The State Administration for Industry and Commerce issues New Rules on Capital Contribution with Equities
On 14 January, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce issued the Measures for Administration of the Registration of Capital Distribution with Equities (hereafter referred to as “Measures”), which comes into effect on 1 March, 2009. The Measures give the legal basis and clear guidelines for the registration of capital contribution in the form of equity transfer.
The Measures stipulates that the investor is permitted to make capital contribution into a PRC company established or to be established by transferring his equities in other PRC company. The transferred equities shall be clear in ownership, complete in terms of rights and transferable under the laws. The Measures also dedicates the situations where the equities shall not be transferred for capital contributions. The value of the foresaid transferred equities shall be appraised by qualified appraisers.
The Recycling Economy Promotion Law
The Recycling Economy Promotion Law, which comes into effect on January 1 2009, represents a significant step forward to an energy-saving and environmental-friendly society.
The law follows the "three Rs" (reduce, reuse, recycle) principle. The first R means reducing resource consumption and waste generation in the process of production, circulation and consumption. The second R means reusing waste and repairing, renovating or reproducing waste as products or components; and the last R directly using (recycling) wastes as raw materials or in waste regeneration.
Efficiency
The law also supports and encourages the use of high-efficiency and energy-saving products. Enterprises in the industries of electricity, petrol processing, chemical, steel and nonferrous and construction materials will be urged to use clean coal, coke and gas rather than fuel oil.
Pursuant to this law, industrial enterprises are required to apply advanced or appropriate water-saving technology and equipment, set up and implement a water-saving plan and control water consumption in the production process.
The law encourages the use of reclaimed water for urban road cleaning, greening and landscaping wherever possible, and states that waste heat and pressure should be used by enterprises with reclaiming technologies.
Energy-, water- and other resource-saving products should be used in restaurants, entertainment enterprises and hotels to avoid the waste of resources and environmental pollution.
Label. Catalogue and Tariffs
The energy-efficiency label will be another effective way to implement energy conservation. China has issued four catalogues of products with energy efficiency labels in the last four years.
The most recent catalogue covers six types of products, including computer monitors and photocopiers, and from March 2009 any products on the list that do not meet the specified standards of energy efficiency will not be allowed to be manufactured, sold, or imported into the Chinese market.
In addition to these rules and mechanisms, the government will issue a further catalogue of restricted one-off consumables and impose unfavourable tariffs and policies on exporting them.
Packaging
Excessive packaging is also being targeted. Product packaging standards will be enforced and enterprises should pay special attention to their product packaging design to avoid violation of applicable compulsory standards.
Liabilities. Recollection Duty
Modern manufacturers' responsibilities now extend to the re-collection and disposal of abandoned products. The central government will publish a catalogue of mandatory re-collection of products and packaging.
If products or packaging your company makes or uses are listed in the catalogue, you will have to collect the waste products or packaging for reutilisation (if possible) or for bio-safety disposal.
Manufacturers may entrust a third party, such as a distributor, to collect waste products or packaging.
High Energy or Water Consumption
Firms that are big enough and on the list of key enterprises with high energy or water consumption will be under the close scrutiny of the government of the relevant level.
In the Energy Conservation Law, which came into effect in April 2008, China already outlined a special monitoring and management system for high-energy-consuming enterprises. The Recycling Economy Promotion Law applies a similar mechanism to firms with high water consumption.
Challenges and Incentives
The law includes a series of incentives, such as the set up of special funds, tax incentives, financial programs with priority for recycling projects, and the implementing of government procurement policy to encourage the recycling economy.
Provincial and local governments have positively responded to the new legislation. Several indicators of the recycling economy will be included in assessments of local officials' performance. Therefore, some local governments have already enacted local incentive measures.
Tax. Business Tax on Foreign Services
On November 10, 2008, the China State Council issued the amended Provisional Regulations of the PRC on Business Tax ("BT Regulations"). On December 15, 2008, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation ("SAT") issued the Implementation Rules of the Provisional Regulations of the PRC on Business Tax ("BT Rules"). Both the BT Regulations and the BT Rules will come into effect on January 1, 2009. The BT Rules reinterpret the scope of taxable services and impose business tax on foreign services.
According to these new regulations business tax is imposed on the provision of services and the transfer of intangibles and immovable properties within the territory of China. The business tax rate for most services is five percent of gross service fees. Previously, the interpretation was that the service provider would be liable for business tax only if the taxable services were performed within China.
According to this new regulations, if services are provided to an enterprise, a non business organization, or an individual in China, the service provider will be liable for business tax on or after January 1, 2009, regardless of where the services are performed. Accordingly, foreign services to a Chinese company would be subject to China business tax.
Jaime Ubilla Hosts President Michelle Bachelet in Shanghai
Jaime Ubilla and other members of the Chilean Chamber of Commerce in China hosted Chilean president Michelle Bachelet Jeria during her 2 day visit to Shanghai. President Bachelet arrived to Shanghai on Monday after joining the Boao Summit in Hainan, where she held bilateral talks with several heads of state including President Hu Jintao.
During her stay in Shanghai, President Bachelet signed Chile's participation in the 2010 Shanghai World Expo and met the Mayor of Shanghai, Han Zheng. She also held meetings with several members of the Chilean expatriate community.
"It should be clear by now that further cooperation is not only possible but also critical to sustain the growth of our economies. We can apply our vision and insights, and we should even build where nobody has built before.
We welcome our president and look forward to an encouraging future."
Strategic direction from an experienced board of directors and advisory counsel
The members of the board of the Chilean Chamber represent the largest and most experienced Chilean companies and professionals with a presence in China.
In turn, the "advisory counsel" includes the highest political authorities of Chile in China, and has allowed the chamber to be integrated into the wider picture of the historical political relationship between China and Chile.
Additionally, the Chilean commercial office in Shangai, ProChile, has actively participated in the activities of the board as an honorary member making substantial contributions over the years.
Therefore, together, the board of directors and the advisory counsel provide the chamber with a firm basis for growth as well as with day to day insights on potencial strategic developments.
The chamber's mission is "to promote trade and investment between Chile and China through the facilitation and support of the business success of our members."
In this context, the chamber sees many diverse opportunities between the two countries. The following are only few examples of areas of current and potential development:
- IT, high-tech, clean technologies
- R&D centers
- Natural resources
- Food industry, processing
- Industrial migration through contract manufacturing (strategic industrial JVs)
- Service industry (value chain increasing capacity, investment banking, financial industry, media, consultancy, engineering services, technology and systems)
- Increased human capital management - managerial and technical support entering the center of the projects
- Supply chain transfer, design and innovation
- Logistics transfer - third party logistics
- Domestic retail industry in Chile and Latin America (consumer products markets)
- Private equity investments in strategic natural resources projects
- Private equity investments and public concessions in infrastructure projects
Source: Shangai Daily
Jaime Ubilla, un chileno a la conquista de China
Aunque hay complejidades en este mercado asiático, este ejecutivo que vive en China asegura que estudiándolo y asesorándose adecuadamente se pueden evitar problemas y obtener grandes beneficios. Recomendaciones que son muy oportunas tras la firma del TLC con ese país.
DANIELLA ZUNINO
Irse a trabajar a un país latinoamericano, a Estados Unidos o incluso Europa no parece algo tan lejano para un chileno. Pero si hablamos de Asia, la cosa cambia. Al abogado chileno Jaime Ubilla (36 años) el mundo oriental es algo que le fascina, tanto así que desde abril está viviendo en China, específicamente en Shangai, donde trabaja como Foreign Legal Counsel, Latin American Practice de AllBright Law Offices.
Sin embargo, éste no es el primer acercamiento de este abogado que es socio de la Cámara Chileno-China de Comercio. Y es que el M.A. en Derecho lo obtuvo en la Universidad de Waseda en Tokio. Es por eso que situaciones que quizás a cualquier occidental le podrían impactar más al estar en China, como el idioma y lo que significa ver que todo lo escrito está en otro tipo de escritura, en su caso no significan mayor problema, ya que explica que los caracteres japoneses son de origen chino, por lo que está un poco familiarizado.
Culturalmente Jaime Ubilla ha notado diferencias en diversas actitudes, por ejemplo, la prudencia de los chinos y el hecho de que las estructuras de comunicación son distintas, lo que se refleja en que las cosas que se dicen para cada momento son diferentes a las de un latinoamericano, lo que también está muy asociado a los ritmos.
Y pone un ejemplo: "Cuando pasa algo positivo, por ejemplo, que un cliente potencial se transforma en cliente, el ritmo de reacción frente puede ser distinto, uno puede alegrarse de inmediato porque tuvo la noticia recién y el otro puede preguntar y focalizarse en entender por qué se produjo eso en ese momento y por qué llegó este cliente y qué vamos a hacer y qué hace este cliente. Y a las horas o al día viene la reacción positiva de decir 'qué bueno'".
Además Ubilla resalta el proceso de transformación que esta viviendo el tigre asiático. Por ejemplo, señala que "hay empresas chinas que son sorprendentes en distintos ámbitos y que han surgido de gente que no tenía escolaridad o de gente que de estar con las manos en la tierra pasó a desarrollar proyectos industriales".
-¿Hay problemas que vea que se repiten en las empresas latinoamericanas en China?
"No sé si se les aplica sólo a los latinoamericanos, pero en los factores de riesgo de un emprendimiento comercial, de inversión en China, está el no sopesar debidamente la complejidad de esa aventura y no asesorarse debidamente. Hay muchas empresas que buscan simplemente reducir costos y se asesoran de manera demasiado rápida o a veces ni siquiera tienen asesoramiento".
"Los contactos locales, la relación personal entre los sujetos del mercado, es lo que determina la posibilidad de que se te abran o se te cierren puertas para saber con quién tienes que operar, con quién puedes tener una relación de largo plazo que no tienda a fracasar. Y ahí el no considerar esas relaciones personales, el no considerar que se requiere una asesoría local, el no sopesar la experiencia de terceros y también la falta de información que hay en el mercado hace que muchas de las empresas latinoamericanas que han ingresado hayan tenido problemas".
"Todo esto hace que los que observan este cambio a su vez se sientan inmovilizados o congelados, y el ingreso latinoamericano a China es muy pobre".
-¿Es pobre por lo que dice?
"Son dos factores. Uno escucha que es muy complicado, pero por otra parte hay una actitud muy pasiva de los latinoamericanos. Uno puede decir respecto de Chile que llama la atención que muchas empresas cuyos productos están hoy en peligro de recibir la competencia de productos chinos no hayan tomado posiciones en China para obtener a su vez proveedores de menores costos. Y no han hecho los estudios de investigación y desarrollo adecuados".
"Aparentemente los latinoamericanos no están dando los pasos adecuados, incluso los chilenos, pero da la sensación de que muchas empresas están tomando de manera muy liviana y lenta el proceso cuando la verdad es que la velocidad que se está viviendo allá es otra".
-Siempre se habla de que un TLC entre China y Chile beneficiaría las exportaciones, pero ¿qué tanto podría impulsar las inversiones de Chile en China?
"Ésa creo que es una de las áreas más débiles de Chile. Si Chile se quiere transformar en una economía desarrollada, tiene que hacer un salto cualitativo en dirección no sólo a ser un exportador de recursos naturales. Y los tratados de libre comercio, como está sucediendo, por ejemplo, con el de Corea, se utilizan fundamentalmente para seguir haciendo lo que se ha hecho siempre, siendo que son cuerpos normativos que facilitan que sucedan otras cosas. El punto es por qué no sucede".
"El tratado de libre comercio con China es una oportunidad, y las oportunidades que no se toman a tiempo en el sentido indicado, no en el puro sentido tradicional del comercio de recursos naturales, son la peor trampa, porque nos estamos perdiendo una oportunidad y no sólo no la aprovechamos, sino que creemos que la aprovechamos, por el hecho de que firmamos el tratado de libre comercio".
Para tener en cuenta
Los errores que según la experiencia de Ubilla a veces cometen las empresas extranjeras en China son:
Los extranjeros no siempre son bien asesorados. En ocasiones "el inversionista extranjero se toma muy livianamente el ingreso al mercado chino y no se asesora debidamente, considerando la complejidad del mercado".
El segundo factor es la complejidad del mercado.
"Esa complejidad es del sistema regulatorio y del mercado y cuando digo sistema regulatorio hablo de la superposición que hay entre sistema propiamente legal, con el sistema político y con el arreglo que hay entre los grupos económicos y el poder político".
IDENTIDAD:
JAIME UBILLA
Abogado de 36 años. Socio de la Cámara Chileno-China de Comercio. Obtuvo un M.A. en Derecho en
la Universidad de Waseda en Tokio.
"Los contactos locales, la relación personal entre los sujetos del mercado, es lo que determina la posibilidad de que se te abran o se te cierren puertas".
Source: Diario El Mercurio