Tag: China

While most fair people will argue that the laws against marijuana possession and distribution are harsh in the western world, perhaps we should be thankful for small blessings! While in many countries cannabis seeds and the fully grown crop are perfectly legal, there are many countries with far more authoritarian control that have been known to pass the death penalty for cannabis users, so if you plan on getting high anytime soon, you may want to avoid the following oppressive countries if you value your life!

Used to Have Death Penalty

The Philippines used to enforce the death penalty for a period of 4 years between 2002 and 2006. To qualify for this harsh punishment, you would need to have been carrying over 500 grams of cannabis or over 10 grams of cocaine, ecstasy, morphine, opium or heroin.

Occasional Death Penalty

Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Borneo have all sentenced with the death penalty for marijuana related offences in the past. Although the majority of these punishments were for trafficking offences, it would still be considered unwise to bring in any cannabis to the countries even if its intended for personal use.

Dubai has earned special recognition for its zero tolerance approach to drugs. Earlier this year a 25 year old man was sentenced to four years in prison for a 0.003 gram speck of cannabis found on his shoe, and another man was detained for possessing 3 poppy seeds that had fallen off the top of a bread roll! The country uses incredibly sophisticated technology that can detect trace amounts of various drugs and the mandatory sentence is 4 years, so be especially careful if flying to Dubai!

Frequent Death Penalty

Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Peoples Republic of China all still use the death penalty for varying quantities of drugs including cannabis. Thailand made the headlines when it undertook its war on drugs in which 2,275 people were killed, according to Human Rights Watch and many of these were believed to be extrajudicially executed. For its part, China is estimated to kill 500 people per year over drugs offences according to Amnesty International.

As a bonus nation, heres a surprise inclusion: the USA. While it has never actually been law, in 1996 Speaker Newt Gingrich proposed a mandatory death penalty for second time offences of smuggling 50g or more cannabis into the country. The proposal failed. The 1994 Crime Act states that a possible death sentence for marijuana offences would involve 60,000 kilograms of the drum or 60,000 plants, or bring in a profit of more than $20,000,000 per year. Regardless, the Supreme Court has held that only murder and treason constitutionally can carry the death penalty.

So the next time you want to moan about your government allowing the distribution of cannabis seeds but making it illegal to grow them, just remember that more draconian governments can make your life far more difficult sometimes by ending it! If youre planning on travelling to the Far East, you should think twice before packing the bong and the marijuana!

If you are considering setting up a company in the People’s Republic of China (the PRC) you should be aware that Chinese law is more protective of employees than the laws of many western nations, particularly the United States. The current PRC Labor Law was enacted in 1994; however, a new PRC Labor Contract Law, intended to supplement the Labor Law, is expected to come into force at the end of 2006. This new law contains both bad news and good news from the point of view of the foreign investor; however, in general it further strengthens the protection of employees.

The Bad News:

Severance Pay

Because it is difficult under the PRC Labor Law to terminate open-term labor contracts, employers usually prefer fixed terms. The Labor Contract Law will address this issue by requiring employers to pay severance compensation to employees on fixed term labor contracts if these contracts are not renewed at the end of the contract term. The proposed compensation is at least one month’s salary for each year of service.

Company Rules/Employee Handbooks

No provision in the employee handbook or other rules affecting the employee’s “personal interest” may be put into force absent consultation with the labor union or other employee representative body (under Chinese law, virtually all employees are required to be unionized).

A Shorter Probationary Period

Currently, the probationary period may be agreed between the employer and employee in the labor contract, but the maximum probation may not exceed 6 months. The Labor Contract Law shortens this period to one month for non-technical work and two months for most technical work (the six-month maximum is still retained for senior technical work, probably because these highly skilled employees are seen as less vulnerable in the employment market. This is significant because it easier to fire an employee during the probationary period than afterwards.

Non-Competition Clauses

Foreign invested companies in particular have tended to insert post-employment non-competition clauses into labor contracts in order to protect their intellectual property rights in China’s wild west business atmosphere. Although the Labor Contract Law allows post-employment non-competition restrictions, it will limit their enforceability to two years and restrict the geographical area of applicability to areas where actual competition is likely to occur. In this respect the reform will render Chinese law more similar to US law, since the current Labor Law does not impose any geographic restrictions at all (but does permits a maximum duration of up to three years). The Labor Contract Law goes even further, however, by requiring the employer buy a non-competition clause by paying a minimum compensation equal to the employee’s annual salary upon termination of the labor contract. It is still unclear what, if any compensation will be due the employee if the period of restriction is less than a year.

Contract Interpretation

Any ambiguous term in a labor contract will be construed in favor of the employee. This rule does little more that codify what has long been the prevailing practice in PRC courts.

Representative Offices

The current Labor Law requires Representative Offices to go through designated agencies such as FESCO (similar to Manpower in the United States) in order to hire employees. The new Labor Contract Law offers Representative Offices greater flexibility by allowing them to directly contract with employees for their first year of employment.

In summary, the new Labor Law will restrict foreign investor’s flexibility and make it more expensive for them to operate. The only good news is that Representative Offices will find it somewhat easier to operate. Typically, the new Labor Contract Law does not bother to define terms like technical, senior technical; and personal interest However, foreign investors have long been used to waiting months and even years for ambiguous terms in Chinese law to be defined through the further issuance of implementing regulations to supplement the main law; meanwhile the government’s actual implementation of the law in particular cases will be closely watched.