China: The Regulations on Employee Representative Congress in Shanghai was amended

The Standing Committee of Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress amended the Regulations on Employee Representative Congress in Shanghai (the “New Regulations”). The New Regulations included new and revised 13 clauses on the principle to further improve protection for employees’ interests and encourage employees’ participation in the employee representative congress (the “ERC”). Specifically, the New Regulations clarify that employers should solicit opinions and suggestions from employees through the ERC or other manners when the employers decide on restructuring, merger, separation, relocation, shutdown, dissolution, bankruptcy or other significant matters. In addition, Shanghai municipal and each district’s human resources and social security departments, as well as trade unions of the same level, have the power to inspect employers’ implementation of the ERC system. If employers violate the New Regulations and fail to correct within the prescribed time limit, Shanghai Municipal Federation of Trade Unions has the right to disclose the said information on the Shanghai Municipal Public Credit Information Service Platform.  The New Regulations came into effect on January 1, 2018.