2015年1月19日，中国商务部公布了《外国投资法》（草案），以公开征求意见。它引起了外国投资者、行业协会、法律从业者和其他国家决策者的广泛讨论。意见反馈截止日为2月17日。虽然看到《外国投资法》的最终版本可以还需要时间，但它说明中国政府致力于改革开放、促进外来投资和规范外商的投资行为。

新法一经颁布，将取代现有的外资三法，即《中外合资经营企业法》、《外资企业法》和《中外合作经营企业法》。与现有外资法相比，草案的显著特点是它将从根本上改变中国的外国投资结构。

·明确“外国投资”的定义。草案把“外国投资”的范围扩大到公司或投资人所从事的七类活动（第二章），而且“无论投资者是否是在中国注册，也无论注册者是不是中国人”。这取代了从前简单划一的标准。过去几年外资大量流入，情况日益复杂，草案是对这一现象的积极的回应。草案还首次将“协议控制（VIE）”概念纳入外国投资。根据第15条，外国投资还包括“通过合同、信托等方式控制境内企业或者持有境内企业权益”。然而是否算外国投资，要取决于对实际控制人的审查。第45条补充，如果受中国投资者控制，从事限制实施目录范围内的投资，那么就可以申请视作中国投资者的投资。

·简化外国投资准入程序。草案规定除了被列入“负面清单”的投资（第三章），所有投资者都享受国民待遇。也就是说，如果投资不在“负面清单”内，投资者不需要向商务部的地方机构申请批准。他们只需像国内投资者一样按相同程序到地方工商局注册投资即可。这种做法出自上海保税区试点的实践。2013年创建的上海自贸区，是了解如何进一步开放中国市场和稳定高效地实现金融自由化的先行者。两年后出台的草案与建立上海自贸区的初衷一样，都是中国政府为简化外国投资程序、继续促进对华投资而作出的努力。

·强调外国投资监管。由于草案规定，绝大多数外国投资不再需要向地方工商局报告，因此将推出新的信息报告系统（第五章）。草案规定外国投资者对下列情况有覆行信息报告的义务：（1）新的投资；（2）投资事项变更；（3）定期报告。建立信息报告系统和简化准入程序，意味着对投资从严格审批向事中事后适度监管的重大转变。

·提供透明的友好型投资环境。草案的另一个特点是既强调促进外来投资也强调对外国投资者的保护。第六章显示，为吸引外资，对特殊区域将提供政策支持和行业政策。同时，将设立专门机构实施外资管理，向外国投资者提供信息和咨询服务，促进与海外投资促进机构的交流，协助外国投资者解决纠纷。另外，第七章明确了外国投资者的权利，包括征收、赔偿和转移。值得注意的是，草案显示与外国投资有关的法律法规和司法判决将以透明方式公布，外国投资方将有机会参与外国投资法的规则制定过程。

草案的这些特点表明，中国政府承诺在21世纪建立稳定、透明、可预期的投资环境。这符合中国促进外资的一贯做法，也是对十八大四中全会“适应对外开放不断深化，完善涉外法律法规体系，促进构建开放型经济新体制”这一国家计划的贯彻实施。

对国家安全审查制度的批评声已经开始出现。一些外国投资者对可能被排除在中国市场之外表示担心。但草案第四章规定了申请国家安全审查程序的详细手续，安审联席会议将依照程序行使权力。另外，第57条列出了联席会议进行国家安全审查的考虑因素。在这一系统下，受审查的企业只限于某些行业。所以，国家安全审查制度会影响所有外国投资者是夸大其词。最后，中国并不是第一个采用国家安全审查制度的国家。美国也有同样的制度，并由美国外国投资委员会进行审查。国家建立审查制度是一种普遍做法，东道国有权判定外国投资是否危害国家的安全。

总之，草案不仅是中国重构外国投资法律制度的重要一步，也是建立透明、稳定、可预期投资环境的重要举措。实行开放政策30年后，中国进入了规范市场活动、为国内生产者和外国投资者双方提供健康竞争环境的时代。外国投资者或许能放弃偏见，把它作为进一步介入中国市场的巨大机遇，并让改革进程获益。

On January 19, 2015, the Ministry of Commerce of China (“MOFCOM”) issued a draft of Foreign Investment Law (“The Draft Law”) to solicit public comments. It attracted extensive discussion from foreign investors, industry associations, law practitioners, and policy makers in other countries. The comments were due on February 17th. It may take a while to see the final version of the Foreign Investment Law, but it demonstrates the Chinese government's efforts to engage in openness and reform, to promote foreign investment, and to regulate foreign investment behavior.

The Draft Law, once promulgated, will replace the current three foreign investment laws: The Chinese-Foreign Equity Joint Ventures, Law on Foreign Capital Enterprises, and Law on Chinese-Foreign Contractual Joint Ventures. Compared with the existing foreign investment law, the Draft has remarkable features that fundamentally change the structure of Chinese foreign investment.

•  To clarify the definition of “foreign investment.” The Draft law broadens the scope of “foreign investment” by offering 7 types of activities taken by a company or an investor (Chapter 2), to substitute for the simple and straightforward standard, “whether the investor is registered in China or is not a Chinese citizen.” It is a positive response to the increasingly complicated situations with tremendous foreign investment inflow in past years. The Draft Law, for the first time, incorporates the concept of VIE (“Variable Interest Entity”) into the foreign investment. According to Article 15, the foreign investment also includes investments which control or hold companies in China by the means of contracts or entrust.” However, whether or not it is foreign investment is also under scrutiny by whom it is controlled. Article 45 adds that if controlled by Chinese investors, it will apply to authority as Chinese investors when its investment is in the list of restricted implementation catalogue.

• To simplify foreign investment admission process. The Draft simplifies foreign investment admission process by granting national treatment to all investors except the ones whose investments are listed on the “negative list” (Chapter 3).  That is to say, investors are not required to apply for the approval of local branches of MOFCOM, if their investment is not listed in the “negative list.” They only need to follow similar procedures as domestic investors do to register their investment with local Administration for Industry and Commerce (“AIC”). This approach refers to the practice of Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone (“Shanghai FTZ”) which was first established in 2013 to as a pioneer to find out how to further open Chinese market and achieved financial liberalization in a stable and efficient manner. The Draft Law, which comes out two years later, consistent with the initiative of establishing Shanghai FTZ, is part of China's government's efforts to simplify procedures of foreign investment and further facilitate investment in China.

• To address supervision on foreign investment. A new information reporting system is introduced （Chapter 5), given that most of foreign investments are no longer required to report to local branches of MOFCOM under the Draft Law. The Draft Law imposes foreign investors obligations to report their information in any of the following situation: (1) new investment; (2) the change of investment and (3) periodic report. The filing information reporting system, combined with the simplified admission process, implies a significant shift from the approach of strict approval to the approach of moderate supervision during and after investment.

• To offer a transparent and investment-friendly environment. Another feature of the Draft Law is its emphasis on promoting foreign investment as well as providing protection for foreign investors. In Chapter 6, it states that policy support and industrial policies for certain region are offered to attract foreign investment. Also, a specialized institution will be established as the organization to achieve the governance on foreign investment, to provide information and consultancy for foreign investors, to facilitate its communication with overseas corresponding parties, and to help foreign investors settle disputes. In addition, Chapter 7 clarifies rights for foreign investors, including expropriation, compensation, and transfer. It is noteworthy that it addresses the transparency (Article 115) to disclose laws and judgments related to foreign investment and to grant chances to foreign investors to participate in foreign investment law's rule-making procedures.

The features of the Draft Law demonstrate China's government engagement to establish a stable, transparent, and predictable investment environment in 21st century. It is consistent with China's usual practices to promote foreign investment. And it is also an implementation of the national plan stated at the Third Plenary of 18th CPC Central Committee to “adapt into the deepening opening-up, improving foreign-related laws and regulations and promote construction of new open economic system.”

Criticism of the national security review system has already arisen. Some foreign investors expressed their concerns on the possibility that they might be excluded from Chinese market. However, Chapter 4 of the Draft Law provides detailed procedures on the national security review process for approval. The Reviewing Committee shall follow procedures to exercise its authority. In addition, Article 57 also speculates factors that the Reviewing Committee considers in national security reviews. Companies under the scrutiny of authority under the system are only limited to certain industries. Therefore, it is overstated that the national security review system would affect all foreign investors. The last but not the least, China is not the first country that introduced a national security review system. The U.S. has similar system and conducts review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”). It is a common practice among states to set up a national security review and it is to the host country's discretion to decide if foreign investment harms their national security.

In all, the Draft Law is not only an important step for China to restructure its foreign investment legal systems, but also a cutting-edge move to building up a transparent, stable and predictable investment environment. After a 30-year open policy, China enters into a period of time to regulate market activities and to provide both domestic producers and foreign investors a healthy and competitive environment. Foreign investors may be open-minded and embrace it a great opportunity to further involve into China's market as well as benefit this evolution.