New rules in February

National

1. Measures for the Administration of Quality Testing of Construction Projects (2022)

Published 29 December 2022 / in force 1 March 2023

The revision sharpens what quality testing of construction projects means and makes clear how far it applies; widens the range of market entities that may carry out testing and tightens the regulation of testing conduct; strengthens the management of qualifications and simplifies the approval process; and improves supervision while increasing penalties. The qualification standards for testing are no longer annexed to the Measures: the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development will issue them separately, setting out the conditions and the scope of business.

2. Measures for the Administration of Soil and Water Conservation Plans for Construction Projects

Published 4 February 2023 / in force 1 March 2023

The Measures are divided into seven chapters and 34 articles: general provisions, preparation and approval, implementation of the plan, acceptance of the facilities, supervision and inspection, penalties, and supplementary provisions. They set out the scope within which a plan must be prepared, the categories of plan, its content, the stage at which it is prepared, approval at different levels, the materials to be submitted, the time for acceptance of an application, the manner and time for approval, technical review, the conditions for approval, changes to a plan and the period for which a plan remains valid. Supervision and inspection are strengthened by provisions on supervision of approval, supervision during and after implementation, credit supervision and the duty to correct.

3. Provisions on the Quality Management of Water Conservancy Projects (2023)

Published 12 January 2023 / in force 1 March 2023

The Provisions set out the primary responsibility, the main responsibility and the corresponding responsibility in law of the project legal person, of the surveying, design, construction and supervision units and of testing and monitoring units and others taking part, hold water administration departments strictly to their supervisory duty over quality, and build a system of rules that strengthens quality management in water conservancy projects.

4. Measures for the Administration of Securities Brokerage Business

Published 13 January 2023 / in force 28 February 2023

The Measures follow the approach of returning to first principles, enriching the content, tightening regulation, developing in an orderly way and protecting clients, and deal with six matters: what brokerage business is, the management of client conduct, the detail of business process, the protection of client rights, internal control and compliance, and administrative supervision and accountability. They stress that brokerage is the exclusive business of securities companies, so that carrying it on without a licence approved by the securities regulator is a breach; require securities companies to perform their duty to manage trading, tightening control before, during and after each transaction, and to strengthen the management of trading units they let out; require them to list commission separately from stamp duty and other taxes and fees, so that investors know what they are paying; and require them to strengthen the management of branches, of personnel, of business control and of information systems, so reinforcing internal control and preventing risk in the business.

5. Measures for the Administration of Regulatory Statistics of Banking and Insurance

Published 25 December 2022 / in force 1 February 2023

The Measures have six chapters and 33 articles: general provisions, bodies responsible for regulatory statistics, the conduct of statistical investigation, statistical management by banking and insurance institutions, supervision of regulatory statistics, and supplementary provisions. They regulate five matters in particular: the requirement that statistics be managed centrally; responsibility for the quality of data; the protection of data security; alignment with the requirements of data governance; and attention to realising the value of data.

6. Measures for the Administration of the Review and Registration of Medium- and Long-Term Foreign Debt of Enterprises

Published 5 January 2023 / in force 10 February 2023

The Measures have six chapters and 37 articles: general provisions, the scale and use of foreign debt, review and registration, risk management and ongoing supervision, legal liability, and supplementary provisions. Compared with the notice issued in 2015, they make changes on five fronts: the scope of management is drawn sensibly so that supervision covers the field; the use of funds raised through foreign debt is more tightly controlled so that the real economy is served; the review and registration procedure is set out in more detail, so that it is more transparent and more convenient; ongoing supervision is renewed and enriched; and enterprises are guided to manage foreign debt risk better. Guidance and requirements are given on keeping foreign debt to a reasonable scale, on awareness of risk and on managing it.

7. Measures for Industrial Energy Conservation Inspection

Published 22 December 2022 / in force 1 February 2023

The Measures establish four matters: what industrial energy conservation inspection means and how duties are divided; who carries it out and what it covers; the procedure to be followed; and the measures available once a problem is found.

Shanghai

1. Several Provisions of Shanghai Municipality on the Resource Recovery and Reuse of Solid Waste in Pudong New Area

Published 21 December 2022 / in force 1 February 2023

The Provisions set the objectives for the reuse of solid waste, strengthen coordination across departments, lay down requirements for different categories of waste, and create better mechanisms. On land, they encourage innovation in the way land is supplied and require that a proportion of land zoned for industry be set aside for the resource recovery industry. On the environment, they provide that environmental impact assessment for recovery projects is delegated to the district level, for approval or for filing. They also set out supporting measures on carbon reduction, finance, banking and taxation.

2. Measures of Shanghai Municipality for the Administration of Disinfection

Published 7 December 2022 / in force 1 February 2023

The Measures have eight chapters and 48 articles: general provisions, general requirements for disinfection, disinfection service providers, preventive disinfection, emergency disinfection, supervision and administration, legal liability, and supplementary provisions. They make clear the duties of the government and of the departments concerned, set out the general requirements for disinfection, tighten supervision of disinfection service providers, regulate preventive and emergency disinfection, and improve the mechanism of supervision.

3. Measures of Shanghai Municipality for the Administration of Information Infrastructure

Published 19 January 2023 / in force 1 March 2023

The Measures deal with the planning, construction, maintenance and management of information infrastructure. They set out the principles of unified planning, intensive construction and shared resources; make clear that operators are to adopt maintenance rules and are responsible for maintaining their infrastructure; provide that the departments concerned are to establish a joint mechanism for security and that operators are to improve their security management; and require the departments to adopt contingency plans and supervision and inspection systems, so strengthening emergency response and oversight.

4. Provisions of Shanghai Municipality on the Procedure for Hearings in Administrative Penalty Cases

Published 19 January 2023 / in force 1 April 2023

The revised Provisions have five chapters and 33 articles and make six main changes: the scope of hearings is altered; the duty to notify a hearing and the way a hearing is requested are made clear; the standing of the hearing record and the hearing report is made clear; the circumstances in which a hearing may be suspended or terminated are widened; time limits for hearings are set; and online hearings are provided for as a supplement to hearings held in person. As to the report, the Provisions provide that after a hearing the presiding officer may arrange for a report to be prepared and sent with the record to the case-handling body, which passes it with the other materials to the person in charge of the administrative organ; where those conducting the hearing disagree with the handling of the case, their view is to be recorded in the report as it stands.