China’s New Representative Office Regulations

Tuesday, June 29^th, 2010
Breakfast Seminar 8:00-10:00 am

Hilton - Beijing

China-Italy Chamber of Commerce and SwissCham Beijing invite you to a breakfast seminar on “China’s New Representative Office Regulations: legal, regulatory and tax requirements as well as practical experiences”.

The environment for Representative Offices in China has changed since the beginning of this year. New regulations have been issued by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) and the Ministry for Public as well as by the State Administration of Taxation (SAT), strengthening the registration on the one hand and the tax collection on the other hand. During this seminar, our speakers will explain how the new regulations may affect your Representative Office and will share their practical experiences also on the local implementation with you.

A number of misconceptions persist about Representative Offices which are often and wrongly considered as the cheapest foreign investment vehicle in China. This seminar purports at clarifying the situation and discuss a number of practical issues which are frequently misunderstood even though they regularly arise in practice.

John Liebeskind from Global Law Office will in his speech focus on recent legal and regulatory developments reflecting the intent of the Chinese authorities to narrow the scope of Representative Offices as intended by the legislator, several labor issues related to the employment of foreign and Chinese workers, and unsuspected tax issues which apply even though Representative Offices may not generate profit.

The key points addressed by Lin Fang from PwC on taxation of Representative Offices may cover the following:

· Background and rational of the new taxation rules

· Applicable taxes for Representative Offices in China

· How to determine corporation income tax (CIT) calculation method

· Actual basis - how to determine "functions and risks"

· Deeming basis

· Comparison of different positions

· Update on local implementation

Klaus Ziegler from Quality Partnerships will share his practical experience shown on the example of a start-up company: Experience in practice - setting up a new office in China within short time: What are the do's and don’ts; where are the critical steps? Some practical tips for those considering setting up a Representative office or a WFOE. Are there alternative solutions for setting up a formal legal basis?

A breakfast will be served during the seminar.
 

John Liebeskind, Global Law Office

A Swiss national, John （Jean Christophe） is qualified both as Swiss attorney-at-law and U.K. Solicitor (England & Wales, n.p.) He holds an LL.M. from LSE. John works in Beijing since 2003. He joined Global Law Office in 2008 as an Independent Foreign Law Consultant.
Before coming to China, John worked with Lalive & Partners in Geneva, a law firm dedicated to international arbitration. He built up a sound experience in international dispute resolution, both in litigation and arbitration, including international criminal assistance.
He obtained a DipICArb from the CIArb of which he is a Fellow. John acted as counsel or assistant to counsel, to chairman and to co-arbitrator as well as in capacity of secretary of the arbitral tribunal, and drafted legal advice in several international arbitration proceedings involving companies, States, State-controlled entities and international organizations, before and/or under the rules of arbitration institutions including the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the United Nations Compensation Claims Commission (UNCC), the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the European Development Fund (EDF), the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), the Beijing Arbitration Commission (BAC), "Ad Hoc" arbitral tribunals and/or rules. He has also experience in diplomatic protection matters.

Lin Fang, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Lin is a senior tax manager of China corporate tax team of PricewaterhouseCoopers China firm. Lin began her career with Tax Services of PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1998. During her professional years, Lin has developed extensive experiences through providing services to multinational companies and domestic Chinese entities which cover a wide variety of industries: manufacturing and trade, media, financial services, education, telecommunication, etc. She also advises on corporate structures from tax and business perspectives, namely, foreign exchange, import and export operations, business regulatory framework, etc.
Lin is familiar with Chinese tax regulations associated with direct investment, and have been assisting a lot of multinational corporations in selecting investment vehicles with their business development in China.
Lin holds a Bachelor of Arts (Finance) degree from Fudan University, Shanghai, China. She is a member of Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountant and a PRC Certified Tax Agent.

Klaus Ziegler, Quality Partnerships

Mr. Klaus Ziegler has been living for over ten years in the Pacific Asia region. An expert in standardization, conformity assessment, and certification, he was working for many years for SGS - a global inspection and certification company - in senior management positions throughout the region.
Mr. Ziegler holds a MBA "with honours" from Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix Arizona, and a Diploma (master equivalent) in Civil and Rural Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich Switzerland.
In 2006, Mr Ziegler was appointed ‘Seconded European Standardization Expert to China’ by the European standardization organizations CEN, CENELEC and ETSI. In this expert position he fosters visibility of European standardization in China, supports Europe-China cooperation in standardization, and supports European industry with standard related issues of market access to China.
Mr Ziegler is Owner and Chief Representative of Beijing office of Quality Partnerships LLC, a Swiss company operating in the field of quality infrastructure, namely: testing and certification, standardization, market surveillance, and investments in this sector.
 

Information and Registration

You are liable for 100% of the registration fee in case your cancellation is received less than 24 hours before the event. Your registration implies acceptance of these General Conditions of Sale.