New path for domestic firms to solve overseas disputes. Check it out:
(Business Daily Update Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Author: yu "Ring-ring-ring" Phone bells are ringing as one falls and another rises in Chinese Enterprises' Overseas Business Complaints Service Center of the Ministry of Commerce. Without personal experience, no one can believe that such an institution, which has been set up for less than one month, is undertaking the heavy burden of offering free policy information and legal consultancy, as well as settling complaints for hundreds of thousands of Chinese enterprises that have overseas business operations. As disclosed by the principal, the Center has been receiving numerous facsimiles, business letters and calls every day since its opening on August 18, being in excess of expected work load. This has reflected that, on the one hand, Chinese enterprises are confronted with new problems along with the thriving of overseas business operations; on the other hand, relevant governmental departments are caring more and more about settling the practical difficulties of these enterprises. Service Center for Chinese Enterprises' Overseas Business Complaints is affiliated to the Foreign Trade Development Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce; and the bureau also presides over the daily work and specific affairs of the Center. Feng Hongzhang, Director-General of the Foreign Trade Development Bureau, told the reporter, the establishment of the Service Center was an important act of the Ministry of Commerce to reinforce enterprise services and build a service-oriented government actively. In the future, Chinese enterprises, as long as encountering difficulties like business frauds, infringements, unfair treatments or trade barriers, will be able to ask the Service Center for solution. It was reported in the 10th China International Fair for Investment and Trade held in Xiamen on September 8, that China would continue to "go out" while introducing high-qualified foreign capital actively and effectively. Making use of foreign capital is an important part of China's basic state policy of "opening up"; meanwhile, foreign investment occupies an important position in China's open economy. Both the government and enterprises should be clearly aware of that improving investment and trade facilitation is not unidirectional, but is both "bringing in" and "going out". Encouraging and supporting enterprises' foreign economic and technology cooperation will be helpful for making full use of market and resources both at home and abroad and the balance of payments equilibrium. Up to 2005, foreign business cooperation of Chinese enterprises has covered nearly 200 countries and regions throughout the world; foreign direct investment has reached US$51.7 billion; foreign construction projects has accomplished an accumulative turnover of US$135.8 billion; and foreign cooperation of labor service has gained an accumulative turnover of US$35.6 billion. Therefore, experts analyzed that people are optimistic about the future of foreign investment of Chinese enterprise. In the Investment and Trade Fair, some foreign analyzers pointed out that the average annual increase rate of China's foreign investment, namely 20 percent, would make the volume of overseas investment reach US$60 billion in 2010. However, a bright future cannot assure a plain sailing for enterprises in overseas investment. Trade friction that China has met in recent years is one of the obstacles hindering China's "going out". Statistics from Ministry of Commerce shows that over US$30 billion valued export of China's enterprises was directly affected by trade frictions in 2005, and China has successively been the country that encountered the most trade frictions for 11 years since 1995. According to statistics, only 3 among 10,000 Chinese enterprises had independent intellectual property rights and core technologies in 2005, and China's dependency on foreign technology came up to 50 percent. Thus Chinese enterprises, being likely to be confronted with business frauds, infringements, unfair treatments or trade barriers at abroad where they are not easy to lodge complaints, are deeply trapped. Feng Hongzhang said that the government should take the responsibilities and obligations to help enterprises solve practical complications in time. Going on this premise, Ministry of Commerce established the Service Center for Chinese Enterprises' Overseas Business Complaints. As Feng Honghang disclosed, enterprises are actively asking for consultancies and lodging complaints since the Center was founded, and the hot line "12335" keeps ringing every day. When contacting with these enterprises, the center finds that some enterprises are not clear about the service content and scope of the center, thus they are requesting services out of scope. And Feng Hongzhang introduced the three kinds of services the center could provide: the first one is to provide enterprises with information on the markets, policies, laws and regulations, and trade measures early-warning of different countries; the second is to provide proper legal consultancy, guidance and services oriented toward ordinary civil and commercial disputes; the third is to settle enterprises' complaints against foreign governments' unfair policies and measures, or about damages and unlawful infringements from trade barriers. As for policy information services, the center will reply to enterprises within 10 working days after accepting their requests; for ordinary civil and commercial legal disputes consultancies, the center will reply within 20 working days; to complaints involving unfair policies, measures or market barriers of foreign governments or organizations, the Center will hand the complaints over to relevant departments of Ministry of Commerce within three working days and feed back to enterprises in time.
Copyright 2006 Business Daily Update Source: Financial Times Information Limited - Asia Intelligence Wire.
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