Investment law A draft law on foreign investment has been submitted to a bimonthly session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, which opened on Sunday. Once adopted, the law will replace three existing laws, namely the laws on Chinese-foreign equity joint ventures, nonequity joint ventures* (or contractual joint ventures) and wholly foreign-owned enterprises. Income tax The State Council announced special individual income tax deductions on Saturday, in order to lower the tax burden for those who have certain expenditures. Those expenditures cover six areas, including children’s education, continuing education, health treatment for serious diseases, housing loan interest, rent and elderly care. The new temporary measures will come into effect along with the amended personal individual income tax law on January 1, 2019. For children’s education, an amount of 1,000 yuan (about US$145) will be deducted every month from the parents’ taxable income for each child’s education from preschool all the way to doctoral education, including technical education. Key economic meeting The annual Central Economic Work Conference was held in Beijing last week, as Chinese leaders charted the course for the economy in 2019. The country has “made new steps towards finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects,” according to a statement issued after the meeting. “While fully acknowledging the achievements, we must see that there are new and worrisome developments amid generally steady economic operation,” the statement said. Swine fever Guangdong Province said on Thursday that nearly 2,000 pigs had been culled since the province reported its first African swine fever outbreak. Eleven pigs were confirmed dead after being infected with the viral disease at a farm in Xiangzhou District in the city of Zhuhai, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said. The agriculture and rural affairs department of Guangdong, which neighbors Hong Kong and Macao, said they had culled* 1,940 hogs at the farm and quarantined* the area. (SD-Agencies) | 