1. 《关于强化知识产权保护的意见》发布

2019年11月24日，中共中央办公厅、国务院办公厅印发了《关于强化知识产权保护的意见》,自发布之日起实施。

《意见》包括99条重点措施，立足现实发展需要，从知识产权保护严、大、快、同四个方面着手，对新时代强化知识产权保护作出了系统谋划和整体部署。主要包括：一是强化制度约束，确立知识产权严保护政策导向。包括加大侵权假冒行为惩戒力度、严格规范证据标准、强化案件执行措施、完善新业态新领域保护制度等。二是加强社会监督共治，构建知识产权大保护工作格局。包括加大执法监督力度、建立健全社会共治模式、加强专业技术支撑等。三是优化协作衔接机制，突破知识产权快保护关键环节。包括优化授权确权维权衔接程序、加强跨部门跨区域办案协作、推动简易案件和纠纷快速处理，加强知识产权快保护机构建设等。四是健全涉外沟通机制，塑造知识产权同保护优越环境。包括更大力度加强国际合作、健全与国内外权利人沟通渠道、加强海外维权援助服务，健全协调和信息获取机制等。《意见》还提出要从加强基础平台建设、加强专业人才队伍建设、加大资源投入和支持力度等方面加强基础条件建设，有力支撑知识产权保护工作。

Public Comments Requested on Measures for Assessment of Systemically Important Banks

On November 26, the People's Bank of China (PBC) and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) jointly issued the Measures for the Assessment of Systemically Important Banks (Exposure Draft) for public comments, and comments may be submitted until December 11, 2019.

With a total of 20 articles in four chapters, the Measures mainly clarify relevant issues as follows: First, for the assessment purpose and scope, a list of the systemically important banks (SIB) will be released upon identification every year, based on which the differential supervision over SIBs should be conducted so as to reduce the possibility of material risks. Second, for the assessment process, the scope of banks participating in the assessment, data collection from banks under assessment, calculation of systemically importance scores, supervisory judgment, and determination and disclosure of the list are specified. Third, for the assessment methods, the quantitative assessment indicators should be used to calculate the systemic importance scores of participating banks, and on this basis, regulatory judgment will be made in light of some other quantitative and qualitative information analyses. It is noted that the first-level indicators for quantitative assessment include "scale", "relevance", "substitutability" and "complexity", each of which accounts for 25% and contains several secondary indicators thereunder. Fourth, the threshold value and grouping are defined. The banks reaching the certain score are to be included in a preliminary list of SIBs, and they will be further categorized for differentiated regulation. Fifth, the division of duties is stipulated. To be specific, the CBIRC should formulate the data submission templates and data entry instructions as required by the Measures, collect data from participating banks, and calculate the systemic importance scores. The PBC and the CBIRC may make a supervisory judgment proposal that the banks whose scores are below 300 points be put on the list of SIBs. After being submitted to the Financial Stability and Development Committee under the State Council for deliberation, the list should be jointly released by the PBC and the CBIRC.

Public Comments Requested on the Interim Measures for Administration of Insurance Asset Management Products

With a total of 67 articles in eight chapters, the Measures include the following: Chapter I General Provisions contains the business definition, basic principles, independence of product property, prohibition of rigid redemption, etc. Chapter II Product Parties specifies qualifications and duties of insurance asset management institutions, custodians, and professional service institutions, and details the requirements for investment consultants. Chapter III Product Issuance and Establishment clarifies the positioning, forms and categories of products, and regulates the product registration, distribution, duration management, termination and liquidation, and other process. Chapter IV Product Investment and Management contains the prohibition of the passageway business, elimination of multi-layer nesting, look-through supervision, quota management for non-standardized debt assets investment, etc. Chapter V Information Disclosure and Reporting specifies the relevant participants’ obligations of information disclosure and reporting. Chapter VI Risk Management calls for the enhanced primary responsibilities of insurance asset management institutions, clarifies the persons responsible for risks and the risk reserve mechanism, strengthens the internal and external audit supervision of institutions, and regulates the related party transactions, among others. Chapter VII Supervision and Administration covers the supervisory measures against and administrative penalties for relevant institutions and responsible persons. Chapter VIII is Supplemental Provisions.

Specification for National Civil and Administrative Legal Aid Services Issued

Lately, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) issued the Specification for National Civil and Administrative Legal Aid Services, effective from the date of issuance.

The Specification applies to the organization and implementation as well as supervision and administration of the national civil and administrative legal aid, which provides the service principles, service types, legal advice, representation in litigation cases, representation in non-litigation cases, and service quality control, and clarifies the list of materials to be placed on file for filing and closing cases. The Specification mainly includes: (1) specifying its main contents and application scope; (2) listing industry standards and departmental regulations cited in the text; (3) stating such terms and definitions applicable to the standard as civil and administrative legal aid, civil and administrative legal aid agency, person undertaking legal aid, and person receiving legal aid; (4) clarifying the principles of fairness, legality, uniformity, and efficiency; (5) defining the types of civil and administrative legal aid services, namely legal consultation, representation in litigation cases, and representation in non-litigation cases; (6) regulating the service roles, service processes, and service standards for different types of civil and administrative legal aid services; (7) In order to enhance the supervision over the quality of civil and administrative legal aid services, Chapter IX of the Specification puts forward the basic requirements and main forms of quality control, and clarifies the concrete requirements for supervision and guidance, court trial observation, soliciting opinions, quality assessment, collective discussion, case return visit, satisfaction evaluation, and other matters.