l  Latest Hot Spot

Press conference of the State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism: Orderly Resumption of Service and Production, and to Amend Relevant Laws 

l  New Law Express

1.“A Series of Qand A on the Application of Law for COVID-19 Epedimic” issued by Shanghai High People's Court 

2.“A Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Properly Handling Labor Relation Issues during the Period for Prevention and Control of the COVID-19” issued by Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security

3.The State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration and the National Standardization Administration Committee officially released “ Information Security Technology - Personal Information Security Specification” (2020 Version)

l  Our Firm’s Trend

All our staff back to officesafelyso as to  serve clients better

【Latest Hot Spot】

Press conference of Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council: Orderly Resumption of Service and Production, and to Amend Relevant Laws

Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council held a press conference at the State Council Information Office on 10 Mar., 2020. The Ministry of Emergency Management and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development introduced the situation of participating in the epidemic prevention and control and the resumption of production and services.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the Ministry of Emergency Management immediately took advantage of the functions of the department, combined the prevention and control of the outbreak of epidemic with the prevention of major safety risks, and took great efforts to create a good safety environment for the prevention and control of the outbreak of epidemic so as to resume service and production. More than 20,000 safety guidance groups have been organized throughout the country, keeping an eye on the epidemic situation of high-risk industries such as hazardous chemicals, coal mines, and non-coal mines, and rectified 168,000 potential problems.

Shang Yong, deputy Minister of the Ministry of Emergency Management and the Party Member, concluded at the press conference: Recently, China will launch a national three-year plan for the special rectification of work safety, focusing on two themes and nine industry areas for special rectification. At the same time, to speed up the issuance of the new revised 'Safety Production Law', to request the 'Dangerous Chemicals Safety Law' to be reviewed, and to revise the 'Coal Mine Safety Regulations' and other laws and regulations by this year, especially to amend the 'Criminal Law' to quote relevant legal consequences of breaching of the above laws and regulations into it, and increasing safety and rectification accordingly.

In addition, while actively undertaking epidemic-related rescue and assistance, and serving   key epidemic prevention units on-site, the fire rescue teamhas also fully supported the resumption of service and production work.  'Six Measures on Fire Safty Work” to support resumption of services and production during the epidemic period.

【New Law Express】

“A Series of Q and A on the Application of Law for COVID-19 Epedimic” issued by Shanghai High People's Court

Shanghai High People's Court issued the ' Series of Questions and Answers on the Application of Law for COVID-19 Epedemic “ (hereinafter referred to as 'Q & A') on 20 Feb. 2020 to further clarify issues on the application of laws during the epidemic prevention and control period, which can be summarized as the followings:

First, the Q & A clarified that if a litigant was unable to bring a lawsuit to the court within the prosecution period due to the impact of the epidemic, the period affected by the epidemic should in principle not be counted in the prosecution period. When the litigant claims to the court that the above-mentioned deduction period should be deducted, he/she should provide evidence of affected by the epidemic situation, such as patienets/ suspected patienets suffering from COVID-19 or being isolated due to epidemic prevention and control.

Second, the Q & A clarified that during the prevention and control of the COVID-19 period, the disease prevention and control measures taken by the government can be understood as force majeure in principle. If the litigants are unable to participate in related litigation activities due to the impact of the epidemic situation, according to the relevant provisions of “ the General Principles of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China”, “the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China”, and “the Law of the People's Republic of China on Response to Emergencies”, relevant provisions on time limits suspension of action and suspension of proceedings may be applied , except as otherwise provided by law.

Third, during the epidemic prevention and control period, due to the impact of the epidemic, the litigants may apply to the court for an extension of court hearing; the court may also decide to postpone the hearing in accordance according to relevant law, but the litigants shall be notified in advance. Forcases affected by the epidemic, the judge shall handle the procedures for suspension and extension of trials as appropriate. For the announcement cases that court hearing should be held during the epidemic prevention and control period, it may be held on-line or off-line as scheduled if there are certain conditions; if not, the court hearing may be postponed as appropriate.

Fourth, during the epidemic prevention and control period, if it is necessary to serve the litigant with a notice of produce evidence, the court may extend the time for producing evendence as appropriate; in the case that the litigant has already been served with the notice of produce evidence, and it proposes it is difficult to provide evidence within the time limit for producing the evidence because of the impact of the epidemic, the court may extend the time limit for producing the evidence as appropriate.

Fifth, if it is verified that the the settlement agreement reached in enforcement has not been performed due to the impact of the epidemic situation, relevant provisions of force majeure may be applied. If the  execution applicant requests  resumption of enforcement, the court shall notify it that the failure of performance within the agreed period  is because force majeure, the conditions for resuming execution are not met, therefore, the relevant performance period may be appropriately extended.

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Properly Handling Labor Relation Issues during the Period for Prevention and Control of the COVID-19

In order to effectively prevent from and control the epidemic of pneumonia caused by novel coronavirus infection, properly deal with labor relations during the period for prevention and control of the epidemic, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of employees, ensure normal production and operation order of enterprises, and to promote harmony and stability of labor relations, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued “a Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Properly Handling Labor Relation Issues during the Period for Prevention and Control of the COVID-19” on 24 Jan 2020.

I. Where an employee of an enterprise is unable to provide normal work as a result of being isolated and treated or under medical observation because that he/she is a patient with pneumonia, a suspected patient or in close contact with a person with the novel coronavirus infection, or as a result of the government's implementation of isolation measures or other emergency measures, the enterprise shall pay the employee remuneration during such period, and shall not rescind the employment contract with the employee in accordance with Articles 40 and 41 of the Labor Contract Law. During this period, if the employment contract is expired, it shall be extended to the the time when the employee's medical treatment period, medical observation period, isolation period or the end of the emergency measures taken by the government are expired.

II. Where an enterprise has difficulties in production and operation due to the impact of epidemic situation, it may   adjust salaries, rotate posts and take holidays  shorten  working hours or other means through negotiating with employees , so as to avoid or reduce layoffs to the greatest extent. Qualified enterprises may enjoy the Employment Stabilizing Subsidy according to relevant regulations. Where an enterprise suspends production or operation for a period less than a wage payment cycle, the enterprise shall pay wages to its employees pursuant to the standards stipulated in the employment contracts. Where the suspension exceeds a wage payment cycle and the employee has provided normal labour services, the wage paid by the enterprise to the employee shall not be less than the local minimum wage standard. If an employee does not provide normal work, the enterprise must pay his/her living expenses. The standard for living expenses shall be implemented in accordance with the measures stipulated by the various provinces, autonomous regions and centrally administered municipalities.

III. Where a party concerned is unable to apply for arbitration on labor disputes within the statutory limitation for arbitration due to impact of epidemic situation, the statutory limitation for arbitration shall suspend. The period of statutory limitation for arbitration shall continue to run from the date when the cause of suspension is eliminated. Where the labor dispute arbitration agency is unable to trial a case by the statutory deadline due to impact of the epidemic stituation, the trial period may be extended correspondingly.

IV. Human resources and social security authorities at all localities shall strengthen their guidance on enterprises’ employment and provide services for thse enterprises  affected by the epidemic situation; take efforts on labour protection and surveillance of relevant policies enforcement workso as to pragmatically protect the legitimate rights and interests of employees.

The State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration and the National Standardization Administration Committee released Information Security Technology - Personal Information Security Specification (2020 Version)

According to the National Standards Announcement of the People's Republic of China (No. 1, 2020) issued by the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration and the National Standardization Administration of China, the ' Information Security Technology - Personal Information Security Specification' organized and revised by the China National Institute of Electronic Standardization has been formally recently approved and released, the implementation time is October 1, 2020, and replaces GB / T 35273-2017 version of the national standard. The standard is under the jurisdiction of the National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee (SAC / TC260). Compared with the 2017 version of the standard, the 2020 version of the standard has been targeted for revision.

(1) Strengthening standard to guide practice

The 2020 version of the standard clarifies the relevant requirements of the data security responsible person, regulates the corresponding work responsibilities of the person in charge of personal information protection; specifies the requirements related to targeted push and the right that users can withdraw; The supervision and management responsibilities of tripartite access are refined.

(2) Support APP security certification

It standardizes the testing and evaluation points for each requirement, so that the certification work can be carried out one by one according to the requirements of the standard; describe the core functions, necessary information, and necessary permissions involved in the APP, put forward clear requirements and form evaluation points. Take APP as an example to explain and enhance its guidance.

The revised standard will further make the standard meet the requirements of relevant Chinese laws and regulations, increase the applicability of standard guidance practices, help improve the level of personal information protection in the industry and society, and promote the industrialization of technology products and consulting services in the field of personal information protection Further development will provide a solid guarantee for the healthy development of China's information industry.

【Our Firm’s Trend】

All staff back to office for work safely so as to serve clients better

At the beginning of 2020, affected by COVID-19, our firm implemented a home-office work system. With the improvement of the epidemic situation, while our firm is actively conduct the prevention and control of epedic, all personnel has returned to work on March 16, 2020.

After the resumption of work, the lawyers of our firm actively learned the laws and regulations introduced during the epidemic situation period,  ,absorbed fresh knowledge, as as to help our clients in solving legal dilemmas that may be encountered during the epidemic situation. 2020, we will keep on going forward!

About Veritas

Shanghai Veritas Law Corporation is a comprehensive law corporation in China that provides perfect and comprehensive legal services to clients. With our professional skills and in-depth understanding of business, we provide a complete set of value-added legal service solutions for clients at home and abroad to help them achieve business goals.

We boast an excellent legal team paying close attention to client needs continuously, providing clients with practical solutions and pioneering professional advice. We strive to provide excellent services and take pride in establishing friendly and long-term partnership with our clients.

Through our international partners' offices in more than 20 cities including New York, Los Angeles, Singapore, Taiwan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Mexico, London and Oman, we are committed to providing professional services for Chinese enterprises to develop business in Asia, the United States, the Middle East, Latin America, the United Kingdom and other countries.