On The Perfection Of The Rules On Counteracting Unjustified Extraterritorial Application Of Foreign Legislation And Other Measures

In recent years,the United States,as the world’s largest economy,launched economic sanctions frequently against other countries by taking advantage of its dominant position in the US dollar settlement system.In addition,it has also extended its long arm to the third country with normal trade exchanges with the sanctioned country,that is,the so-called"secondary sanctions".Theoretically,the secondary sanctions of the United States violate the principles of sovereign equality,national jurisdiction and non-interference in internal affairs.Its secondary sanctions against third countries violate international law and the basic norms of international relations,which are strongly protested by countries all over the world.In order to deal with the secondary sanctions of the United States,countries and regions such as the United Kingdom,Australia and the European Union have introduced corresponding blocking legislation to safeguard the economic interests of relevant entities in the country or region.In recent years,the United States has launched secondary sanctions against Chinese entities frequently,which not only caused heavy losses to Chinese entities,but also seriously damaged China’s national interests.Therefore,drawing on the relevant legislative experience of other countries,the Ministry of Commerce issued The Rules on Counteracting Unjusrified Extra-territorial Application of Foreign Legislation and Other Measures(hereinafter referred to as "The Blocking Rules")in January 2021.Looking at the introduction of the Blocking Rules,it is of great importance to protect the national interests and the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens,legal persons and other organizations.First,It shows China’s solemn stand against US sub sanctions;Secondly,it marks the preliminary construction of China’s legal system;Thirdly,it provides a legal basis for Chinese enterprises to deal with the secondary sanctions of the United States and maintains the normal trade between Chinese enterprises and other countries.Through comparative research,it can be found that the Blocking Rules draw lessons from the experience of blocking legal systems in Britain,Canada,the European Union and other countries and regions,and establish specific provisions such as reporting system,prohibition of compliance system,exception exemption system,punishment system and relief system.These systems constitute the core content of the Blocking Rules and provide strong institutional support for China to block the secondary sanctions of the United States.Of course,there are some problems in the Blocking Rules.First,the content of the Blocking Rules is too broad,which is specifically reflected in the lack of specific provisions on the working mechanism,the conditions and procedures for applying for exemption are not specific enough,the government’s support is vague,and the object of recovery and the scope of claim need to be clarified;Second,the Blocking Rules may put relevant enterprises in a disadvantageous situation,which is specifically reflected in increasing the burden on enterprises and making enterprises face a dilemma.Third,the scope of application of the Blocking Rules is unclear and the subject of application is narrow,which is embodied in the following aspects:the clarity of the scope of application is low and the subject of protection is narrow;Fourth,the Blocking Rules are facing implementation difficulties,mainly because of the low legal rank of the blocking measures,the lack of severity of the punishment system,and the contradiction between the implementation of punishment measures and the protection of enterprise interests.In view of the above problems,it is necessary to improve and revise the Blocking Rules accordingly,improve the implementation rules of the working mechanism,refine the specific contents of the blocking system,clarify what is "necessary" support,"the judgment standard of "major loss",the scope of claim,the conditions for approving exemption and other contents,and clarify and appropriately expand the scope of application of the Blocking Rules;Flexible in the process of law enforcement,but in order to ensure the implementation effect of the Blocking Rules,we should learn from the EU’s law enforcement experience and give necessary punishment to the entities that violate Blocking Rules;Improve the legal status of The Blocking Rules,raise the legal hierarchy of The Blocking Rules as soon as possible,and earnestly safeguard the rights of relevant subjects to receive corresponding compensation;In addition,enterprises should strengthen the study of the Blocking Rules,strengthen compliance review,reasonably arrange their own behavior,and actively safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.