Draft law on foreign firms to ensure fair competition

With the ongoing second session of the 13th National People's Congress reviewing the draft law on foreign investment over the weekend - the third review in three months - the draft is highly likely to sail through legislative scrutiny and be signed into law after being submitted to the top legislature for review on Friday.

Once approved, which seems most likely because most of the controversial issues have been addressed, the draft foreign investment law will become what many believe to be the most important legislation in China since it entered the World Trade Organization in 2001. It will replace the three existing laws regulating foreign-invested entities now - the Chinese-foreign equity joint ventures law, Chinese-foreign cooperative joint ventures law, and wholly foreign-owned enterprises law.

More importantly, the draft law represents the "fundamental change" in the country's approach to foreign investment administration, which will greatly increase "openness, transparency and predictability".