前言：党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央在扩大对外开放、促进外商投资方面做出了一系列重要决策部署。2019年3月15日，十三届全国人大二次会议表决通过了《中华人民共和国外商投资法》，该部法律将自2020年1月1日起施行。整体来看，该部法律确立了我国新型外商投资法律制度的基本框架，确定了我国对外开放、促进外商投资的基本国策和大政方针，对外商投资的准入、促进、保护、管理等做出了统一规定。

Preface: Since the 18th CPC national congress, the CPC central committee with comrade Xi Jinping at its core, has made a series of important decisions and arrangements in opening up to the outside world and promoting foreign investment. On March 15, 2019, the second session of the 13th National People's Congress voted to adopt The Foreign Investment Law of the People's Republic ofChina, which will take effect on January 1, 2020. Overall, this law establishes the basic framework of China's new foreign investment legal system ,determines China's basic national policies and major policies for opening up and promoting foreign investment, and makes uniform provisions on the access, promotion, protection and management of foreign investment.

1.《中华人民共和国外商投资法》是一部基础性的法律，其不少规定相对原则，因此未来需要有关部门出台细化的配套措施。

1.The Foreign Investment Law of the People's Republic of Chinais a basic law and many of its provisions are relatively principled, therefore relevant departments need to formulate detailed supporting measures in the future.

该部法律之所以是一部基础性的法律，是因为其以“准入前国民待遇加负面清单”的新型管理制度作为基本框架而对相关工作提供规范和指引，负面清单之外的领域对外国投资者不设门槛、不实行特殊管理。外商投资者可以同境内投资者一样进行投资，依照同样的法律设立企业、从事生产经营活动和接受监督。由于外商投资者与境内投资者一样按照同样的法律进行相关的经济活动，因此就没有必要在企业组织形式和生产经营活动方面对外商投资者进行特殊规定（新设立的外商投资企业应当符合公司法、合伙企业法规定的组织形式和组织机构；现存的外商投资企业在组织形式上也应当按照公司法、合伙企业法的规定进行调整），也没有必要对已在其他现行法律法规中作出了规定的内容进行过于细致的规定，这也是一种节省立法资源的做法。

The reason why this law is a fundamental law is that it provides norms and guidance for relevant work with the new management system of "pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list" as the basic framework, there are no thresholds or special regulations for foreign investors outside the negative list. Foreign investors may invest in the same way as domestic investors, and establish enterprises, engage in production and business activities and accept supervision in accordance with the same laws as domestic investors. For the reason that foreign investors and domestic investors carry out relevant economic activities in accordance with the same laws, therefore there is no need to make special provisions on the form of enterprise organization and production and operation activities for foreign investors（the newly established foreign-funded enterprises shall conform to the organizational form and structure prescribed by the law on partnership enterprises of the company law and the existing foreign-invested enterprises shall also be adjusted in the form of organization in accordance with the provisions of the partnership law of the company law）and no need to be overly specific about what is already stipulated in other existing laws and regulations, which is also a way to conserve legislative resources.

外商投资法尽管确立了外商投资法律制度的基本框架和规则，但从法律的具体内容看，有的规定可以直接执行，如不得利用行政手段强制转让技术等，也有一些新设立的制度，如外商投资企业投诉工作机制、外商投资信息报告制度以及外商投资准入负面清单等，都需要制定相关配套规定予以细化。根据公开报道，外商投资法的相关配套法规已列入国务院2019年立法计划。

Although the foreign investment law has established the basic framework and rules of the legal system for foreign investment, some provisions（for example, no administrative means shall be used to force the transfer of technology）can be directly implemented in terms of the specific content of the law and there are also some new systems（such as the working mechanism of complaints against foreign-invested enterprises, the foreign investment information reporting system and the negative list for foreign investment access, etc.）need to be refined by formulating relevant supporting provisions. According to public reports, the relevant supporting regulations of the foreign investment law have been included in the State Council's legislative plan of 2019.

同时，将该部法律所确立的、但是实务中尚在摸索中或者尚未建立配套措施的新型外资管理制度进行原则性的规定，也可以为下一步改革开放和利用外资的实际运作留下必要的空间。

At the same time, the principle provisions of the new foreign capital management system established by this law, which is still in the process of exploration or has not yet been established in practice, can also leave necessary space for the further reform and opening up and the practical operation of utilizing foreign capital.

2.该法的42条规定可以总结为六个方面的内容。

2. The 42 provisions of the this law can be summarized into six aspects.

2.1对外商投资进行了界定。该法所称外商投资，是指外国的自然人、企业或者其他组织直接或者间接在中国境内进行的投资活动，并包括了四种情形。该法所称的外商投资企业，则是指全部或者部分由外国投资者投资，依照中国法律在中国境内经登记注册设立的企业。

2.1 Foreign investment is defined. Foreign investment mentioned in this law refers to the investment activities of foreign natural persons,enterprises or other organizations directly or indirectly within the territory of China（four scenarios are included）, and foreign-invested enterprises mentioned in this Law refer to enterprises that are wholly or partly invested by foreign investors and registered within the territory of China under the Chinese laws.

2.2在该法第二章集中规定了对外商投资的促进内容。具体来说，包括了外商投资法律法规的公开透明的重要性、保障外商投资者平等参与市场竞争、明确外商投资企业平等参与政府采购活动、明确外商投资企业可以依法进行融资，等等，这也体现了我国将以更加开放、平等的姿态对待境外投资者。

2.2 The second chapter of the act focuses on the promotion of foreign investment. Specifically, it includes the importance of openness and transparency of laws and regulations on foreign investment, ensuring equal participation of foreign investors in market competition, clarifying equal participation of foreign-funded enterprises in government procurement activities and clarifying that foreign-funded enterprises can conduct financing in accordance with the law, etc，which also reflects that China will treat foreign investors in a more open and equal manner.

2.3该法第三章集中规定了对外商投资的保护内容。国家对外国投资者的投资不实行征收，只是在特殊情况下为了公共利益的需要，依照法律规定对外国投资者投资实行征收或者征用。实行征收征用的时候，应当按照法定的程序来进行，并且及时给予公平合理的补偿。此处的“特殊情况”是指在发生战争的情况下。此外，外国投资者在中国境内的出资、利润、资本收益、资产处置所得、知识产权许可使用费等合法财产，外商投资法也都给予保护。

2.3 The third chapter of this law mainly stipulates the protection of foreign investment. The nation shall not impose expropriation on the investment of foreign investors, but shall impose or requisition the investment of foreign investors in accordance with the provisions of law for the public interest under special circumstances. Expropriation and requisition shall be carried out in accordance with legal procedures and fair and reasonable compensation shall be given promptly. The "special circumstances " herein refer to the case of war. In addition, this law also protects foreign investors' and legal property within China，such as capital contribution, profits, capital gains, assets disposal income and intellectual property licensing fees.

2.4该法确立了准入前国民待遇加负面清单的管理制度。此处的准入前国民待遇，是指在投资准入阶段给予外国投资者及其投资不低于本国投资者及其投资的待遇；而负面清单，是指国家规定在特定领域对外商投资实施的准入特别管理措施。国家对负面清单之外的外商投资，给予国民待遇。如前所述，该管理制度需要制定相关配套规定予以细化。

2.4 The law establishes the management system of "pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list". The term "pre-establishment national treatment" herein refers that foreign investors or their investments shall be treated no less favourably than domestic investors and their investments in the investment entry stage; The negative list, on the other hand, refers to the special management measures for foreign investment in specific fields stipulated by the state. As previously described, this management system needs to be refined by formulating relevant supporting provisions.

2.5该法规定了备案管理以及信息报告制度。值得注意的是，尽管该法规定了外国投资者或者外商投资企业应当通过企业登记系统以及企业信用信息公示系统向商务主管部门报送投资信息，但是政府有关部门及其工作人员对履行职责过程中知悉的外商信息（特别是涉及商业秘密、经营秘密的信息）应当给予保密。

2.5This law stipulates filing management and information reporting systems. It is worth noting that the law stipulates that foreign investors or foreign-invested enterprises should submit investment information to the competent commercial authorities through the enterprise registration system and the enterprise credit information publicity system, the relevant government departments and their staff members should keep the foreign business information they come to know in the course of performing their duties (especially the business secrets involved) confidential.

2.6 该法还规定了安全审查制度，国家对影响或者可能影响国家安全的外商投资有权进行安全审查，并且依法作出的安全审查决定为最终决定。虽然《外商投资法》规定的外资安全审查制度，其法律层级和地位得到极大提升，为维护国家安全提供了坚实的法律基础，但是“安全审查是由谁审查？” “怎么审查？”“审查要花多长时间？”等等问题目前看来似乎都缺少细则，需要制定配套规定加以完善。

This law also stipulates the security review system, namely the nation has the right to conduct security review on foreign investment that affects or may affect national security, and the security review decision made according to law shall be the final decision. Although the foreign investment security review system stipulated by The Foreign Investment Law has greatly improved its legal level and status, providing a solid legal basis for safeguarding national security, such questions as “who shall review the security review?” “How?” and “How long will the review take? ” at present seem to lack detailed rules and it is necessary to formulate supporting regulations to improve them.

结语：外商投资法的即将正式实施，标志着我国在经济领域的对外开放进入了一个崭新的历史时期，同时也给律师从事涉外业务提供了更多的机会。新的历史时期，扩展执业范围，提高涉外服务的水平，也是我们中银律师不断努力的方向。

Conclusion: The coming implementation of the foreign investment law marks a new historical period ofChina's opening to the outside world in the economic field. Meanwhile, it also provides more opportunities for lawyers to engage in foreign-related business in a new historical period. It is also the direction of Zhongyin lawyers' continuous efforts to expand the scope of practice and improve the level of foreign-related services.

参考文献：

1.王开定等,《外商投资法律实务的变化与挑战》，

https://www.kwm.com/zh/knowledge/insights/new-foreign-investment-law-20190315。

2.何雪峰，《外商投资法：进一步迈向制度型开放》，

http://www.bjqx.org.cn/qxweb/n402276c796.aspx。

3.黄晋，《外商投资法重在促进与保护》，http://www.iolaw.org.cn/showArticle.aspx?id=5883。

4.孔庆江译，《外商投资法（英文版）》，

https://baijiahao.baidu.com/sid=1628685105101326356&wfr=spider&for=pc。

References：

1. Wang kaiding et al., Changes and Challenges of the The Foreign Investment Law Practice,

https://www.kwm.com/zh/knowledge/insights/new-foreign-investment-law-20190315.

2. He xuefeng, The Foreign Investment law: further towards institutional openness，

http://www.bjqx.org.cn/qxweb/n402276c796.aspx.

3. Huang jin, Emphasis on Promotion and Protection of The Foreign Investment Law,

http://www.iolaw.org.cn/showArticle.aspx?id=5883.

4. Translated by Kong Qingjiang, The Foreign Investment Law (English Version),

https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1628685105101326356&wfr=spider&for=pc.