CCCL Seminar: Revising Chinese Company Law (again): Academic Debates and Legislative Considerations
The Company Law of the People's Republic of China has been in force since July 1, 1994, with amendments to individual provisions in 1999 and 2004, a comprehensive amendment in 2005, and two necessary amendments in 2013 and 2018. The Company Law of the People's Republic of China was again submitted to the Thirty-second Session of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress for consideration in December 2021. In view of the concerns from the most recent round of amendments to China's company law, the Centre for Chinese and Comparative Law (CCCL) of the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) School of Law hosted a virtual seminar on December 17, 2021, on the theme of "Revising Chinese Company Law (again): Academic Debates and Legislative Considerations," which was co-organized by the Tsinghua Commercial Law Research Centre, Singapore Management University Yong Pung How School of Law and the Asian Law Schools Association, inviting Professor Zhu Ciyun and Professor Tang Xin as the keynote speakers.
The seminar kicked off with a welcome speech by Professor Tan Cheng Han, Dean and Professor of the School of Law at CityU. Professor Zhu Ciyun is currently a professor at Tsinghua University Scho ol of Law, a Ph.D. supervisor, and the Director of the Tsinghua Commercial Law Research Centre. She is, in addition, the Executive Vice President of the Commercial Law Research Association of the China Law Society, the Executive Director of the Economic Law Research Association of the China Law Society, and an arbitrator for the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission. She is an expert in commercial law (e.g., basic theory of commercial law, company law, securities law, bankruptcy law) and economic law and is therefore thoroughly aware of the key aspects of the current amendments. She said the current company law consists of 13 chapters and 218 articles, while the first review draft presented to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) consists of about 15 chapters and 260 articles, with about 70 new and amended articles in substance. Professor Zhu Ciyun provided a general introduction to the amendments. She first explained the the Communist Party of China's leadership over state-owned enterprises (SOEs), which is a key concern of the public, but she emphasized that the decision-making power of the company was still in the hands of the shareholders and the board of directors. She pointed out that another critical amendment is improving rules on state-funded firms, which may be extended to state-owned and state-controlled limited companies in the future. She further explained the importance of strengthening the responsibility system of shareholders and management personnel, using Kangmei Pharmaceutical Company as a case study. On the other hand, she also suggested that since the draft improves the system for company registration and facilitates the establishment and exit of companies, it would allow the public to obtain more information about investment companies and also encourage financing.
The second guest speaker, Professor Tang Xin, is currently a professor at Tsinghua University School of Law, Associate Director of the Tsinghua Commercial Law Research Centre, and Associate Editor-in-Chief of Tsinghua Law, and also a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Thomson Reuters China Business Law Series. He has served as a member of the First and Second Mergers and Acquisitions Restructuring Review Committees of the China Securities Regulatory Commission and is currently a member of the Listing Committee of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Director of the Independent Directors Professional Committee of the China Listed Companies Association, making him well placed to speak on this topic. Professor Tang Xin said one of the most urgent concerns about the current amendments is their possible impact on existing listed companies. There are currently three stock exchanges in mainland China, namely the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and the Beijing Stock Exchange, which have only been in existence for a short period of time. The fact that listed corporations in China comprise the most important enterprises in all significant industries in the country, in terms of revenue, profits, tax revenue, and even technology generated for the country. It shows that listed companies carry out a crucially important role in the national economy. He argued that if there is no distinction between the types of companies in the amendment of the company law, then the company law may still need to be amended in the future. He emphasized that since listed companies only account for less than 1.26% of joint-stock companies and that, apart from limited companies, the majority of the Chinese economy is made up of small and even micro-enterprises. Therefore, the most complex reason for amendments is not only managing small and micro companies but also focusing on specific regulations on listed companies. He considered the legislation and amendment of company law to remain a challenging task.
Following Professor Zhu and Professor Tang’s thought-provoking speeches, Associate Professor Zhang Wei (Singapore Management University Yong Pung How School of Law) and Professor Wang Jiangyu (CCCL, CityU School of Law) led a discussion and Q&A session in which they presented their insights on the legal amendments to Chinese company law. The majority of attendees jumped on the opportunity to express their opinions, many of which were thoughtful and innovative. Professor Tan gave us a brief closing remark in which she thanked all of the attendees for their excellent contributions, which helped to make the seminar successful.
《中華人民共和國公司法》自1994年7月1日起實施，1999年、2004年對個別條款進行了修改，2005年進行了全面修訂，2013年、2018年又對公司資本制度相關問題作了兩次重要修改。而《中華人民共和國公司法（修訂草案）》在2021年12月再次提請十三屆全國人大常委會第三十二次會議審議，主要修改內容包括完善公司設立、退出制度等。鑑於中國公司法最新一輪修訂引發的關注和爭議，香港城市大學法學院中國法與比較法研究中心，聯合清華大學商法研究中心、新加坡管理大學楊邦孝法學院及亞洲法學院協會，於2021年12月17日舉辦了一場線上學術研討會，邀請清華大學商法研究中心主任朱慈蕴教授及副主任湯欣教授擔任主講嘉賓。
座談會以城大法學院院長陳清漢教授向所有與會者致歡迎辭展開序幕。第一位主講嘉賓朱慈蘊教授現為清華大學法學院教授，博士生導師及清華大學商法研究中心主任。她同時就職於中國法學會商法學研究會常務副會長、中國法學會經濟法研究會常務理事及中國國際經濟貿易仲裁委員會仲裁員。她在商法學（如商法基礎理論、公司法、證券法、破產法）和經濟法學領域頗有建樹，因此十分了解今次公司法修訂的關鍵之處。她提出是次最新修訂的公司法修改比例並不算低，現行公司法共13章218條的基礎上，呈現給全國人大常委會審讀的一審稿修訂草案一審稿約共15章260條，實質新增和修改70條左右。朱慈蘊教授就是次中國公司法的修改情況作了一個總體的介紹，她先解釋一個大眾比較關注的要點，為修訂草案明確黨對國有企業的領導，保證黨組織把方向、管大局、保落實的領導作用，但強調公司的決策權還是在股東會董事會的手上。而她指出是次另一個特別的修訂為現行公司法關於國有獨資公司專節的基礎上，設「國家出資公司的特別規定」專章，此章可能會適當地擴大到國有獨資及國有控股的有限公司。她引用康美藥業財報造假案，來進一步解釋公司法修訂案中提出加強國有獨資公司董事會的建設的重要性。另一方面，她亦提出是次公司法完善公司登記制度有助進一步簡便公司設立和退出，同時有助大眾能夠更方便地獲得投資公司的一些基本信息，甚至鼓勵融資。
第二位主講嘉賓湯欣教授現為清華大學法學院教授、清華大學商法研究中心副主任及《清華法學》副主編，同時就職於湯姆森路透集團“中國商法”叢書編輯諮詢委員會成員。他曾經兼任中國證券監督管理委員會第一、二屆併購重組審核委員會委員，現兼任上海證券交易所上市委員會委員、中國上市公司協會獨立董事專業委員會主任，因此非常適合講述是次座談會的主題。湯欣教授提出現時公司法修訂最令人關注的一點，必然為對於現在的上市公司可能會造成的影響。目前中國大陸有三家證券交易所，分別為上海證券交易所、深圳證券交易所以及成立時間不長的北京證券交易所。而在中國上市的公司可謂集中了全國范圍內各大行業裡面的最主要的頭部企業，而且無論是當中所貢獻的營業收入，還是所貢獻的利潤、所貢獻的稅收，甚至於為國家創造的技術，都可見上市公司在國民經濟當中扮演非常重要角色的事實。他指出如果公司法修改以後並未對公司種類進行區別，那未來公司法可能仍需進行修正。他強調由於上市公司只佔股份公司當中不到百分之一點二六的比例，而除了有限責任公司，中國經濟市場上絕大多數是小型企業，甚至是微型企業，因此公司法面臨最困難的使命便是在簡單的公司法體系當中，不但要容納不同有限公司的基本規範，又要管理數目相當不小的股份有限公司，更要對上市公司進行針對性的規範。所以，他認為公司法的立法與修正為十分困難的工作。
在朱慈蘊教授和湯欣教授發人深省的演講之後，進入到主要由目前任教於新加坡管理大學法學院張巍助理教授和同時擔任香港城市大學法學院教授及中國法與比較法研究中心主任王江雨教授帶領的討論及問答環節，不同教授都提出了自己對中國公司法的真知灼見，而其他與會者都藉此機會表達了他們的看法，當中不乏值得深思的獨到論點。本研討會以陳清漢教授簡單的閉幕辭作結及向各位與會者致謝結束，他感謝各位演講者的寶貴貢獻及所有與會者的出席，讓這次座談會取得了豐碩的成果。
