"The measures are another integral piece of establishing a full-calibre outbound investment regime. Continuing reporting obligations and inter-agency co-operation are the two main themes of the measures, and they are consistent with the recent emphasis on an interim and ex-post monitoring approach. Periodic reporting and post-closing monitoring will help the authorities trace the whole life cycle of an outbound investment project, while sharing information amongst the various government agencies will help to ensure transparency. All of which points toward the ultimate goal: outbound investment should be real and of benefit to China, or investors will risk being penalised or even blacklisted."

"Issuance of this new personal data standard is a major milestone and is already informing enforcement in China. It is cast as a recommended rather than a mandatory standard, but in fact it is likely to be very influential in the interpretation by regulatory authorities of the data privacy provisions of China's 2016 Cybersecurity Law and other legislation, given the broad drafting of legislation. TC 260 therefore will have a significant influence on the scope of companies' legal obligations and liabilities associated with the collection and use of personal data in China. International companies can take comfort from the fact that TC 260 has considered GDPR and other international standards and the requirements of the standard may not be dramatically different from other international best practices, but it requires careful study."

"The catalogue follows the general tenor of China's outbound investment policy since November 2016. It is worth noting that investment in real estate, hotels, cinemas, entertainment projects, sports clubs and setting-up private equity funds or investment platforms without investment projects will be subject to approval by the NDRC. The forms are extremely important as they list almost every meticulous detail to be included in an outbound investment approval or record filing procedure."

"With the phenomenal growth of China's legal services market in recent decades, lawyers' advertising activities have increased in methods and frequency. Like other sectors generally, legal services advertisements suffer from many problems ranging from misleading statements to outright falsehoods. The rules represent a heightened effort by the lawyers' self-regulatory organisation to tackle these wide-ranging issues without significantly crimping a lawyer's ability to self-promote. The rules help clarify many areas of ambiguity, and if strictly enforced will likely bring uniformity and enhanced compliance."

"The draft sets out both China's wider plans for driverless cars as well as the NDRC's commitment to implementation. As a main authority regulating the direction of China's economy, the commitment to building the hard infrastructure such as smart cities and telecom networks is very important. However, what may be even more crucial is the clear principle espoused by the NDRC that China's regulations will be adjusted to allow for driverless cars. A widely held fear has been that China's regulators may not be sufficiently flexible or responsive to match technological advances and that regulations would lag technology or even infrastructure. Although the pronouncement is not a guarantee that laws and regulations will be swiftly enacted it does show a clear intention and an awareness of the issue."