This is the second in our series on international non-compete and trade secrets law for U.S. corporate counsel. Today, we examine the law in the world’s second largest economy, The Peoples Republic of China (PRC). The heated competition for qualified talent in the PRC makes non-compete protections a crucial topic. In a recent survey, members of the US-China Business Council reported that their #1 challenge doing business in China was “talent recruitment and retention”:

Companies reported that it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit and retain talented employees because the demand for such employees – by multinational corporations (MNCs) and, increasingly, Chinese employers – outstrips availability. In particular, companies noted difficulties in recruiting qualified managerial and technical talent.

USCBC 2011 China Business Environment Survey Results at p. 8. In another study, the MRI China Group surveyed more than 3,000 mid- to senior-level managers in China and Hong Kong, and found with respect to Mainland China respondents that...