On 15 March 2019, the National People's Congress ("NPC"), China's legislature, promulgated the long-awaited Foreign Investment Law ("FIL") which will come into force on 1 January 2020.

The FIL will bring China's foreign investment regime into a new era by replacing and repealing the Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Venture Law (中外合资企业法), Sino-Foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Law (中外合作企业法) and Foreign Enterprise Law (外资企业法), the existing laws regulating foreign invested entities ("FIEs") in China which have been in force for decades, (collectively the "FIE Laws") with a single unified law as from 1 January 2020.  Foreign investors will welcome the rules laid down in the FIL for the promotion and protection of foreign investment in China, but some uncertainties remain.

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