Ring in the New Year...

...With New Laws!

Brad Luo at China Business Law Blog does a great job of breaking down the important legislation of 2007 in this post. Just add in the revised Catalog for the Guidance of Foreign Invested Enterprises (外商投资产业指导目录), and you've got a complete list of the important laws for foreign investment last year.

Mr. Luo also covers the new labor laws. Here's a quick rundown on the laws that came into effect on January 1, 2008:

1) Labor Contract Law (中华人民共和国劳动合同法)
This is a big deal. The most important thing for anybody doing business in China is making sure that you are in compliance with this law by February 1, 2008, or your worker's can hold you liable for double pay. Basically, get written contracts with your employees or anybody who might be considered an employee, and write an employee handbook in Chinese that explains firing criteria. If you want more, go to China Law Blog's extensive coverage.

2) Employment Promotion Law (中华人民共和国就业促进法)
WilmerHale has an extensive rundown on this private sector employment promotion and non-discrimination law, here. Their basic conclusion is that this law will have little to no effect on foreign investors. I agree. WilmerHale points out that though private litigation by workers is allowed by the law, the lack of specific penalties will probably result in limited enforcement of the non-discrimination provisions.

3) Law on Animal Epidemic Prevention (中华人民共和国动物防疫法)
There may have been ~90,000 cat and dog attacks on humans in Beijing through the first half of '07, but chances are that the mandatory vaccinations required by this law are more the product of worries about what might come out of a poultry farm than out of Fido. Here's a Xinhua article on this.