Build protective barriers for foreign investment according to law ——The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress conducts inspection on the enforcement of the Foreign Investment Law

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to promote high-level opening up. We will steadily expand the institutional openness of rules, regulations, management, and standards.
Foreign investment law is the basic law in the field of foreign investment. Since the implementation of the law for more than two years, China's use of foreign capital has increased against the trend, achieving "three increases" in the total amount of foreign investment, the growth rate and the global proportion. From July to September this year, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress formed a law enforcement inspection team to conduct on-site inspections on the implementation of the Foreign Investment Law in eight provinces (cities), including Beijing, Hebei, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Henan, Hunan and Guangdong.
To implement the Foreign Investment Law and realize the protection and promotion of foreign investment, it is necessary to improve the relevant supporting systems and rules.
The inspection team learned that in recent years, various departments have sorted out laws, regulations and normative documents that are inconsistent with the Foreign Investment Law, promoted more than 500 documents to be "replaced by obsolete", and cancelled or improved certification, recognition, environmental assessment and other provisions. The State Council deliberated and passed the regulations for the implementation of the Foreign Investment Law, and the relevant departments issued nine supporting laws and regulations, including the Catalogue of Foreign Investment Industries, the Measures for Complaints from Foreign Investment Enterprises, the Measures for Reporting Investment Information, and the Measures for Examining Investment Security.
The management system of national treatment plus negative list before the admission of foreign investment is an important supporting system of the Foreign Investment Law, and is also one of the focuses of the inspection team.
In the production workshop of Volkswagen (Anhui) Co., Ltd., the inspection team saw that the solid and flexible mechanical arm kept running, assembled various parts, the electronic screen displayed various production data and safety tips in real time, and the technicians patrolled around...... The automated production workshop was in perfect order.
"The establishment of this auto enterprise benefited from the fact that the negative list of foreign investment access lifted the restrictions on foreign capital market access in the auto manufacturing industry." A person in charge of the company introduced.
The inspection team found that the management system of the negative list is not perfect at present, including the lack of specific restrictions or prohibitions on the negative list, the incongruity between the negative list and some industrial policies, and the lack of clear expectations for foreign investors to enter areas beyond the negative list.
In addition to the negative list management system, the inspection team also found that in terms of foreign investment identification standards, foreign investment project approval and filing management, and the connection with the contents of the "Three Laws on Foreign Investment", some supporting rules and systems still have some problems such as excessive and outdated provisions, which need to be refined and improved.
For these problems, the inspection team suggests that the relevant departments should continue to clean up the relevant rules and regulations that do not conform to the Foreign Investment Law, timely revise the departmental rules and normative documents formulated according to the original "Three Laws on Foreign Investment", and abolish the special management system for foreign investment without legal basis; We will improve the approval and filing management system for foreign investment projects, and standardize the notification filing procedures; Continue to optimize the negative list of foreign investment access, clarify and refine relevant special management measures, and improve the accuracy of the negative list; We should establish scientific standards for the recognition of foreign investment, and clarify the types of foreign indirect investment and the specific meaning of new projects.
Only by fully implementing the principle of consistency between domestic and foreign investment can we provide a solid and effective guarantee for fair competition.
One day in July, the inspection team came to Hebei Shijiazhuang Heye Technology Co., Ltd. "Can you, in accordance with the provisions of the Foreign Investment Law, equally apply the policies of the state to support the development of enterprises in accordance with the law?" The inspection team asked carefully, and the person in charge of the enterprise also gave a positive answer.
In order to implement the Foreign Investment Law and actively promote the quality and efficiency of foreign capital utilization, the vast majority of regions and departments treat all types of enterprises registered in China equally, providing a solid and effective guarantee for fair competition between domestic and foreign capital.
"We give equal treatment to foreign-funded enterprises in the evaluation of excellence and the identification of pilot demonstration enterprises." Relevant person in charge of Hebei Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology introduced.
At the same time, however, some foreign-funded enterprises reported to the inspection team that some places treat foreign-funded enterprises differently in government procurement and require foreign-funded enterprises to provide domestic certification, domestic patents, domestic awards, domestic cases, etc. "State owned enterprises and institutions also treat domestic and foreign funded enterprises differently in bidding procurement, especially in the field of medicine and medical devices. Foreign funded enterprises have concentrated on their equal participation in centralized procurement." A person in charge of a foreign-funded enterprise said.
"Sometimes we cannot enjoy the same government subsidies and other support policies for domestic enterprises. Although the policies have provisions, it is difficult to implement them in practice, which to some extent causes unfair competition." A foreign-funded enterprise in Zhejiang reported to the inspection team.
In response to these problems, the inspection team recommends that foreign-funded enterprises be guaranteed to participate in fair competition: in government procurement and bidding projects, it is strictly prohibited to set unreasonable conditions or discriminatory requirements on suppliers based on the nature and location of the enterprise; In the process of formulating standards, support foreign-funded enterprises to participate in the formulation of various standards, except for special circumstances involving national security; Formulate relevant measures for foreign-funded enterprises to apply for science and technology projects, support qualified foreign-funded enterprises to apply for national science and technology plans and key scientific and technological innovation projects, and participate in the construction of public service platforms for research and development.
How about the implementation of the Foreign Investment Law in terms of improving the level of foreign investment management and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of foreign-funded enterprises?
On that day, Huajin New Energy Materials (Quzhou) Co., Ltd. welcomed the inspection team. In the face of the inquiry of the law enforcement inspection team, the company not only expressed its gratitude for the implementation of foreign investment laws and regulations and the promotion of the development of foreign-invested enterprises in the local area, but also put forward its expectation for a more convenient and humane working environment.
To implement the law and improve the quality and efficiency of foreign investment utilization, we must deepen the reform of "decentralization, management and service", improve the awareness of administration according to law, and improve the management system of foreign investment, so that foreign-funded enterprises can get in, stay and develop well.
However, the inspection team learned that the management level of foreign investment in some places still needs to be improved, and high-level investment facilitation policies need to be further implemented.
"At present, domestic enterprises can go through the whole process of online registration, but because the identity information of foreign personnel is not shared by departments, foreign enterprises cannot go through the whole process of online registration." Said the head of the market supervision department of a city in Zhejiang Province.
The inspection team also learned that, apart from the market supervision and commerce departments, the relevant foreign investment information of the investment, foreign exchange, customs, tax, social security, science and technology, public security and other departments was not included in the information reporting system, and there was a lack of unified sharing mechanism between departments. Foreign funded enterprises needed to fill in multiple reports, which affected the management departments' comprehensive and accurate grasp of foreign investment information.
To this end, the inspection team suggested that, first, the transparency of policies and regulations should be improved. The formulation of relevant foreign investment related policies and regulations should be carried out in accordance with the law. The transparency of the formulation, implementation and implementation of foreign investment related policies should be improved, and the opinions of foreign-funded enterprises should be heard in an open manner; Second, improve the foreign investment information reporting system, establish a sharing mechanism for foreign investment information among market supervision, commerce, investment, foreign exchange, customs, taxation, social security, science and technology, public security and other departments, and promote information sharing and regulatory coordination; The third is to improve the management system in emerging areas, establish and improve the legal supporting system for the safe cross-border transmission of data, and ensure the normal cross-border data flow needs of foreign-funded enterprises and the compliance development of data business.
During the inspection, foreign-funded enterprises generally highly affirmed that China will continue to strengthen the protection of legitimate rights and interests of foreign investment, and put forward higher expectations for work in this field.
The inspection team learned that the current problems in the protection of foreign investment rights and interests are mainly focused on: the protection of intellectual property rights is still difficult, and the protection of trade secrets needs to be strengthened. According to the survey of foreign chambers of commerce in China, nearly half of enterprises still feel that the protection of intellectual property rights is insufficient, especially the process of intellectual property rights protection is laborious and ineffective.
In this regard, the inspection team suggested that the legitimate rights and interests of foreign-funded enterprises should be effectively safeguarded. We will improve the complaint mechanism of foreign-funded enterprises, intensify the efforts to accept and coordinate complaints, promote the resolution of cross sectoral and cross regional foreign complaints, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investment in accordance with the law. We will establish and improve a mechanism for rapid investigation and punishment of intellectual property infringement in key areas, and increase penalties for intellectual property infringement. At the same time, we will establish and improve a diversified settlement system for foreign investment disputes. Strengthen the role of domestic remedies in settling disputes, formulate and improve relevant laws, further clarify the relevant procedures of administrative reconsideration and administrative litigation, promote and standardize the development of commercial mediation and arbitration systems, and enhance the applicability of foreign investors and foreign-invested enterprises.
"Through this law enforcement inspection, I can feel the vigorous development of foreign-invested enterprises under the protection of the law at a close distance." Chen Haiyi, a deputy to the National People's Congress and a full-time member of the Judicial Committee of the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court who accompanied the inspection, said, "I will promote some good experiences and practices that I saw in the inspection to the courts at all levels and relevant departments in Guangzhou. I will also urge relevant departments to make improvements against their own efforts to achieve equal protection for foreign-invested enterprises in a wider range, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of market subjects, and jointly build a high-quality business environment based on the rule of law."