Business and Human Rights
Labor disputes in China will increase along with problems associated with an expected 100 percent increase in apparel production, according to Jenny Wai-Ling Chan of the Chinese Working Women’s Network in a report in the March 15 CSR Asia Weekly. Industry leaders, government officials, and private analysts alike expect garment and textile production in China to surge as a result of the December 2004 end of the WTO Agreement on Textiles and Clothing.
Two recent reports have examined China's burgeoning markets for books and electronic media:
Articles in the Chinese press (see below for links to three examples, in Chinese) indicate that some Chinese officials consider the proposed Anti-Monopoly Law to be a potential tool to punish successful foreign invested enterprises. The National People's Congress hopes to enact the Anti-Monopoly Law before 2008. The articles suggest that specific foreign invested enterprises with significant market share, termed "dominant market position," could face remedial action once the National People's Congress enacts the new law. Although both domestic and foreign scholars agree on the need for such legislation, the new law will likely provide cover for government efforts to develop indigenous Chinese companies that can use China's enormous market as a springboard to global markets. Any such initiatives would almost certainly be at the expense of foreign companies already in the Chinese market.
The People's Daily Web site reports that China's State Administration for Radio, Film, and Television ("SARFT") issued a Notice last week further restricting foreign participation in China's domestic television and film production. The Notice cited the need to improve control over the political and ideological content of television programs produced in cooperation with foreign companies.
The China Youth Daily summarized China’s 2005 legislative plan in a March 3 report. According to the report, the NPC and its Standing Committee will consider 31 legislative proposals, including 20 draft laws and 11 amendment proposals, in 2005. The NPC’s legislative priorities reportedly include the Law on States of Emergency, the Anti-Monopoly Law, the Law on Administrative Coercive Measures, and amendments to the Securities Law. For the full agenda, see below.
The Ministry of Land and Resources, in cooperation with numerous other agencies and commissions and at the behest of the State Council, is embarking on the largest national land survey in PRC history, according to a 21st Century Business Herald report. The enormous undertaking, which reportedly will be more expensive and complicated than China’s census, is being launched as part of the central government’s effort to assess land resources and arable land loss, unify China’s land registration and management systems, and consolidate central control over land management to counter local land abuses. According to the article, data from China’s last national land survey, which took place from 1984 to 1986 and cost nearly 1 billion yuan, is either outdated or of limited use with current technology.
According to a Xinhua article published on the China Court Net Web site, the Ministry of Construction (MOC) has called for a stronger system of public notice and comment on plans for the demolition and relocation of urban homes and improved monitoring of compensation funds. An MOC official cited in the article reportedly said that many local governments have pursued construction while ignoring citizen property rights, lowering demolition and relocation standards, using coercive tactics, harming the legal rights and interests of residents, and endangering general social stability. The official confirmed that in 2005, the government will continue to "strictly control" the scope of demolition and relocation and undertake efforts to address abuses in the relocation process.
The NPC Standing Committee is scheduled to give China's draft Property Law another reading in June 2005, the Beijing News reported on March 5. The article suggests that numerous committee members are anxious to pass the law. Wang Liming, one of the law’s drafters, has reportedly stated that this is very likely to happen at the mid-year Standing Committee meeting. In 2004, the China Daily reported that the law was slated for passage at this month’s NPC session.
The People's Daily reports that China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television has issued two regulations that are intended to allow increased foreign investment in China's domestic film and television broadcast market. The regulations, the "Interim Regulations for Qualifying for Authorization to Engage in Movie Enterprise Operations" and the "Interim Regulations on the Administration of Sino-Foreign Joint and Cooperative Ventures in Broadcast Television Program Production Operating Enterprises," (the People's Daily report mistakenly omitted the "Interim") took effect on November 28, 2004, and confirm that foreign enterprises may invest in Chinese film and television program production enterprises through joint venture and cooperative venture investment vehicles.
Many foreign companies sourcing products from China have sought to have their suppliers’ factories certified by independent bodies and NGOs as meeting basic international labor and environmental standards. These programs frequently have been part of a company’s global corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts. (For an overview of the CSR issues as they relate to the supply chain in China, see this 2004 statement of findings (.pdf document) by the Kenan Institute China CSR Working Group.)
Among the many certification standards, and perhaps the best known, is SA8000.