Starting in January, New Rules in at Least Seven Areas Could Change Your Life

They all take effect in January.

A new year brings a fresh run of regulations. We've gathered the new rules that take effect in the first month of 2018, covering food, the environment, travel, the internet, cars, finance and energy. All of them touch daily life, some more than others.

Food

The China Food and Drug Administration's Administrative Measures for Food Safety Supervision of Online Catering Services took effect on January 1, 2018, requiring every food-delivery vendor to have a physical storefront. Article 4 reads, in full: online catering service providers must have physical business premises and must have lawfully obtained a food business license. Article 27 adds that violations of Article 4 will be punished by county-level or higher food and drug administration departments under Article 122 of the Food Safety Law. For the many small operations that sell only through delivery apps, the rule pulls them out of a gray area.

The first batch of infant formula approved under the country's new registration system goes on sale on January 1, 2018. The China Food and Drug Administration began applying the Measures for the Administration of Registration of Infant Formula Product Recipes — the "new registration system" — on October 1, 2016, to vet infant formula recipes. As of December 29, 2017, 940 recipes had been approved, with Beingmate, Feihe and Yashili (Mengniu) each clearing more than 30. Foreign formula that enters the country through cross-border e-commerce won a longer transition period, and stays outside the registration system until the end of 2018.

Where You Live

The Environmental Protection Tax Law of the People's Republic of China took effect on January 1, 2018. It spells out how the scope of "other solid waste" is decided, what counts as a centralized urban or rural sewage treatment site, the conditions and standards for tax reductions, and how tax authorities and environmental protection departments are to work together. Localities have now published their own rates within the permitted range for air and water pollutants. Beijing set the highest: 12 yuan per pollution unit for taxable air pollutants and a flat 14 yuan per pollution unit for taxable water pollutants, both at the statutory ceiling.

The Ministry of Culture's Public Libraries Law of the People's Republic of China took effect on January 1, 2018. Public libraries must let the public search documents and information and borrow materials free of charge; open reading rooms, study rooms and other public spaces; and run free lectures, reading campaigns, training and exhibitions, along with any other free services the state designates.

China's first law on nuclear safety, the Nuclear Safety Law of the People's Republic of China, took effect on January 1, 2018. It covers imported nuclear facilities, the safety standards system and compensation for nuclear damage, among other matters.

If You're Traveling

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange's Notice on Regulating Large Cash Withdrawal Transactions on Bank Cards Overseas caps cash withdrawals abroad on bank cards held in your own name (supplementary cards included) at 100,000 yuan a year and 10,000 yuan a day. Anyone who breaks the annual limit loses the right to withdraw cash overseas with a domestic bank card for the rest of that year and all of the next. The old rule capped overseas withdrawals at 100,000 yuan per card per year.

Under the China National Tourism Administration's Measures for the Administration of Tour Guides, from January 1, 2018 a tour guide's credential becomes an electronic ID, stored as data on the guide's phone or other device. Tourists, scenic-area staff and law enforcement officers can check a guide's identity by scanning the QR code on it. The old IC-card credentials were retired on October 31, 2017. The measures also list eleven things guides may not do on the job, including changing an itinerary without permission, tricking or forcing tourists into spending, and asking for tips.

The (Trial) Measures for Credit Management in the Civil Aviation Industry entered trial use on January 1, 2018. They call for a single nationwide record of civil-aviation credit information, splitting records of illegal or dishonest conduct into "general dishonest conduct" — the "gray list" — and "severe dishonest conduct," the "blacklist." Records of dishonest organizations and individuals will be fed into the relevant credit systems at the same time.

The United Arab Emirates will let Chinese citizens in without a visa. Under the Memorandum of Understanding on Mutual Visa Exemption for Diplomatic Passport Holders between China and the UAE, revised on December 19, 2017, Chinese citizens holding a valid ordinary Chinese passport need no visa from January 16, 2018 for stays of up to 30 days in the UAE for short-term purposes such as tourism, business, visiting relatives or transit. Anyone going to the UAE to work, settle, report the news or do anything else that requires prior approval from the authorities must still complete the paperwork before entry.

The newly revised Regulations on the Examination and Administration of Maps require that any map — or any product carrying map graphics — that is published, displayed, posted, produced, imported or exported pass an examination before it can be used publicly. That includes atlases, periodicals, textiles, handicrafts and toys. Maps and map-bearing products meant for publication, display or posting overseas must also be submitted for review.

From January 1, 2018, expressway tolls can be invoiced electronically. Under the Implementation Plan for Improving VAT Invoicing for Toll Road Fees, issued jointly by the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation, tolls paid with an ETC card or user card — and money added to an ETC card — can be invoiced as electronic general VAT invoices through the nationwide invoicing service platform.

On the Internet

The platform for reporting military-related online crimes and harmful information, built by the Security Bureau of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Central Military Commission, went live on January 1, 2018. It takes tips about online crimes and harmful information thought to endanger national security or damage national defense interests: stealing and leaking military secrets online, posing as a soldier to defraud people, making up and spreading military rumors, and taking part in online gambling, drug dealing, pornography or other fraud.

Tencent's QQ announced that from January 8, 2018 it will charge a fee to withdraw money from QQ Wallet. Each user gets 1,000 yuan of free withdrawals in total; anything beyond that costs 0.1%, with a minimum charge of 0.1 yuan. WeChat started charging withdrawal fees on March 1, 2016, and Alipay followed on October 12 that year. As far as anyone knows, only UnionPay's Cloud QuickPass still lets you withdraw for free.

On Cars

The People's Bank of China and the China Banking Regulatory Commission have revised the Measures for the Administration of Automobile Loans, changing how much of a car's price a loan can cover. The new ceilings: 80% for personal loans on conventional vehicles and 70% for commercial ones; 85% for personal loans on new-energy vehicles and 75% for commercial ones; and 70% for used cars.

The Notice on Further Strengthening the Implementation of New Standards for Motor Vehicle Driver Examinations adds a task to Subject Two of the driving test from January 1, 2018: pulling up at a barrier and taking the ticket.

The Ministry of Finance's Notice on Reducing the Purchase Tax for Passenger Vehicles with an Engine Displacement of 1.6 Liters or Below, in force since January 1, 2017, has expired. From January 1, 2018, the vehicle purchase tax goes back up from 7.5% to 10%. The formula: purchase tax = new car price (tax included) ÷ 1.17 (the 17% VAT rate) × the purchase tax rate. Starting today, a 200,000-yuan car with an engine under 1.6 liters costs 4,274 yuan more than it did yesterday.

The Technical Conditions for the Safe Operation of Motor Vehicles, issued jointly by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the Standardization Administration of China, requires from January 1, 2018 that every car carry a reflective vest. Every seat in a passenger vehicle must also have a three-point seatbelt, which means the simple two-point belts now used in some rear-center seats no longer pass.

If You Run a Company or Trade Stocks

The Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation's Notice on Continuing VAT Policies for Small and Micro Enterprises keeps two breaks alive to help small and micro firms: from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2020, small-scale VAT taxpayers with monthly sales between 20,000 yuan (inclusive) and 30,000 yuan remain exempt from VAT, and loan contracts between financial institutions and small or micro firms remain exempt from stamp duty.

The State Administration of Taxation announced that from January 1, 2018 the invoice code on general VAT invoices (folded format) grows from 10 digits to 12. The new coding rules: the first digit is 0; digits 2-5 stand for the province, autonomous region, municipality or separately listed city; digits 6-7 for the year; digits 8-10 for the batch; and digits 11-12 for the invoice type and number of copies, where 04 means a two-copy general VAT invoice (folded) and 05 a five-copy one. Unused 10-digit general VAT invoices (folded) can still be used.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission's (Trial) Guidelines for Consolidated Supervision of Financial Asset Management Companies took effect on January 1, 2018. They set capital requirements for asset management companies, add a leverage ratio to measure how much debt a company carries, require groups to count credit risk, market risk and operational risk toward their capital, and tell each company to pick risk-measurement methods that fit its own situation.

The Ministry of Finance adjusted a set of import and export tariffs from January 1, 2018: raising the provisional import tariff on nickel ingots; dropping the provisional import tariffs on waste magnesia brick, waste steel slag, waste mineral slag and similar goods, which return to most-favored-nation rates; scrapping export tariffs on steel products and chlorite; and trimming export tariffs on compound fertilizer, apatite, coal tar, wood chips, ferrosilicochrome and steel billets.

Under the Ministry of Finance's Notice of the State Administration of Taxation on VAT Issues Related to Asset Management Products, VAT-taxable activity that arises while a manager runs an asset management product is taxed at 3%. Asset management products here cover bank wealth-management products, public and private funds, capital trusts and various investment plans. Several managers, including Shanghai's Orient Securities, have already said the products themselves — that is, the investors — will bear the tax, which could push down a product's net value or actual return. Equity funds will feel this change less.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has revised the Law of the People's Republic of China on Promoting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, stressing that "the central government's finance department should establish a dedicated budget line for small and medium-sized enterprises and allocate special funds for their development," and that "regional small and medium-sized banks should actively provide financial services to small and micro enterprises in their localities to promote the development of the real economy."

On Energy

The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration have issued the (Trial) Guiding Opinions on Establishing a Sound System of Minimum and Maximum Coal Inventories, which put a floor and a ceiling on coal stocks for the five years starting January 1, 2018. The floor takes into account each region's coal consumption and self-sufficiency rate and how many days regional power plants' coal stocks have lasted on average in recent years: coal-fired plants in big coal-producing regions such as Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia should in principle hold at least 15 days' worth of coal, and plants elsewhere at least 20 days' worth. The ceiling should in principle stay under twice a plant's floor, though it can rise by another 10 to 20 days during peak summer and winter demand and major events.

Other

Changes the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress made to eight laws, including the Judges Law of the People's Republic of China and the Procurators Law of the People's Republic of China, took effect on January 1, 2018. One new clause: "the state will implement a unified legal-profession qualification examination system for civil servants in administrative organs who, for the first time, review administrative penalty decisions or handle administrative reconsideration, administrative rulings or legal counsel work, to be organized and implemented by the State Council's judicial administration department in consultation with relevant departments."

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has begun applying the Standard for the Application of Building Information Modeling in Construction. It sets out how building information models are to be created, used and managed across detailed design, construction simulation, prefabrication, schedule management, budget and cost management, quality and safety management, construction supervision and completion acceptance — China's first BIM application standard for the construction field.

The same ministry's (Interim) Measures for Credit Management in the Construction Market put construction-market players on a "blacklist" for any of 15 offenses, among them using false materials, obtaining qualifications by fraud, subcontracting illegally, lending out qualifications, drawing administrative penalties, causing a major or worse quality and safety accident, and owing project payments. Blacklisted companies face limits on market access, qualification management and bidding.

Cover image/pixabay