On 28 December 2019, the 15th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress adopted revisions to the Securities Law of the People’s Republic of China (《中华人民共和国证券法》) (the “Securities Law 2019”). The Securities Law 2019 will comprehensively implement a new registration system following its effectiveness on 1 March 2020. In response, the Securities Association of China (“SAC”), in consideration of the development practices and characteristics of the corporate bond market, revised the Guidelines on Due Diligence for Corporate Bond Underwriting Services (《公司债券承销业务尽职调查指引》) initially published on 16 October 2015 (the “Due Diligence Guidelines 2015”), and further issued the Guidelines on Due Diligence for Corporate Bond Underwriting Services (Revised Version) (《公司债券承销业务尽职调查指引（修订稿）》) (the “Due Diligence Guidelines 2020”) on 22 January 2020. On the same date, SAC issued for the first time the Guidelines on the Content and Catalogue of Working Papers for Corporate Bond Services (《公司债券业务工作底稿内容与目录指引》) (the “Working Paper Guidelines”) which came into force on the date of issuance.
