Briefs

Ministry of Commerce Strengthens Regulation of Market

China — China’s newly established Ministry of Commerce will take a number of important steps to rectify and regulate market order in the country within the first month of its operation, Minister of Commerce Lu Fuyuan said in Beijing recently.

Mr Lu said the Ministry will work with other ministries to strengthen coordination and cooperation in policy and administration, and they expect to make substantial progress in this respect in the next one to two years. The ministry has set up an office to rectify and regulate economic order in the market, Lu said, noting that it is drafting some important measures to be taken in the next month. A national meeting on rectifying and regulating market order will be held in April, he noted. Lu said measures will be taken to crack down hard on protectionism and counterfeiting that are rampant in some areas. China will promulgate an anti-monopoly law and anti-regional protection law soon, he added. (Source: www.isinolaw.com.)
 

New Forex Rules to Take Effect

China — The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (‘SAFE’) has issued a circular on improving the management of foreign exchange related to direct foreign investment (‘DFI’). The circular provides detailed regulations in 10 aspects concerning the opening and management of forex accounts, foreign investors’ acquisition of shares in Chinese enterprises, foreign capital verification and registration, forex settlement and other issues. The new regulations will come into effect on 1 April 2003. (Source: www.isinolaw.com.)

Telecom Law to Emerge

China — China’s telecommunications regulator expects to finish drafting the country’s first telecom law this year, said an official with the Ministry of Information Industry.

The proposed law, which has taken more than two years to draft, will govern the operations of fixed-line carriers, China Telecommunications Corp and China Netcom Communications Corp as well as mobile operators China Mobile Communications Corp and China United Telecommunications Corp. Between them, the companies provide telephone services to 430m subscribers. (Source: www.isinolaw.com.)

Opening the Legal Services Market

Korea — The government has decided to open the country’s legal market to the outside world in accordance with the World Trade Organization’s Doha Agreement. Its bill regarding the issue, however, barely opens the market halfway. According to the government’s proposal, a foreign lawyer would be limited to working on matters here that relate to the laws of his home country or international public law, even without the passing the bar here. Foreign lawyers will not be able to provide counsel on Korean law, and will be prohibited from acting as attorneys in court litigation. There are other restrictions as well, such as a prohibition on opening law offices with lawyers qualified in Korea or hiring the same. These stipulations are designed to protect the country’s legal services industry. (Source: english.chosun.com.)

Cabinet to Toughen Piracy Laws

Taiwan — Those who reproduce, sell or lease counterfeited products would be subject to public prosecution if draft amendments to the Copyright Law are passed into law by the legislature. Under the proposed law, a certain amount of digital copying would be allowed for personal use, but fines for distributing pirated works would increase. To make the punishment a more effective deterrent, the draft would also increase the maximum fines for severe copyright violators from NT$1m to NT$5m in civil cases and from NT$450,000 to NT$8m in criminal cases. The draft, which has been aprroved, will proceed to the legislature for further review and final approval. To make existing laws regulating Intellectual Property Rights more complete, the Cabinet has promulgated the Patent Law and approved the draft amendments to the Optical Media Law and Commercial Label Law, which are both awaiting approval by the legislature. (Source: www.taipeitimes.com.)

Lawyers to Ditch Jargon

UK, London — Lawyers in England and Wales have been told to stop using jargon and keep their language simple when dealing with clients. But the Law Society says complaints against solicitors could rise by nearly a third in the wake of the launch of the new charter, which also tells the lawyers to deal politely with their clients. The organisation, which represents 85,000 solicitors, said lawyers who used terms like ‘codicil’, ‘actus reus’ and ‘forbearance’ when dealing with clients should use plain English instead. The new Client’s Charter also says solicitors need to be polite and considerate, and to explain the likely costs of legal work up-front. (Source: news.bbc.co.uk.)

Supreme Court Protects Legal Aid for Poor

US, Washington — The Supreme Court upheld a practice used in every state to raise money for legal services for the poor, but only narrowly. The court’s 5–4 decision was a huge relief to advocates for the poor. A ruling the other way would have wiped out about $160m used to pay lawyers who represent the indigent. The money comes from short-term interest earned on escrow accounts that lawyers set up to handle clients’ real estate transactions and other deals. Lawyers maintain that it’s cheaper and easier to combine money into large trust accounts than to set up individual accounts for each client. And they say it goes to a good cause. (Source: www.news.findlaw.com.)

Supreme Court Gives Nod to Federal Court Intervention

US — The US Supreme Court ruled that federal courts can step in and draw legislative boundaries in some instances when state processes fail. Justices were sharply divided in parts of the ruling, but unanimously agreed that federal judges were right to block a state court plan that favoured Democrats, because the plan had not been pre-cleared for racial bias by the Justice Department. The court refused to address a broader question, which would have affected redistricting disputes in every state, about the proper venue for those disputes. Justices had been asked to decide if the Constitution lets state judges, not federal courts, handle congressional redistricting cases.
(Source: www.news.law.com.)