Global vision, private chat with Carlo D'Andrea

The People's Republic of China is the world's largest e-commerce market, with over 800 million Chinese netizens on a daily basis and e-commerce transactions reaching 11.76 trillion RMB (equivalent to 1.6 trillion euro) in 2020. These are just a few of the reasons that have driven us to write this new practical guide. In this episode, we will outline the main content of the book and explain why it...

Geo-political tensions, strong policy moves and a global pandemic have given rise to shifts in the private equity (PE) market in China for foreign investors, with industry sources reporting a steady decline in new international investors or even divestiture of China holdings. However, there may be light at the end of the tunnel. Let's discuss it today. Website : https://www.carlodandrea.it Twitter...

The new Personal Information Protection Law has already entered into effect from Nov 1st, 2021. With personal information data increasingly a hot button topic globally amid cybersecurity investigations into popular apps' illegal collection and use of users' personal information, all eyes are fixed on this new Law which will govern the personal data of China's 989 million internet users. Let's disc...

Since last year, a string of Chinese internet heavyweights, including Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent, JD and Suning.com, have been investigated or fined for alleged monopolistic behavior. On October 8 th , 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), China's top market regulator, imposed a huge fine  on food delivery giant Meituan for its monopolistic behavior.  Big internet platfo...

Last year, Tencent announced plans to merge Huya and Douyu, however, on July 10th, 2021, The State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR") stated that it would block the merger on antitrust grounds. This is a substantial development, as it is the first time the Chinese government has blocked a merger in the tech sector for antitrust reasons, lets discuss it today! Website : https://www.carlo...

With the second version of the draft Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL or the Draft) period for public consultation now closed, and with personal information data increasingly a hot button topic globally amid cybersecurity investigations into popular apps' illegal collection and use of users' personal information, all eyes are fixed on the upcoming third (and final) draft, which will gover...

According to Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation by almost a decade. The digital era has come to be. Globally, there has been a push toward more robust rules to protect consumer data and privacy, as well as to safeguard important information from corruption, compromise or loss, and China is no exception. Indeed, China's regulatory framework on data...

The renewable energy sector of India has been ranked as the third most attractive renewable energy market in the world by the 57th Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index released by Ernst and Young. With the second largest population in the world, India will have an energy demand of approximately 15,820 Terawatt-Hour ("TwH") by 2040 and unsurprisingly, renewable energy shall be catering to...

On June 1st, 2021, the revised Copyright Law came into force. Over the past ten years, the three revised amendments clearly outline the target to create a new law aligned with the digital economy, with an eye on both the global marketplace and the future. The new CL fully strengthens the protection of copyright owners and creators in the new digital age. Let's discuss it today! Website: https://ww...

In the past two decades, the augmentation in the Artificial Intelligence and advanced disruptive technologies sector has played a key role in upscaling the social and economic development in the United Arab Emirates. The AI sector of the UAE has vectored a myriad of advanced projects such as the creation of the Dubai Internet City, the usage of the renewable city in Masdar City and the Emirates Ma...

This exclusive 3 - day IDI exhibition will focus on the topic of "Style and Sustainability" and will showcase a splendid collection of internationally acclaimed Italian brands, putting the spotlight on their innovative projects and products combining sustainability with the quality of Italian style. This year's edition, the third in South-West China, will see the participation of top-tier brands o...

I'd like to announce that I have formally submitted my candidacy as National Vice President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC) at the upcoming election on May 27th, 2021 in Beijing. After four years as Chairman of the board of the EUCCC Shanghai Chapter I have realized that there is still a lot more work to be done in the areas of market access barriers, equal treatment and...

With the exponential development of the financial and technology sectors, the popularity of virtual currencies or cryptocurrencies has significantly increased in India and throughout the globe. As of March 2021, market experts estimated that the range of cryptocurrency holders in India varies from approximately 6 million to 10 million with their holdings in the form of cryptocurrencies amounting t...

In March 2020, Anthony Levandowski, a leader in the self-driving car technology in Silicon Valley, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for trade secret theft. He had previously helped develop Google's self-driving cars and was accused of stealing Google's trade secrets and using them for Otto, a company he founded after leaving the tech giant. The Levandowski case can be classified as one of the...

In general, digital currency can be divided into three distinct types, cryptocurrency, virtual currency and central bank digital currency ("CBDC"). Nowadays, when people talk about digital currency in China, the focus is shifting towards CBDC, which is issued by the central bank of the country. Let's discuss it further today! Website: https://www.carlodandrea.it Twitter: https://twitter.com/DAndre...

In China, maintaining good health is a top priority, the country even advocates national fitness, regardless of age, in order to improve both national fitness and health levels. Statistics show that about 400 million Chinese people have daily fitness and exercise habits. In this context, China's fitness market is also booming, especially under the influence of the COVID-19 outbreak last year, peop...

The labor market never stops evolving, especially during this critical period of the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy. Due to the steady decline in the job market and the huge increase in the demand for food and grocery delivery services, the employment rate for this sector has grown by 55% in comparison to data from 2019, according to the B2C e-Commerce Observatory. In light of the above, it is not sur...

In the past 5 years, the Government of India has introduced a series of reforms to boost the development of the manufacturing sector. Along with continued policy support, high demand potential, governmental support on the improvement of infrastructure, relaxations in relation to FDI, industry specific policies, incentives and subsidies, it's no wonder that an increased number of foreign investors...

Russian Sberbank (Sber), the largest Russian banking and financial services company with more than 100 million customers, has recently announced its plans to issue its own digital currency named Sbercoin. The bank has also sent an application to the Central Bank of Russia for the approval of Sber's own blockchain-based digital asset service platform at the beginning of 2021. Should the approval pr...

On February 3rd, the Shanghai police announced that after three months of careful investigation they had arrested 14 members of Renren ( The "Chinese Netflix" ) a well-known fan-subtitle group engaged in copyright infringement. The police force brought Renren to justice for their extraordinarily large-scale acts of trans-provincial copyright infringement of film and television works. Heated debate...

Since 1982, Italy has changed their Prime Minister 21 times, in today's episode we welcome Mr. Mario Draghi as the new Prime Minister of Italy and we discuss the reasons that brought about this change in the Italian government. We will speak about the Chinese New Year of the Ox traditions and also about the ending of Trump's second impeachment procedure and much more. We hope you have a good time...

On February 2nd, 2021, Tiktok purported that it had filed litigation in Beijing's Intellectual Court against Tencent over alleged monopolistic behavior, with a claim amounting to a sum of RMB 90 million. As one of the most popular Chinese short video apps, Tiktok has approximately 600 million daily active users. Tencent, as one of the biggest social media giants, is the operator of both QQ and WeC...

With over 560 Million internet users, India is the second largest online market in the world, ranked only behind China. In its recent report titled 'Global Internet: E-Commerce's Steepening Curve', Goldman Sach's has reported that the growth rate of the e-commerce sector of India for each of the next four years, would outdo the equivalent of developed countries like the US, the UK, countries in Eu...

Litigation between these two parties tells an all too familiar story for foreign brands investing in the Chinese market, in which opportunistic counterfeiters take advantage of the reputation of a brand, imitate their products and ultimately deceive the public with products of inferior quality, which may bring safety hazard to final users.

After seven years of negotiations (a total of 35 rounds of talks between the parties), the EU and China have reached political approval of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investments (CAI) on December 30th 2020. Lets examine the main aspects.