Criminal Law The Risks of Working and Living in China The Increasing Risk of Doing Business in China Stay Within Chinese Law How Can You Protect Yourself and Your Company A NOT New
Employee terminations in China are almost never easy and employer-initiated unilateral terminations are exponentially more difficult. Foreign companies terminating their employees in China can and often do get tripped up when they attempt unilateral employee terminations. Consider this hypothetical. Employee is a regular, full-time employee of Employer. Employer and Employee executed a few fixed-term employment
A China employment contract must specify the employee’s working hours and the working hours system under which the employee will work. The employee contract for an employee working under the standard hours system must state the employee will have “standard” working hours (this generally means 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week) and
Somewhat paradoxically, increasing tension and tariffs between the United States and China seem only to drove more companies to want “to go into China.” See Why NOW Is a Good Time to Double Down on Doing Business in China. Most of these companies looking to go into China are companies that sell something to China
