Editor's Note: During the fifteen years from 1986 to 2001, after arduous negotiations, China joined the World Trade Organization. Wang Lei, a lawyer from Gaopeng Law Firm, participated fully and deeply in the negotiation from the beginning, and was a legal person in the negotiation delegation. This year marks the 20th anniversary of China's accession to the WTO. Gao Pengsuo specially invited Lawyer Wang to write a series of articles to recall the details of those eventful years. We also take this opportunity to pay tribute to those who stood at the forefront of reform and opening up and worked hard in the negotiations for the national interests

Summary of the case:
At the end of 2009, Village Enterprise A signed a "Shop Lease Contract" with Company B, stipulating that Company B would lease 8000m2 for a 15 year lease term. Paragraph 3 of Article 12 of the "Shop Lease Contract" stipulates that if the lessee fails to pay the rent in advance for more than 15 days as agreed, the lessor may, without any supervision, terminate this contract by notifying the lessee in writing, and the date of delivery of the notice to the lessee shall be the date of termination of the contract.

On August 1, 2021, the State Council raised the export tariffs on ferrochrome and high-purity pig iron products to 40% and 20% respectively, and canceled the export tax rebates for 23 types of steel products such as cold rolled and oriented silicon steel. As early as May 1, 2021, China had raised the export tariffs on products such as ferrosilicon, ferrochromium, and high-purity pig iron to 25%, 20%, and 15%, respectively, while canceling the export tax rebates for 146 types of steel products, including hot-rolled plates, tubes, and so on.

In recent years, private cinemas (also known as on-demand cinemas, movie cafes, and micro cinemas) have sprung up throughout the country, serving as a box office supplement to traditional cinemas and meeting the personalized viewing needs of different groups of people. In 2018, the former State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television promulgated and implemented the "Regulations on the Management of On-Demand Cinemas and On-Demand Cinema Lines", starting to standardize the management of On-Demand Cinemas and On-Demand Cinema Lines. However, due to the fact that a large number of private cinemas were established before the promulgation and implementation of the aforementioned regulations, there are very few private cinemas in the market that have registered and obtained a "Film Screening Business License" in accordance with the aforementioned regulations, and the aforementioned regulations have not been fully implemented. Due to the nonstandard development of the industry, there are increasing cases of infringement of the right to network dissemination of work information by private cinemas, and private cinemas often lose lawsuits in such cases. This article aims to analyze the reasons for the failure of private cinemas by sorting out such cases, and explore whether the legitimate source defense can be applied to such cases, as well as how to apply it if applicable.

In recent years, there have been frequent reports of defaults in the investment field of private equity funds, with various reasons for default. For example, some fund projects cannot exit due to "stepping on the thunder"; Some private equity investment funds invest in real estate enterprises with a broken capital chain in the form of public equity and real debt; Some private equity investment fund managers do not issue the products they claim, but only engage in fund-raising fraud in the name of private equity investment... A few bad private equity funds have gone astray, causing investors' investment funds to float. So, as a private equity investor, how can we effectively reduce the losses suffered according to law?

Recently, it has been rumored on the internet that a celebrity surnamed Wu has repeatedly interviewed young women in the name of casting and signing an artist agency contract. The author can't help but associate himself with some cases in his work practice, and find that many artists, especially some young artists who have just entered the industry and are not well known, are confused about the nature of the artist brokerage contract they have signed with the brokerage company. When they arbitrarily sign the contract and want to terminate it, they find themselves facing huge compensation and being locked up. Some artists see the word "commission" in the brokerage contract, and believe that the brokerage contract is a commission contract. They can terminate the commission relationship with the company at any time; Some artists believe that they receive a certain monthly fee from the company, and they also need to comply with some of the company's rules and regulations. The brokerage contract they sign is a labor contract, which can be unilaterally terminated in accordance with the provisions of the Labor Contract Law; Other artists believe that companies are introducing themselves to performing arts jobs, and brokerage contracts are intermediary contracts (known as intermediary contracts before the implementation of the Civil Code). However, in fact, it is not so simple. Brokerage contracts cannot be signed as soon as they want, nor can they be solved as soon as they want.

In January 2019, 76 WTO members, including China, issued a joint statement to officially launch e-commerce negotiations. This is a spontaneous discussion and negotiation among some WTO members, not a multilateral negotiation initiated by the WTO, nor a plurilateral negotiation under the WTO framework. According to the proposals of all parties, the negotiations mainly focus on the following issues: trade facilitation, such as electronic signature, electronic invoice and payment, paperless trade, customs clearance, etc; Cross-border data flows, data storage locations, the Internet, and data access; Consumer protection, privacy protection, and business trust (source code, etc.); Transparency, network security, regulation; Product updates and tariff enforcement for the Annex to the WTO Information Technology Agreement. During the negotiations, the main positions of developed countries in the United States, Europe, and Japan are summarized as follows: In terms of cross-border data flow and data localization, the United States, Europe, and Japan advocate prohibiting localization requirements and supporting the free flow of data; Expand products under the Information Technology Agreement and prohibit the application of non national treatment and substantive market access restrictions in computer and telecommunications services; Strengthen the intellectual property protection of source code, and one party shall not require the transfer or use of software source code owned by the other party; The exemption order for electronic transmission shall be permanent, and the exemption scope shall include two aspects: transmission content and electronic transmission services; Protect privacy and advocate government data disclosure.

Ms. Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of Huawei, was temporarily detained by the Canadian authorities on behalf of the United States government while transitioning in Canada. The United States is seeking the extradition of Ms. Meng and faces charges from the Federal Court for the Eastern District of New York that she is violating U.S. export controls and financial fraud. It is clear to all that the United States is suppressing China's high-tech enterprises, the "the Belt and Road" initiative proposed by China, and China's backbone in the new round of economic globalization. However, based on this repression, it is commonly believed that countries under the rule of law are carrying out it in the guise of law - the United States led "regulation" is ubiquitous through its special "long arm jurisdiction". Many enterprises are facing the issue of ex post litigation relief, and therefore are in a very passive position. In the new situation where the United States is implementing its trade protectionism on a large scale, compliance risk management for all Chinese enterprises will eventually move towards legal risk management. In order for Chinese enterprises to become bigger and stronger, it is important to systematically learn and understand the long arm governing laws of the United States in addition to being filled with righteous indignation. The Chinese government should also reasonably control compliance risks and accelerate its participation and leadership in the construction of the rule system in the new era of globalization.

Editor's Note: During the fifteen years from 1986 to 2001, after arduous negotiations, China joined the World Trade Organization. Wang Lei, a lawyer from Gaopeng Law Firm, participated fully and deeply in the negotiation from the beginning, and was a legal person in the negotiation delegation. This year marks the 20th anniversary of China's accession to the WTO. Gao Pengsuo specially invited Lawyer Wang to write a series of articles to recall the details of those eventful years. We also take this opportunity to pay tribute to those who stood at the forefront of reform and opening up and worked hard in the negotiations for the national interests.