Liabilities of Contributed Capital Surreptitiously Withdrawn in New China Corporate Law

 (By You Yunting) In the end of 2013, China issued a revised Corporate Law updating the provisions about the contributed capital, as discussed in our previous post the Amendment to the Corporate Law. Today we will discuss the legal liabilities of promoters and shareholders with regards to the required contributed capital being surreptitiously withdrawn.

Assumption of liability

Pursuant to the updated Corporate Law, any shareholder who fails to make full payment of the capital contributions at the establishment of the company shall be jointly and severally liable for refunding the paid-in capital – in accordance with the amount of registered capital. As such, it is when the company is unable to pay its debts that the shareholders shall assume the liability of surreptitiously withdrawing the contributed capital.

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A Brief Analysis of the 2013 Amendment to the China Company Law

(By Yu ZhiYuan) On 28 December 2013, the decision on amending the previous company law was promulgated by the National People’s Congress. The amendment this time will concentrate solely on changing the corporate capital system dramatically in the following three ways. First, the registered capital to-be-paid-in system will be launched. Second, the minimum registered capital will no longer be required. Third, the maximum proportion of intangible assets to the total registered capital will no longer be required. Obviously the amendment was made as a response of legislative authorities to the resolutions approved at the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee. This article provides an analysis and brief comments on the amendment.

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The Amendment to the Corporate Law of the People’s Republic of Law

Notice: On December 28, 2013, China adopted a new amendment to the Corporate Law which will come into force on March 1, 2014. Combining with our original 2005 version of the Corporate Law, Ms Wang translates the new amendment to the Corporate Law into English and posts it today. If anyone needs to reprint our translated revision on web, please note the following content on the reprint page: This amendment is translated by Bridge IP Law Commentary  http://www.chinaiplawyer.com.

 To help foreign friends better understanding of Chinese laws, today we would first publish a comparison between the 2005 version of the Corporate Law and the 2013 amendment.

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China’s Latest Laws and regulations in October 2013, Part II

7. Circular by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council on Cessation of New Construction of Buildings, Halls and Chambers and Clearing Up Housing for Office Use of Party and Governmental Offices

 

Promulgated on July 23, 2013 by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, the Circular on Cessation of New Construction of Buildings, Halls and Chambers and Clearing Up Housing for Office Use of Party and Governmental Offices was created in order to ensure the cessation in every aspect of the new construction of buildings, halls and chambers, and to regulate the management of housing for office use.

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A Dispute and Settlement involving Technology Investments

Comments on a Shareholder’s Qualification Case Arising out of Technology Investments

(Steven Wang) Recently, the author has represented parties in a shareholder’s lawsuit, with the dispute centering on IPR investment. The court has already heard the case. The property value involved in the lawsuit totaled as high as RMB 300 million Yuan, and the laws applied in its hearing involved IPR law, contract law, and corporate law. The focus of the dispute referred to the patent, exclusive technology, contribution, revocation of shareholder qualification and the application of law when a number of conflicts arise among these different areas of the law.  These conflicts have caused a lot of discussion regarding these legal conflicts, and several conclusions have been reached regarding issues presented in the case.

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What do the First Valuation Adjustment Mechanism (VAM) Lawsuits in China Tell Us?

Analysis on the HF Fund’s lawsuits against Gansu Shiheng and Hong Kong Dia

(By Bai Lituan & Zhang Qianlin) In December 2012, HF Fund Management Co., Ltd. (the “HFF”) filed a lawsuit against Gansu Shiheng Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd (the “GSNM”), and after being heard by the Supreme People’s Court, the Court stated that the valuation adjustment Mechanism (VAM) would be considered partially valid. This particular case has been seen ups and downs, and now that it has finally been heard, we would like to share our opinions on it within a framework of legal analysis, and hope that it will help clarify any issues presented in the case and thus help to reduce the risks investors typically face.

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Legal Analysis on the Preemption Dispute between Fosun and SOHO China

(by Bai Lituan) After six months of tense negotiation without any satisfactory result over a dispute of the 8-1 Pearl Project land plot on the Bund, Fosun (00656.HK) and SOHO China (00410.HK) finally chose to take the case to court in Shanghai. The first hearing of the case was in late November 2012. Before then, Fosun insisted that the share transaction between SOHO China and Shanghai Zendai Group damaged its right of preemption.

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Has Apple Lost Opportunity of In-Camera Hearing on Its Case?

By Albert Chen

The most watched dispute between Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) and Chinese Writers Alliance (the “Alliance”) is heard on 11th of October in Beijing No.2 Intermediate People’s Court. That lawsuit is filed following the battle against Baidu by the Alliance. Before the hearing on 11th, Apple applied to the court for the hearing in camera with the claim that the case is with trade secret related. After the consideration by the court, such an application was refused by the judge, yet it still decided the procedure may switch into be in private when one the interrogation involves the business secret. In today’s post, you may see our analysis on the “lawsuit in camera” in China.

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Guiding Case by China Supreme Court: JV’s Minority Shareholders May Undertake All Company’s Debt

By You Yunting

By judicial practices in China, in case the Sino-foreign invested company, which however is operated under the management of Chinese shareholder, is trapped in the insolvency, the foreign investors could be judged to take all the debt of the company, not subject to the total amount of its investment, when Chinese partner chooses to disappear or refuse to clear the debt. And in recent, as per the latest 3rd guiding cases by China Supreme People’s Court, by a decision indicated in it, the non controlling shareholder shall be liable to the joint liability to the non-settled debt of the company, that obviously aggravates the burden of the company shareholder. Then, what is the fair way to avoid such risks? We put forward our answer to it in today’s post.

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Risk and Its Prevention for Dormant Investment in China

By Luo Yanjie

Recently, Shanghai Huangpu People’s Court issued white paper about cases involved Non-State-Invested Units. The white paper disclosed that the dormant investment is ubiquitous in Non-State-Invested Units during the process of their establishment, and that not only makes investors’ rights and interests unguaranteed, but also cause a serious threat to the commercial good-faith. As introduced, some actual investor would not like to establish the company in their own names considering various factors, but registered the company in others’ name. It results lots of disputes. Now we would like to discuss the risk of “dormant investment” and introduce how to reduce the risk as follows:

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Analysis on Taxation in Copyright Contribution in China

By Luo Yanjie

China corporate lawyer, China company establishment, company establishment tax administration, company establishment tax avoidance, non-monetary investment taxation issues, non-monetary investment tax avoidance, copyright contribution tax issue, copyright contribution tax avoidance, corporate law, company establishment, company establishment legal issues, company capital adequacy duty, value-added assessment, original value assessment, company income tax, business tax, personal tax, turnover tax, asset evaluation, non-monetary contribution.

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