In response to member company concerns about the regulatory interpretation of recent laws and regulations over the past six months, the US-China Business Council (USCBC) continues its advocacy initiatives and its operating environment analyses and best practices for member companies in the United States and China.

Vice Minister of Finance Zhu Guangyao on June 15 called the 100-day trade agenda and its initial outcomes a demonstration of determined efforts to continue developing commercial relations between the United States and China.

Enforcement of China’s Cybersecurity Law (CSL) began at the beginning of this month, but questions remain about how companies should comply with the myriad requirements of the law and its related measures, standards, and other regulations. Following conversations with company executives and service providers, the US-China Business Council (USCBC) developed a brief list of best practices to help accelerate internal compliance plan development.

China released a second draft revision of its Standardization Law on May 19 that links standards to national security, which could limit the use of foreign products and services, and endanger intellectual property (IP) protection. The newest draft continues China’s push toward voluntary and recommended standards, emphasizes consumer safety, and adds new language regarding standards and national security.

China’s new Cybersecurity Law goes into effect today, June 1, but with many implementation details undecided and companies uncertain about how to comply. In the meantime, Chinese regulators are responding in part to company concerns, even if the overall policy approach remains problematic.

The June 1 implementation of China’s Cybersecurity Law and numerous related measures should be delayed to address trade barriers, security and privacy, competition, and fairness issues, according to a May 15 letter the US-China Business Council (USCBC) submitted on behalf of 54 international trade associations to China’s government.

China’s intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement remains inadequate and foreign company market access barriers too strict, according to the Special 301 Report, keeping the United State’s second-largest trading partner on the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) priority watch list for another year.

China expanded data localization requirements and instituted new rules for outbound data review with a new policy that greatly increases the regulatory burden for foreign companies in advance of the full implementation of the Cyber Security Law on June 1.

Regulators are actively setting the groundwork for implementation of

Senior US and China lawmakers met in Beijing on June 14-15 to discuss network protection, cybercrime prevention, and enforcement collaboration at the