The Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce, the EU-China Business Association and the China IPR SME Helpdesk are organizing a webinar focused on “Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in China”. This webinar will take place on 5 November at 10.30 am CEST.

The session will be held by the IP Business Advisor Matias Zubimendi, who will give a presentation on possible ways of enforcing intellectual property rights in China. The webinar will end with a Q&A session where attendees can raise their questions and interact with the speakers.

Agenda:

10:30 – Introduction to the webinar and the services of the China IPR SME Helpdesk – Peter Sczigel (China IPR SME Helpdesk)

10:35 – Presentation of the Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce/ EU-China Business Association – Gwenn Sonck (FCCC / EUCBA)

10:40 – Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in China – Matias Zubimendi (China IPR SME Helpdesk)

11:15 – Q&A session

11:30 – Closing remarks

Speakers:

Peter Sczigel, Project Executive, China IPR SME Helpdesk

Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director, Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce/
EU-China Business Association

Matias Zubimendi, IP Business Advisor, China IPR SME Helpdesk

Practical Information:

Date and time: November 5, 2020, 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM CEST

Location: Online (GoToWebinar)

Price for members: Free

SUBSCRIBE HERE

 

 

 

 

The coronavirus can pass from objects to humans, and exist in cold chain conditions for a long time, the Qingdao government in Shandong province announced, as it revealed how the virus spread from imported frozen food products in the latest outbreak in the city. The discovery was made public by Luan Xin, Deputy Mayor of Qingdao. China Customs told the Global Times they have been upgrading spot checks of imported goods, with emphasis on imported cold chain products, starting in September, even before Qingdao’s announcement that it discovered “object-to-human” virus passage. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that it had detected and isolated living coronavirus in a positive sample from the outer packaging of imported frozen cod.

It was the first time the presence of the virus has been confirmed in the cold chain transport outside the laboratory and the virus can survive in cold chain conditions across borders. Wholesalers who purchase imported cold chain products have to report to local authorities 24 hours before the food arrives, said Chen Wansheng, a Qingdao official. Fan Xubing, a senior seafood industry analyst, told the Global Times that he does not think it is necessary to check every imported product, since the costs would be too high. “Under normal circumstances, the proportion of Customs spot checks will be 1%. But since sampling is random, no one can cheat on it,” said Fan. “The scale of frozen fish and meat imports is too large to completely cut off, and Customs authorities are strengthening spot checks on cold chain items to almost all containers,” a Customs officer told the Global Times. According to the Shanghai Daily, Qingdao Customs will conduct nucleic acid testing on all imported cold chain products. A Beijing Customs source said that the situation has put pressure on their work, and that Beijing has already suspended some cold chain related imports.

Meanwhile, 164 asymptomatic cases were reported in Kashgar prefecture in Xinjiang. They are all connected to a clothing factory where the parents of the first asymptomatic patient work. The 17-year old woman did not leave Shufu county in the past year and did not have contact with a known virus carrier. Chinese epidemiologists are now looking for the source of the infection, but warn that there could be a community outbreak and cases might be confirmed in the coming days. A Level-1 emergency response has been activated and all close contacts of the infected persons have been isolated for medical observation and testing. All 4.7 million people in the prefecture will be tested in three days time. The outbreak marks the Chinese mainland’s first local infection since October 14, when one was detected in Qingdao. Xinjiang was the site of a local cluster in August, but no new cases had been found in the region since August 15.

Concerning vaccine development, Chinese authorities refuted Western media reports that China has rolled out experimental Covid-19 vaccines to the general public. They are still only used for emergency purposes to vaccinate Chinese personnel traveling to high-risk areas abroad. This emergency use has been undertaken in line with relevant laws and regulations in China with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO), Zheng Zhongwei, an official from the National Health Commission (NHC) in charge of technology development, told a press conference. All those who have received the vaccination under the emergency plan have shown no severe adverse reactions, Zheng added. Zhejiang was the first province in China to announce that it will make Covid-19 vaccinations available to the public, but vaccinations have not started yet. “The vaccination is reservation-based, and it only covers key groups of people. Ordinary people have no access to the vaccines yet,” an official from the Yiwu Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Zhejiang province told the Global Times. Key groups of people covered by vaccines for emergency use include medics, workers involved in anti-epidemic prevention and control work, border control staff, and those who ensure city operations and management, according to the Yiwu city government. China has 13 vaccine candidates in clinical trials, including four in phase-3 trials. Around 60,000 volunteers have been inoculated with one of the four advanced vaccine candidates. Initial indications are that the vaccines are safe. China is expected to produce up to 610 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of this year, Zheng Zhongwei, head of China’s coronavirus vaccine development task force said, the Shanghai Daily reports. “Manufacturing conditions are mature, and the vaccines are ready. We’ll probably see them available to the public as soon as next month, or if not, by the end of this year,” a Beijing-based immunological expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times.

More and more international brands are seeing the Single’s Day – also known as Double Eleven – shopping event on November 11 as an important opportunity to boost their annual sales in China. Some 800 million consumers are expected to take part in the event, making it the biggest spending spree of the year, according to analysts. E-commerce platforms, including JD.com, Tmall, and Suning, are already seeing record sales and attendance, with businesses at home and abroad scrambling to snap up virtual shelves, hoping to make up for this year’s losses amid the outbreak of the coronavirus. JD.com said 90 million shoppers and 500,000 items from 100 countries and regions will participate in this year’s event, offering discounts totaling CNY1 billion. Its rival Tmall, Alibaba’s e-commerce platform, will feature products from more than 220 countries and regions. Several international luxury brands will launch promotional campaigns hoping to attract more customers in China, according to a report from Tmall. On the special shopping mall of import products on Tmall – Tmall international section – more than 26,000 foreign brands from 84 countries plan to participated in the festival, among which more than 2,600 new brands which joined for the first time, bringing a total of 1.2 million new imported products to Chinese consumers.

Flagship stores of cosmetic brands – including Clarins, Estée Lauder, Lancôme, SK-II, Sulwhasoo, YSL and Armani – will offer lower prices on Tmall than in duty-free shops. Apart from companies that were already cooperating with Tmall, such as Chanel and Dior, an increasing number of global luxury brands are signing up for this year’s Double Eleven for the first time. A discount of 33% on Shanghai Disneyland tickets is also newly launched. German sports car brand Porsche has set up a Tmall outlet, and other overseas car brands have offered up to 50% discounts on some models. Vacheron Constantin, a Swiss luxury watch brand, has decided to release its latest products – originally scheduled for Christmas release – on this year’s Double Eleven.

Overseas goods will be one of the highlights this year, as Chinese consumers cannot travel abroad to shop due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has seriously restricted international travel. Now they can buy all kinds of imported goods on the e-commerce platforms without leaving their homes. Tmall has set up a special online shopping mall for overseas products, and consumers can receive their products, starting 72 hours after placing their orders. Tmall’s international section is this year importing 1,000 tons of Uruguayan milk, 2.6 million bottles of French wine and 1.6 million liters of camel’s milk from Dubai.

Based on the transaction volume of e-commerce platforms in the past two years – CNY395.32 billion in 2018 at an annual growth rate of 33.81%, and CNY600 billion in 2019 with annual growth of 51.77% – this year’s online transaction value of the Double Eleven festival is expected to reach CNY856.74 billion, according to a report from the China e-commerce research center.

As the only major economy expected to record a positive economic growth this year, many international brands are seeing China as their main opportunity for growth in 2020. “Consumer demand for the whole year will explode during the Double Eleven shopping spree. In addition, active participation of international brands in the festival with huge discounts indicates that overseas brands have confidence in China’s consumer market. In other words, the Chinese market is the main source for international brands’ annual sales performance,” Tian Yun, Vice Director of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, told the Global Times. According to incomplete statistics, subsidies offered by e-commerce platforms, including consumption coupons and cash subsidies, will total nearly CNY100 billion. In addition to subsidies, new forms of online shopping have also attracted consumers. Live-streaming is becoming a new growth point in e-commerce sales. Last week, 108 million people watched the live-streaming of Viya on Taobao, Alibaba’s e-commerce platform, when 30,000 lipsticks from Armani were sold in the first few minutes. Some specific discounts are only available during these live-streaming sessions, the Global Times reports.

The number of Chinese billionaires is increasing at a record pace – despite the effects of the coronavirus pandemic – thanks to booming share prices and new stock listings, according to the Hurun China Rich List 2020 published last week. There were around 2,400 individuals with a net worth of more than CNY2 billion in August, giving them a combined net worth of USD4 trillion – more than the annual gross domestic product (GDP) of Germany. More wealth was created this year than in the previous five years combined, with China’s rich-listers adding USD1.5 trillion, roughly half the size of Britain’s GDP. Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, retained the top spot for the third year in a row, with his personal wealth jumping 45% to USD58.8 billion partly due to the impending mega-listing of fintech firm Ant Group. Ant plans to raise an estimated USD35 billion through a dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Jack Ma was followed by Ma Huateng (USD57.4 billion) of gaming firm and WeChat owner Tencent, who made an extra 50% despite concerns about his firm’s U.S. prospects.

Booming stock markets and new listings have created five new dollar billionaires in China each week for the past year, said Rupert Hoogewerf, the Hurun Report’s Chairman. “The world has never seen this much wealth created in just one year. China’s entrepreneurs have done much better than expected. Despite Covid-19 they have risen to record levels”, Hoogewerf said. China has accelerated capital market reforms to aid a virus-hit economy and accelerate economic restructuring. To expedite initial public offerings (IPOs), regulators launched a U.S.-style IPO system on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style STAR Market and Shenzhen’s ChiNext. Chinese corporate listings in Hong Kong and on Nasdaq have also turbocharged the fortunes of company founders. Zhong Shanshan, who recently listed his bottled water maker Nongfu Spring Co in Hong Kong, shot straight into the top 3 with USD53.7 billion. The wealth of He Xiaopeng surged 80% to USD6.6 billion after the listing of his electric vehicle maker Xpeng Motors in New York during the summer.

The report also highlights China’s accelerated shift away from traditional sectors like manufacturing and real estate, toward e-commerce, fintech and other new economy industries. Wang Xing, Founder of food delivery app Meituan, quadrupled his wealth and jumped 52 places to 13th in the list with USD25 billion, while Liu Qiangdong, Founder of online shopping platform JD.com doubled his fortune to USD23.5 billion. Health-care entrepreneurs also moved up the list on the back of the pandemic, with Jiang Rensheng, Founder of vaccine-maker Zhifei, tripling his value to USD19.9 billion. The coronavirus boosted the fortunes of Alibaba’s Ma and other internet entrepreneurs as the shutdown to fight the virus propelled demand for online shopping and business tools. The fortune of Eric Yuan of California-based video conference platform Zoom rose by more than USD10 billion to USD16.2 billion, the Shanghai Daily reports.

China will open its capital market wider to the world, shifting from being partially open to full-scale and institutional opening-up, Fang Xinghai, Vice Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), said in a speech at the second Bund Summit in Shanghai. China will steadily ease cross-border investment and financing restrictions, better align institutions and rules, and enhance the predictability and stability of policies, he added. Opening-up and cooperation has always been the principle and direction of China’s capital market since its establishment 30 years ago, according to Fang, who noted that foreign institutional investors have gained a significantly larger share in the A-share market in recent years. Fang pledged to further open-up both the capital market and products, and to continue improving the level of openness in the securities, funds and futures sectors. China will also work more closely with overseas regulators and international financial organizations and crack down on financial fraud in cross-border listings and securities issuance, he said.

Yi Gang, Governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), said in a speech via video link that China will continue pushing forward the opening-up of the financial industry and create a market-oriented, law-based international business environment. The country is working toward full implementation of the “pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list” management system for foreign investment, he said, noting that coordinated efforts should be made to promote the opening-up of financial services, the reform of the yuan’s exchange rate formation mechanism, and the yuan’s internationalization. Vice President Wang Qishan stressed accelerating the establishment of a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulation reinforcing each other, the Shanghai Daily reports.