"The Civil Code represents the first codification of laws in the legislative history of the PRC. While the Civil Code does not itself present many ground-breaking changes to existing law, taking a comprehensive view, it provides long-awaited clarity and consistency for legal practitioners. Echoing the adoption of the Foreign Investment Law, which mandates the uniform treatment of foreign and domestic investment activities in China, the new Civil Code represents uniformity at a more significant dimension, a further giant, welcomed step for legislative reform in China."

Jun Li, Han Kun Law Offices, Shanghai

"Other legal developments in 2021 will almost certainly pale in comparison to the coming into effect of China's new Civil Code, which provides a uniform civil code for the first time and replaces the patchwork of civil law enactments that came before. In the coming year, international businesses will feel impacts across a range of areas, including contracts, secured transactions and civil litigation. Online businesses may feel the effects disproportionately, given the Civil Code's more robust provisions governing online contracts, as well as data privacy provisions that presage China's likely adoption of a new Personal Information Protection Law in the near future."

Paul McKenzie, Morrison & Foerster, Beijing and Shanghai

"The Civil Code will have a major impact on nearly all business activities within China and on companies located in or operating in relation to China. In 2021, the SPC intends to continue refining its civil judicial interpretation framework system to provide further guidance and clarity aligned with the Civil Code. Further, 2021 will begin to show how the Civil Code will be implemented and enforced in practice, which will determine its real impact. On balance, we expect the Civil Code to drive a significant need for advice in 2021, especially on its parts regarding contracts, security, property and tort liability."

Michael Munzinger, CMS, Shanghai

"For 2021, we anticipate a more profound and deepened transition to the 'negative list' management model, which may greatly enhance the transparency and predictability of foreign investment in China. Furthermore, we are looking forward to more favorable policies at the central and local levels to attract foreign investors and cultivate a more investor-friendly and international business environment. In particular, we are excited to see more prominent international competitors in banking, insurance, securities, asset management and other fields enter the arena and expand their onshore footprints."

Tiecheng Yang, Han Kun Law Offices, Beijing

"Although the Foreign Investment Law set out a clearer framework for foreign investment into Mainland China, we expect further detailed rules and regulations to flesh out the high-level provisions of the new law in 2021, for example, in relation to the treatment of VIE structures. New waves of reform are also anticipated in the general foreign investment regime, defining a path to full implementation of the new law by 2025. In addition, we will see the further development of China's national security review regime for foreign investment. Effective from 18 January 2021, a new review regime will replace the current rules, under which a body headed by the NDRC and MOFCOM, will be established to be responsible for the day-to-day operations of security review covering foreign investment in military sectors as well as the acquisition by foreign entities of controlling stakes in sectors such as energy, natural resources, agriculture, internet technology and financial services."

John Xu, Linklaters, Shanghai

"China's draft Data Security Law and Personal Information Protection Law are expected to be finalized in 2021. Together with the Cybersecurity Law, the three laws, potentially overlapping but with different focuses, will comprise China's regulatory framework governing data from the perspective of cybersecurity, personal information protection and the security of 'important data'. We also expect that more implementing regulations related to topics such as the multi-level protection scheme, cross-border data transfer and protection of critical information infrastructure will be rolled out and implemented."

Yan Luo, Covington & Burling, Beijing

"We expect the new rules on data security and protection will become more strictly enforced as China's public security bureaus gain manpower and experience. In addition, all government divisions are now including reviews of cybersecurity and data protection within the scope of their supervision work. For example, the China Securities Regulatory Commission examines IT structures and data governance before issuing licenses for securities and fund businesses and the National Healthcare Commission examines hospital information systems to protect patient information. For multinationals, cross-border data transfer is always a concern, and we predict that companies will need to establish and implement a security review process in relation to both data exports and the outsourcing of data processing responsibilities to external vendors."

Xun Yang, Llinks Law Offices, Shanghai

"The year 2021 is likely to see the enactment of two milestone laws for data protection in China, the Personal Information Protection Law and the Data Security Law, which are aimed at protecting personal information and important data, respectively. Both laws mandate a range of compliance measures. In addition, China is expected to publish a series of implementing rules and standards to supplement the emerging regulatory framework, which will present additional compliance challenges for many companies in the coming year."

James Gong, Herbert Smith Freehills, Beijing

"Following the amendments to the Trademark Law and Anti-unfair Competition Law in 2019, China continued in 2020 to promote the protection of IPR from the perspectives of national strategy formulation, international competition, innovation promotion and creation of a sound business climate. Looking ahead to 2021, the effective implementation of these legislative achievements remains an arduous task, especially under the evolving global political and economic environment. Despite the uncertainties and challenges, the major direction will be positive and forward."

Aggie Liu, FenXun Partners, Beijing

"2020 has been a year of pervasive changes to the Chinese legal and economic landscape. At the same time, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has also had an impact on the global and Chinese economy, speeding up the shift to technology solutions and the e-economy, thereby increasing the value of intellectual property assets and the challenges in protecting these assets. These trends will endure in 2021 and we should see a positive impact from the updated Chinese IP legislation in more IP transactions and more efficient IP litigation."

Stephaan Meuwissen and Grace Guo, Hogan Lovells, Beijing

"The year 2021 may see the promulgation of a number of implementing regulations and rules for the new Export Control Law, the publication of new export control lists and the imposition of enforcement actions. In response to the increasing export control-related risks, Chinese domestic companies and MNCs with a presence in China are advised to actively improve their export control compliance programs. MNCs also need to find ways to manage potential conflicts between PRC law and the laws of other jurisdictions (such as the US) to avoid designation on the Unreliable Entity List."

Ren, Qing, Global Law Office, Beijing

"In 2021, the Chinese government is expected to issue detailed implementing rules and policies for the Export Control Law, further enforce the cybersecurity related rules, target China's internet giants for potential claims of online business monopoly and guide them on contributions to technology innovation. The protection of personal information and online privacy will remain a focus of the regulatory authorities, and we expect rules on the protection of important data and data cross-border transfers will be released. In regulating industrial and public data, it is possible that more space will be offered to allow exploitation of such data to facilitate the development of ITOS, 5G, AI, Robotics and so on."

Vincent Wang, Global Law Office, Shanghai

"Political tensions will remain but will likely subside as economic realities replace security concerns. Long term, the laws and regulations which will likely have the greatest effect will be positive for technology companies, including regulations that remove red tape impeding the progress of autonomous cars, possible greater foreign exchange control flexibility to facilitate the acquisition of foreign technology, and SAMR's draft trade secret protection regulations, which aim to better protect hi-tech companies' intellectual property. We also expect to see a renaissance of the joint venture as Chinese companies target technology and Western companies target the China market and capital."

Mark Schaub, King & Wood Mallesons, London

"For 2021, I expect increased SAMR enforcement activities (especially in priority sectors such as the Internet and pharma), private antitrust litigation, more domestic merger filings, more filings by Chinese companies with foreign anti-trust authorities, and more co-operation between the SAMR's Anti-Monopoly Bureau and the antitrust authorities of BRICS and Belt-and-Road countries."

Adrian Emch, Hogan Lovells, Beijing

"Calls for stronger enforcement are getting louder in China. This theme is playing out in particular in sectors directly impacting Chinese consumers, including technology, digital, e-commerce platforms and pharmaceuticals, but all sectors will be ultimately affected. Sophisticated compliance will be required to achieve and maintain a successful business in China in the coming year."

Yong Bai, Clifford Chance, Beijing

"On the transactional front, VIE structures are no longer an obstacle to merger control reviews. Deals that previously flew under the regulatory radar will now have to be vetted by SAMR. SAMR sent a very clear message by imposing the maximum fine for failure to file on Alibaba and a Tencent subsidiary in December. On the behavioural front, the recently released draft guidelines on digital platforms will likely give rise to heated debates. The Chinese context may be different, but it will be interesting to observe how much convergence there will be between SAMR and other antitrust agencies around the world grappling with the same issues."

Charles Pommiès, Allen & Overy, Brussels

"Looking ahead to 2021, China may accelerate its march to become a pharmaceutical innovator by increasing preferential policies for foreign investors and international collaboration, though the competing policy to cultivate domestic champions could result in a tricky balance. We also may see rules that further clarify the MAH system, finalised measures on expanded access to investigational drugs and the drafting or promulgation of rules governing the use of emerging technologies such as AI, 5G, robotics and so on, in the medical field. Central to progress in these areas is the protection of data, and we will likely see a raft of legislation on cybersecurity and localization coming off the shelves."

Philip Cheng, Hogan Lovells, Shanghai

"With the background of a new US administration and an increase in cross-border economic activities as coronavirus vaccines become widely available, we are likely to witness an up-tick in cross-border disputes in 2021, especially in the areas of intellectual property, international trade and contracts, bankruptcy and anti-trust. Furthermore, technology innovation such as online court hearings and depositions might become more common, and cases that were delayed in 2020 could also speed up in the new year, which could further contribute to increased dispute resolution activities."

Jianwei (Jerry) Fang, Zhong Lun Law Firm, Shanghai

"Recent enhancements to the framework for arbitration between Mainland China and Hong Kong will continue to drive workflows in 2021 as arbitration remains a preferred means for resolving disputes between Chinese and international parties. We also look to gain further clarity on the ability of foreign arbitral institutions to administer arbitrations seated in Mainland China, on the heels of recent liberalization initiatives for designated areas in Shanghai and Beijing and recent non-precedential court decisions supportive of the concept. As we await that clarity, Mainland China arbitration institutions are likely to remain the preferred institutions to administer arbitrations seated in Mainland China."

Timothy W. Blakely, Morrison & Foerster, Hong Kong