On December 18, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) released the revised Rules for Share Repurchases by Listed Companies (the "Rules"). Subsequently, the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) released the Guidelines for Self-regulation of Listed Companies No. 7 – Share Repurchase (Revised in December 2023) and the Guidelines for Self-regulation of Listed Companies No. 9 – Share Repurchase (Revised in 2023), both effective from the date of release.

The Rules mainly propose the following revisions: (1) seeking to raise the convenience in share repurchase, relaxing and adding one condition for share repurchase for the purpose of maintaining the company's value and shareholders' rights and interests, removing the window period for repurchase prohibition, moderately relaxing the basic conditions for repurchase by listed companies and optimizing the restrictive provisions on repurchase transaction declaration; (2) further improving the repurchase restriction mechanism, encouraging listed companies to form an institutional arrangement for the implementation of repurchases, and clarifying the board of directors' obligations when repurchase is required for protecting the company's value and shareholders' rights and interests; and (3) making adaptive modifications to the text.

(Source: China Securities Regulatory Commission, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shenzhen Stock Exchange)