跨境投资系列（一）-三法合一，外商投资环境正好（中英双语）
本文是财富传承君之道的第164期文章
全文共计4385个字，阅读完约需10分钟
2018年12月26日，全国人大发布了《中华人民共和国外商投资法》（草案）（以下简称“草案”）并对外征求意见。
当前，中国对外商投资领域的规制以《中华人民共和国中外合资经营企业法》、《中华人民共和国外资企业法》、《中华人民共和国中外合作经营企业法》（以下统称“外资三法”）为基础，结合国务院、商务部、发改委、外汇管理局、证监会、银保监会等政府机关颁布的行政法规、部门规章等，形成了较为完整的外商投资法律制度体系，为扩大对外开放、积极利用外资提供了有效法律保障。
然而，依据草案第三十九条，在《中华人民共和国外商投资法》（以下简称“《外商投资法》”）实施的同时，外资三法即时废止，这意味着，《外商投资法》将取代外资三法对中外合资、中外合作、外商独资企业进行统一规制，适用统一标准。但用“规制”来形容《外商投资法》似乎并不太恰当，因为从草案的内容来看，相比于外资三法，《外商投资法》的立法理念由“规范限制”转向“赋权保护”。
一、草案亮点剖析
整体来看，草案的内容相比于外资三法有以下特点：
（一）内容精简抽象
相比于外资三法，草案仅有39条，内容着实精简了许多，而且大多比较抽象，涉及具体的操作性规制性内容较少。由此，可以理解，外资企业的具体行为规范将由以前的特别规制，纳入《公司法》、《合同法》等一般法律规范范围内，更加凸显中国对外资的平等对待。
（二）从“管理规制”向“促进与保护”过渡
草案共五章，除第一章总则和第五章法律责任外，其余三章为投资促进、投资保护和投资管理，而投资管理的内容较多体现为对国家行政机关的规范，而非对外商投资企业的限制，突出了保护和促进外商投资的理念；且从条款内容来看，草案也给人一种展示外资保护政策的印象。
（三）弱化和消除区别对待，推进公平竞争
从三法合一的形式上便可看出，除了弱化和消除中外合资、中外合作、外商独资三类企业的区分外，草案也有意弱化和消除内外的区别对待。草案多处提及平等性、对等性、等同性等内容，在政策、社会环境、待遇等诸多方面弱化和消除对外商投资企业的区别对待，强调平等市场地位。
二、草案主要内容
接下来，让我们结合草案说明，共同学习下《外商投资法》草案的主要内容：
（一）关于外商投资的定义和情形
草案规定，外商投资是指外国的自然人、企业和其他组织（以下称外国投资者）直接或者间接在中国境内进行的投资活动，包括外国投资者单独或者与其他投资者共同在中国境内投资新建项目、设立外商投资企业或者增加投资，外国投资者通过并购方式取得中国境内企业的股份、股权、财产份额或者其他类似权益，以及外国投资者通过法律、行政法规或者国务院规定的其他方式在中国境内投资（第二条）。
（二）关于投资促进
为积极促进外商投资，草案在原则规定国家实行高水平投资自由化便利化政策，建立和完善外商投资促进机制，营造稳定、透明、可预期的投资环境（第三条）的同时，主要从五个方面做了规定：一是明确对外商投资实行准入前国民待遇加负面清单管理制度（第四条）。二是明确国家支持企业发展的各项政策同等适用于外商投资企业；制定与外商投资有关的法律、法规、规章应当听取外商投资企业的意见和建议，与外商投资有关的规范性文件、司法判决应当依法及时公布；国家建立健全外商投资服务体系，为外国投资者和外商投资企业提供法律法规、政策措施、投资项目信息等方面的咨询和服务（第九条至第十一条）。三是明确外商投资企业平等参与标准化工作和政府采购活动，标准制定应当强化信息公开和社会监督，强制性标准平等适用于外商投资企业，政府采购依法对外商投资企业在中国境内生产的产品平等对待（第十五条、第十六条）。四是明确外商投资企业可以依法通过公开发行股票、公司债券等证券以及其他方式进行融资（第十七条）。五是明确地方各级人民政府可以在法定权限内制定外商投资促进政策，各级人民政府及其有关部门应当进一步提高外商投资服务水平（第十八条、第十九条）。
（三）关于投资保护
为加强对外商投资合法权益的保护，草案从四个方面作了规定：一是加强对外商投资企业的产权保护。规定国家对外商投资不实行征收，根据社会公共利益需要实行征收的，应当依照法定程序进行，并给予公平、合理的补偿（第二十条）；外国投资者在中国境内的出资、利润、资本收益等可以依法以人民币或者外汇自由转出（第二十一条）；国家依法保护外国投资者和外商投资企业的知识产权，鼓励基于自愿原则和商业规则开展技术合作，技术合作条件由投资各方协商确定，不得利用行政手段强制转让技术（第二十二条）。二是强化对涉及外商投资规范性文件制定的约束。规定政府及其有关部门制定涉及外商投资的规范性文件应当符合法律法规，不得违法减损外商投资企业合法权益或者增加其义务，不得违法设置市场准入和退出条件、违法干预或者影响外商投资企业的正常生产经营活动（第二十三条）。三是促使地方政府守约践诺。规定地方各级人民政府及其有关部门应当严格履行依法对外资企业作出的政策承诺和依法订立的各类合同；因国家利益、公共利益需要改变政府承诺和合同约定的，应当严格依照法定权限和程序进行，并对外国投资者、外商投资企业因此受到的损失予以补偿（第二十四条）。四是完善外商投资企业投诉维权机制。规定国家建立外商投资企业投诉工作机制，协调完善外商投资企业投诉工作中的重大政策措施，及时解决外商投资企业反映的问题；外国投资者、外商投资企业可以依法成立和自愿参加商会、协会，维护自身合法权益（第二十五条、第二十六条）。
（四）关于投资管理
草案作了四个方面的规定：一是为落实准入前国民待遇加负面清单管理制度，规定负面清单规定禁止投资的领域，外国投资者不得投资；限制投资的领域，外国投资者进行投资应当符合规定的条件；负面清单以外的领域按照内外资一致的原则实施管理（第二十七条）。二是与有关法律法规相衔接，规定外商投资项目的核准、备案按照国家有关规定执行；外国投资者投资依法需要取得许可的行业、领域应当办理相关许可手续；外商投资企业的登记以及税收、会计、外汇等事宜依照有关法律、行政法规和国家有关规定办理（第二十八条、第二十九条、第三十条）。三是规定国家建立外商投资信息报告制度，信息报告的内容和范围按照确有必要、严格控制的原则确定，外国投资者或者外商投资企业通过企业登记系统和企业信用信息公示系统向商务主管部门报送投资信息，通过部门信息共享能够获得的投资信息不得再行要求报送（第三十一条）。四是为维护国家安全，对外商投资安全审查制度作了原则规定，并明确安全审查决定为最终决定（第三十三条）。
三、小结
值此中国改革开放四十年之际，回望外商投资企业在中国的发展，从早期的“三来一补”贸易，到现在外资积极参与中国各个行业、领域的经济建设，外资在中国改革开放进程和社会经济建设中发挥了巨大作用。而今，随着中国经济的发展，中国作为世界工厂吸收世界产业转移的优惠政策和劳动力等成本优势逐渐被其他发展中国家取代，一方面，中国致力于产业升级，更加青睐于高端产业投资；另一方面，中国已有的低端制造业因成本、劳动力、环保政策等因素存在向其他发展中国家转移的潜在可能和压力。
尽管中国吸收外资的规模从1978年-1984年共计41亿元，到2017年一年达8775.6亿元，但吸引外商投资的现实经济发展需求仍在，中国吸收外商投资的意愿仍然强烈。商务部外资司负责人曾在介绍2017年我国吸收外资有关情况时指出，2017年全年，我国吸收外资主要呈现三个特点：一是外商投资环境持续优化；二是外资产业结构持续优化；三是外资区域布局持续优化。种种迹象表明，中国对外商投资将越来越开放，政策及法制环境将愈加改善。
从《外商投资法》草案颠覆性的立法结构和主旨亦可看出，中国政府正在吸引和保护外商投资上跨出实质性的一大步，《外商投资法》的颁布将是中国外商投资法律构建中的里程碑，将成为一部外商投资的权益保护法，一部保护外商投资的大宪章，其必将促使中国外商投资环境发生巨大的转变。中国的外商投资环境正好，亦将越来越好。
外商投资法律服务为本团队的主要及优势业务之一，本团队凭借丰富的执业经验和专业的执业水平可为客户提供高质量的外商投资法律服务，我们将持续关注《外商投资法》的立法进展，并就外商投资并购、境外投资并购、境内外上市等各个方面,及VIE结构、返程投资、离岸公司等细节问题发布系列文章，与大家分享我们的执业心得。
On December 26, 2018, the National People's Congress (NPC) promulgated the Draft Law on Foreign Investment of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft") and solicited opinions.
At present, China's regulation of the field of foreign investment is based on the Law of the People's Republic of China on Chinese-Foreign Equity Joint Ventures, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises and the Law of thePeople's Republic of China on Chinese-Foreign Contractual Joint Ventures (hereinafter referred to as “Three Laws on Foreign Investment”). Three Laws on Foreign Investment and the administrative regulations issued by the State Council and departmental regulations issued by the government organs such as Ministry of Commerce, National Development and Reform Commission, State Administration of Foreign Exchange, China Securities Regulatory Commission and China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, form a complete legal system of foreign investment, which provides effective legal protection for opening wider to the outside world and actively utilizing foreign capital.
According to Article 39 of the Draft, as long as the Law on Foreign Investment of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Foreign Investment Law") takes effect, the Three Laws on Foreign Investment will be repealed, which means that the Foreign Investment Law will replace the Three Laws, regulating unifiedly Chinese-Foreign EquityJoint Ventures, wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises and Chinese-ForeignContractual Joint Ventures with unified standards. Unlike the three foreign investment laws, the legislative concept of the Foreign Investment Law has changed from "restriction" to "protection".
Ⅰ Analysis ofcharacteristics of the draft
On the whole, compared with the Three Laws on Foreign Investment，the content of the Draft has the following characteristics:
(i) Streamlined and abstract contents
Compared with Three Laws on Foreign Investment, the Draft, which contains only 39 Articles, involves less specific operational contents, and its contents are really streamlined a lot and mostly more abstract. Thus, it implies that the specific regulations of conduct of foreign-invested enterprises will be incorporated into the “Company Law”, “Contract Law” and other general legal norms, which more highlights China's equal treatment of foreign investment.
(ii) Transition from “regulation and restriction” to “promotion and protection”
The Draft consists of five chapters. In addition to the Chapter 1 of the general provisions and Chapter 5 of legal liability, the remaining three chapters are investment promotion, investment protection and investment management. The contents of the chapter of investment management focuses on the regulation of State administrative organs, rather than restrictions on foreign-invested enterprises, highlighting the attitude of protecting and promoting foreign investment. The Draft also gives an impression of showing foreign investment protection policy.
(iii) Weakening and eliminating differential treatment and promoting fair competition
From the form of the unity of the Three Laws on Foreign Investment, we can see that in addition to weakening and eliminating the distinction between Chinese-Foreign Equity Joint Ventures, wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises and Chinese-Foreign Contractual Joint Ventures, the Draft also intends to weaken and eliminate domestic and foreign-invested discrimination. The Draft repeatedly mentions equality, reciprocity and equivalence in many terms, weakening and eliminatingthe differential treatment of foreign-invested enterprises in many aspects, such as policy, social environment and treatment, and emphasizing equal market position.
Ⅱ Summary
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up, looking back the development of foreign investment enterprises in china, from the early trades of the three-processing and one compensation to participating actively in the various economic fields of china, the foreign capital plays a huge rolein the process of reform and opening up and in the economic and social development. Now, with the development of china’s economy, in the aspect of advantages of preferential policies, low labor costs and so on, which helped china to attract the industrial transfer of developed countries and to be the world factory, china is being replaced gradually by other developing countries. On one hand, china is devoting itself to industrial update and prefer investments in high-end industries; on the other hand, china’s low-end manufacturing industry is assuming the potential and pressure of transferring to other developing countries due to the factors of costs, labor, environmental policies atc..
Although the scale of China's foreign investment was totally 4.1 billion yuan from 1978 to 1984, and has reached 877.56 billion yuan in 2017, china still has a strong desire to attract foreign investment. The head of the foreign investment department of the Ministry of Commerce pointed out that the absorption of foreign capital in China, in 2017, mainly presents three characteristics: The first is the continuous optimization of the environment for foreign investment. The second is the continuous optimization of the industrial structure of foreign investment. The third is the continuous optimization of the distribution of foreign investment in the regions. There are signs reflecting that China will become more open to foreign investment and the policy and legal environment will improve more and more.
From the subversive legislative structure and theme of the Draft, we can also see that the Chinese government is to take a substantial step in the aspect of attracting and protecting foreign investment. The promulgation of the Foreign Investment Law will be a milestone in the process of building China's foreign investment legal system. The law on foreign investment will become a foreign investment rights and interests protection law and a Magna Carta for protection of foreign investment, which will change greatly China's foreign investment environment. The environment for foreign investment in China is good and getting better.
Legal service about foreign investment is one of our main and advantageous businesses. With rich professional experience and professional ability, our team can provide customers with high-quality foreign investment legal services. We will continue to pay attention to the promulgation of the foreign investment law and publish a series of articles about foreign investment, M&A of corporations and international finance and so on, sharing our professional experience in the field of foreign investment with you.
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