The Benelux Chamber of Commerce in China, The Swiss Chamber of Commerce in China and the British Chamber of Commerce in China
are delighted to invite you to a Business Event on June 29 2011:
Social Insurance Law
On Friday July 1 China’s first ever social insurance law will come into effect. One of the key changes contained in Article 97 will be the inclusion of foreigners in the Chinese Social insurance system for the first time. This has raised concern among European businesses on the additional costs of hiring or posting foreign workers. On June 10 the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) released a draft regulation on how this article will be implemented. However many questions were left unanswered such as how foreigners could access benefits they had accrued after leaving China and the precise way bilateral agreements could mitigate the threat of ‘double social insurance’ liability.
Grayson Clarke, Bill Birmingham and Steve Barker of the EU-China Social Security Reform project will discuss the impact of the new law including its more general importance to Chinese economic and social development and potential impact on employers. Specifically with regard to the inclusion of foreigners this event will try to find an answer to the following questions:
• What is the difference between the current situation vs new law for an expatriate on a local contract and an expatriate on a foreign contract?
• Are all 5 insurance schemes (for pension, medical, maternity, work injury, and unemployment) mandatory?
• What is the position for foreigners receiving their pension if they leave China?
• What happens if companies fail through ignorance or negligence to comply with the rules?
• Where can people get information on what, where and when to pay?
• …
Grayson Clarke
Grayson Clarke is the Fund Management Expert of the EUCSS Project whose core international consulting experience has been gained in 20 countries in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa over the last 18 years. In his work for the EUCSS project Grayson has produced major papers on improving financial governance redesigning Chinese pensions, stopping fraud and raising the pooling level all available on the EUCSS website. He has appeared on CCTV and China Radio International speaking about housing and Social security matters and has written for Caijing magazine and regular opinion pieces for China Daily.
William Birmingham
William Birmingham is the Pension and Work Injury Expert of the EUCSS Project. He has advised on all aspects of pension development including transferability, benefit adjustment, the introduction of rural pensions and relationship between civil, public and mainstream enterprise pensions. He previously worked for 25 years as a civil servant in the UK Department of Social Security in the fields of state and supplementary pension’s policy, state provision for sickness and disability, social insurance contribution liability and the application of European Union obligations to UK social insurance. He was subsequently Head of Research for the National Association of Pension Funds. He is a regular contributor to the Beijing Hour show on China Radio International.
Steve Barker
Steve Barker is the EUCSS Project international technical assistance expert responsible for looking at all aspects of unemployment insurance, labour market and other related issues. He is also the Deputy Team Leader of the International Technical Assistance Team. Prior to his overseas career Steve worked in central government in the UK. From 2000 to 2002 based at Her Majesty’s Treasury in the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) where he was responsible for advice and guidance for senior civil servants on best practice in procurement. From 2003 to 2006 he was team leader of the DFID Unemployment Insurance Project. He has appeared on CCTV and CRI talking about social security and labour market issues.