Direct overseas listing of Chinese enterprises: A clear regulatory framework and explicit regulatory requirements are needed

Abstract

With the practice of direct overseas listing of Chinese enterprises, a regulatory system based on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Company Law (1993) and constituted by the relevant regulations, rules and other regulatory documents has gradually been established and constantly improved. Under the new landscape, Chinese enterprises have provided the main part of listing resources for some overseas stock exchanges. However, there exist a lot of problems in China’s domestic regulation, which could be substantial obstacles for direct overseas listing of Chinese enterprises. In order to protect China’s national economic security and the general interests, and ensure the compliant oper­ation of H-share companies, it is necessary to regulate direct overseas listing to a certain extent. However, the exercise of domestic regulatory power shall be self-restrictive and respect the functions of market force. As such, there is a pressing need to refine the regulatory framework, clarify the regulatory standards, and improve the regulatory efficiency and increase the transparency of regulatory process.