China's pharmaceutical industry is witnessing a notable surge in "pipeline spin-off projects", a model commonly referred to as the "Spin-off-NewCo" or "SON" model. Within the past two months, we've been advising on nearly ten SON projects. Leading pharmaceutical companies in China are more frequently adopting the SON model to separate parts of their pipelines into new, independent companies. These spin-off projects have garnered considerable interest from multinational industry leaders and international investment institutions, underscoring substantial opportunities for global collaboration.

On 26 July 2024, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) released the revised Provisions on the Administration of Funds of Foreign Institutional Investors for Domestic Securities and Futures Investment (《境外机构投资者境内证券期货投资资金管理规定》, the "Revised Provisions"), which will come into effect on 26 August 2024 and supersede the current version issued on 7 May 2020 (the "Current Provisions"). To facilitate your understanding of the implications of the Revised Provisions on the qualified foreign investors (QFIs) and QFI custodian banks, we set out below the key changes of the Revised Provisions against the Current Provisions, covering (1) SAFE registration, (2) foreign exchange risk management, (3) account management and (4) repatriation.

The methods employed by criminals to transfer and conceal proceeds of crime on a global scale are becoming increasingly sophisticated, making effective mutual legal assistance in criminal matters crucial for cross-border asset recovery. In response to this threat, the National Supervisory Commission, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of State Security, and the Ministry of Justice jointly issued the Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on International Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (for Trial Implementation) on April 22, 2024 (the "Implementing Provisions"). Since the issuance of the Law of the People's Republic of China on International Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (the "MLA Law") in October 2018, this is the first set of implementing rules formulated in the field of international mutual legal assistance in criminal matters in China. In this article, we provide a review of the relevant content of the Implementing Provisions by combining the author's practical experience in the field of cross-border asset tracing and recovery while focusing on issues related to the tracing and recovery of cross-border criminal assets.