Revised Law Will Improve Business Environment

Posted by AsiaViews | Jan 7, 2018 | 0 |

China Daily

2 Jan 2018

The first day of the year marked further progress in China’s efforts to improve its business environment, with a new Anti-Unfair Competition Law taking effect on Monday.

The new law aims to reflect the changed business landscape in the country and address the complaints about the lack of legal clarity on what constitutes bribery, which had created uncertainty over what may be offered as commercial incentives without crossing the line.

It has been common practice for companies doing business in China to build up connections using gifts and other forms of favors to clear the way and gain beneficial contracts, with the greasing of palms often deemed an acceptable, if not necessary, way of doing business.

While the Criminal Law covers bribery offenses in respect of enterprises and individuals in both the public and private sectors, the revised law covers commercial bribery whose purpose is to seek “transaction opportunities or competitive advantage”.

Thus the new law prohibits not only the giving of money or property as bribes, but also other off-the-book kickbacks, and it follows international practice in stipulating that bribe recipients include third parties engaged by a transaction party.

It also stipulates tougher punishments for such practices. For example, an enterprise found to be involved in commercial bribery can now be fined up to 3 million yuan ($461,500) and may also have its business license revoked.

Business entities, both domestic and foreign, will now have to strengthen their compliance systems to ensure they do not fall foul of the revised law.

And while the law aims to maintain fair market competition and improve the business environment in China, it may also help State-owned enterprises investing in projects in other countries.

Tougher anti-corruption laws and more stringent compliance efforts — already specified as a major task during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) — will better prepare Chinese companies for the complex business environment overseas, which can only benefit them in the long run.

Meanwhile, in China, the revised law will necessarily promote a level playing field for law-abiding companies, whether Chinese or foreign.

(source:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201801/02/WS5a4b9058a31008cf16da4b47.html)

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

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Revised Law Will Improve Business Environment