CHINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Greg Hallahan, Amanda Rasmussen and Kristine Kwok, Secretariat
Financial information While corporate affiliations are often straightfor - ward to identify, financial information publicly disclosed in corporate records is limited. Companies are required to submit the following financial information to the SAMR: • total assets; • total liabilities; • guarantees provided to third parties; • total owners’ equity;
Litigation records From January 2014, judgments issued by all county, district, provincial, city and national courts, numbering approximately 3,500 courts, were required to be published on the Supreme People’s Court website within seven days of a decision. Exceptions were provided for cases that referenced state secrets, involved minors or divorce proceedings, were resolved via media - tion, or to protect personal privacy on a case- by-case basis. Judgments include the parties to a dispute or prosecution, as well as sufficient personal identi - fiers such as age, place of origin and business affiliation to identify them. The background and nature of a case is documented, followed by the decision of the judge and their legal justifica - tions, as well as the penalties issued, such as fines or sentencing terms. In 2014, approximately seven million judgments were published, as well as 2.5 million historic judgments dating back to 1998 (most heard in 2012–13), according to a review of the Supreme People’s Court judgments database. In that year, most judgments related to civil cases (approxi - mately 60%) and the remainder comprised crim - inal cases (25%), enforcement orders (10%), and “administrative” or “state compensation” cases involving disputes over government decisions (for example over a patent application by the China National Intellectual Property Adminis - tration or a work safety issue on a government worksite). An increasing number of judgments were released each year until a peak of approximately 23 million judgments in 2020. Over the previous six years the proportion of civil cases published increased to approximately 70% of cases, and the number of criminal cases published dropped
• total operating revenues; • primary business revenue; • total profit; • net profit; • total taxes; and • number of employees.
Most companies elect to keep this financial data private, as they are entitled to under the regula - tions. Many do disclose the number of employees they report to the SAMR. This number is a help - ful indicator of the size of a company although should not be assumed to be exact, given that it is not uncommon for companies to employ staff on a quasi-informal basis, to avoid paying statu - tory employer contribution pension and welfare payments. Shenzhen and Shanghai listed companies are required to disclose their IPO and bond prospec - tuses, interim and annual reports, consolidated financial statements and material transaction and status updates. The Shenzhen and Shang - hai stock exchange websites allow searches to determine if an individual or entity has a sub- stantial equity holding (more than 5% of total shares in a listed company).
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