Table Of ContentChina-EU Law Series 7
Stephan Kuntner
China’s
Foreign-Invested
Limited Partnership
Enterprise
An Analysis of its Legal Personality,
Limited Liability and Transferable
Ownership Interest
China-EU Law Series
Volume 7
Editor-in-Chief
FeiLiu,China-EUSchoolofLaw,Beijing,China
HinrichJulius,UniversityofHamburg,Hamburg,Germany
SeriesEditors
China-EU School of Law, At the China University of Political Science, Beijing,
China
BjörnAhl,UniversityofCologne,Cologne,Germany
RonaldMontySilley,China-EUSchoolofLaw,Beijing,China
TianshuZhao,China-EUSchoolofLaw,Beijing,China
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/11933
Stephan Kuntner
’
China s Foreign-Invested
Limited Partnership
Enterprise
An Analysis of its Legal Personality, Limited
Liability and Transferable Ownership Interest
StephanKuntner
Hamburg,Germany
ISSN2198-2708 ISSN2198-2716 (electronic)
China-EULawSeries
ISBN978-3-030-54180-4 ISBN978-3-030-54181-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54181-1
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In memory of my cousin
Sebastian Wiesler
(*7.4.1995 {26.8.2014)
Preface
ThepresentbookisanupdatedversionofmyPhDthesis,whichwasacceptedbythe
UniversityofHamburginJune2019anddefendedwithhonoursinDecemberofthe
sameyear.Thechangesinlegislationupto30April2020havebeenincorporated.
MypassionforChineseculture,history andlawbeganin2006duringmylegal
studiesattheInstituteofLawoftheChineseAcademyofSocialSciences(中国社会
科学院法学研究所)inBeijing.Intheperiodbetween2010and2014,Istudiedthe
ChineselanguageatNanjingUniversity(南京大学)andworkedforaninternational
law firm in Shanghai for over three years. Having had the chance to study and
researchbutalsopracticelawinChinahasbeenagreatprivilege,asitallowedmeto
take both an academic and a practical approach to my research question. The four
yearsinChinahavebeenanunforgettableandrichexperience,whichhasintensified
myloveforthisfascinatingculture.
IamverygratefultomysupervisorProfessorDr.HinrichJuliusforhisguidance,
ongoingsupportandtheacademicfreedominconceptualisingmyresearchproject.I
amfurtherindebtedtoProfessorDr.RüdigerVeilforactingasasecondsupervisor
andhisencouragementthroughoutthisproject.
I would especially like to express gratitude to my friend Dr. Johanna Croon-
Gestefeldforherinvaluablescholarlyadvice,never-endingencouragementandstrong
support throughout my PhD studies. For fruitful theoretical discussions and helpful
counsel,IwouldalsoliketoacknowledgeAnnaElshafei,ProfessorDr.Dr.h.c.mult.
Karsten Schmidt, Professor Dr. Knut Benjamin Pissler and Professor Dr. Carsten
Jungmann.IammuchobligedtoProfessorFeiLiu(刘飞),ProfessorDr.HinrichJulius
andRonaldMontySilleyforincludingmybookintheChina-EULawSeries.
Writingthisbookoverseveralyears,ontwodifferentcontinents,wouldnothave
been possible without my friends. Their motivating encouragement, support and
wonderful humour at all times have been invaluable. I would particularly like to
recogniseMartinAsseburg,MaximilianNeeb,Dr.MartinHejma,ClaireProebstle,
Dr.AlexanderStark,Dr.TinaAnderson,ConradWandt,AnoukBender,NinaMarie
Güttler,Dr.JanSturm,MareilePaskeandallmyfriendsinNanjing,Shanghai,Jork
andHamburg.
vii
viii Preface
IthankmyparentsAnitaandJohannKuntnerandmybrotherChristophKuntner
andhisfamilyfortheircontinuousassistanceandencouragementduringmyentire
legal studies and career. My entire family has always understood my passion for
Chinaandshowngreatsupportofmyendeavours,evenintimesofsorrow.WhileI
was writing this book, my cousin Sebastian Wiesler sadly passed away at a young
age.Ihavededicatedthisbooktohismemory.
Hamburg,Germany StephanKuntner孔劭凡
May2020
Contents
1 IntroductionandConcept. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 FramingtheTask. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 ResearchQuestion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 Methodology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3.1 EconomicAnalysisofLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3.1.1 TheTheoryofEconomicAnalysisofLaw. . . 10
1.3.1.2 EconomicAnalysisofLawintheContextof
ChineseLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.1.3 RelevantEfficiencyCriteria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3.1.3.1 TheAnatomyofCorporateLaw. . 14
1.3.1.3.2 TheAnalysedFeaturesofa
‘StandardCorporateForm’. . . . . . 15
1.3.1.3.3 TheRoleofStatutoryLawin
GoverningEnterprises. . . . . . . . . 17
1.3.1.3.3.1 DefaultProvisionsand
MandatoryRules. . . . 18
1.3.1.3.3.2 TheBenefitofLegal
Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.3.2 ComparativeLawApproach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.3.3 ComparisonwiththeEquityJointVenture. . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.4 CourseoftheInvestigation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
PartI BasicPrinciplesofChinesePartnershipLaw
2 TheConceptofForeignDirectInvestmentinChina. . . . . . . . . . . . 33
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3 JointVentureEnterprisesasSino-ForeignAlliances. . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.1 HistoryandFrameworkofForeignDirectInvestmentsandJoint
VentureLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
ix
x Contents
3.1.1 EarlyFormsofFDIinChina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.1.2 The‘Openingup’ofChina:IntroducingJointVentures
andForeignInvestmentLaws. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.1.3 TheDualStructureofDomesticandForeignInvestment
Laws. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.1.4 China’sAccessiontotheWTO:InitiatingLiberalisation
oftheForeignInvestmentRegime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.1.5 TheMarkofaNewEra:TheNewForeignInvestment
Law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.1.5.1 MotivesandLegislativeTimelineforthe
ForeignInvestmentLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.1.5.2 ScopeofApplicationandDefinitionofForeign
Investment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.1.5.3 DomesticEnterpriseFormsOpenedtoForeign
Investors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.1.5.4 PromotingandProtectingFDI. . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.1.5.5 NationalSecurityReview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.1.6 TheAdministrativeFramework:Guidance,Approval
andRegistrationofForeignInvestmentProjects. . . . . . . 55
3.1.6.1 TheLongstandingBenchmark:Restrictive
GovernmentSupervisionofFDI. . . . . . . . . . 55
3.1.6.1.1 DirectingandRestrictingFDI:
TheGuidanceCatalogue. . . . . . . . 55
3.1.6.1.2 LimitedScopeofBusiness
Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.1.6.1.3 OfferingPreferentialTreatment. . . 58
3.1.6.1.4 FDIApprovalProcessand
Authorities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.1.6.2 ExperimentingwithReforms:TheShanghai
FreeTradeZone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.1.6.3 ApproachingaNewNormal:Registration
InsteadofApprovalandGuidancebyNegative
ListSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.1.6.3.1 TheInterimReform:Allowing
Record-FilingforCertain
Investments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.1.6.3.2 TheNewUnifiedRegistrationand
ReportingSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.1.6.3.3 TheNewComprehensiveNegative
ListSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.1.7 AssessingtheForeignInvestmentLawandLatest
Reforms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.2 FormsofJointVenturesasSino-ForeignAlliances. . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.2.1 EquityJointVenture中外合资经营企业. . . . . . . . . . . 77
