China Outbound Legal Guides · Decision gateway

China Plus One starts with the product, proposed change and evidence

Define what changes, for which product and market, before selecting a country or claiming a legal result. Route each independent question to the specialist spoke that owns it.

Decision guide

Operational orientation · Qualified PRC counsel required for fact-specific decisions

Open the comparison desk Open escalation

Review and use boundary

Product → change → market → evidence → operating model → specialist workstream.

Published as editorial orientation and subject to refreshed legal review. Helen Yao reviewed a preceding China Plus One version; no approval of this expanded hub is claimed. This hub routes issues; it does not determine origin, admissibility, licence status, preferential treatment, supplier compliance or destination suitability.

Operating-model gate

Choose the model only after defining the legal change

Each route opens different evidence and counsel files. The summaries are screening prompts, not approvals.

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Commercial purpose

State the objective before comparing destinations.

Decision topic	Dual sourcingParallel capacity	Third-country assemblyProcess change	Contract manufacturingExternal capacity	Entity or JVLocal operation	GreenfieldOwned site	Logistics hubInventory flow
Primary use	Resilience and supplier leverage.	Change a production step or market-access route.	Add capacity without owning a site.	Create durable local operations.	Build controlled long-term capacity.	Position inventory without assuming origin changes.
Decision note	Subject to legal review: purpose does not establish a legal outcome.

Minimum decision record

Missing evidence is an open workstream.

Decision topic	Dual sourcingParallel capacity	Third-country assemblyProcess change	Contract manufacturingExternal capacity	Entity or JVLocal operation	GreenfieldOwned site	Logistics hubInventory flow
Core pack	Supplier, ownership, BOM and production records.	BOM, process map, cost build-up and rule identified.	Approved BOM, contract controls and audit evidence.	Ownership, funding, governance and licence map.	Site, permits, workforce, equipment and product map.	Physical flow, importer, storage and transaction records.
Decision note	Evidence sufficiency remains fact- and authority-specific.

Commitment gate

Escalate before correction becomes expensive.

Decision topic	Dual sourcingParallel capacity	Third-country assemblyProcess change	Contract manufacturingExternal capacity	Entity or JVLocal operation	GreenfieldOwned site	Logistics hubInventory flow
Hold point	Before supplier approval.	Before an origin or preference claim.	Before tooling, technology or production transfer.	Before capital commitment or launch.	Before site, construction or asset commitment.	Before changing importer or publishing a claim.
Decision note	A specialist must confirm the applicable legal gate.

Eight-file screen

Open the file that owns the next legal question

Do not collapse independent regimes into one country score.

Origin and customs

Classification, origin purpose, marking, preference, importer and trade-remedy questions.

Trade / customs

Supplier and forced-labour evidence

Supplier identity, sub-tiers, transaction, production, transport and labour-chain records.

Procurement + compliance

Export controls and sanctions

Items, software, technical data, parties, users, end use and access.

Export-control officer

China funding and controls

Classify services, capital, equipment, technology and intercompany flows.

PRC legal + finance

Product and environmental rules

Identify product, battery, carbon, facility and destination-market triggers.

Product + ESG

Destination operations

Entity, investment screening, licences, workforce, importer and facility.

Corporate + destination

Contracts and evidence control

Approved inputs, audits, tooling, records, incidents and change control.

Legal + procurement

Governance and re-review

Approval owner, conditions, retention, claims, holds and material-change triggers.

GC + compliance

Five-field intake

Prepare the routing facts

Selections remain in this browser. The specialist spokes contain the complete workstream records.

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Product and markets

List SKUs, destination markets and candidate classifications.

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Proposed change

Name the supplier, process, assembly, tooling, entity, importer or claim change.

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Current and proposed chain

Map suppliers, sub-tiers, facilities and country-by-country steps.

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Evidence status

Identify available BOM, process, transaction, transport and ownership records.

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Next commitment

Name the contract, claim, shipment, asset move, funding or site decision and date.

Routing questions

Start with the controlling fact

Each answer opens a spoke and remains subject to legal review.

Does China Plus One mean leaving China?

Not necessarily. It may add capacity, replace a supplier or split a process while China remains in the chain.

Does moving final assembly change origin?

Do not assume so. Identify the product, origin purpose, market rule, processing and evidence, then open the origin spoke.

Does a third-country supplier remove forced-labour exposure?

A location or invoice alone is not a complete upstream evidence file. Open the supplier and UFLPA spoke.

Does every payment require ODI analysis?

Classify vendor fees, capital, acquisitions, equipment and intercompany funding separately in the ODI and FX roadmap.

When should specialist counsel be engaged?

Before a material origin claim, supplier approval with evidence gaps, tooling or data transfer, capital or site commitment, or destination-law conclusion.

Review-controlled source station

Use current primary authority for every legal conclusion. The source index and substantive spokes carry the detail.

China Plus One primary sources Origin and customs risk UFLPA supply-chain audit ODI and foreign-exchange roadmap Export controls and sanctions

Spoke library

Continue with one independent legal question

Each spoke owns its own search intent and returns to this gateway.

01 · Workstreams

Legal Checklist for Multinationals

Open and assign the legal workstreams.

Open specialist route →02 · Customs

Does China Plus One Change Customs Origin?

Test origin evidence and misdeclaration risk.

Open specialist route →03 · Traceability

UFLPA Supply Chain Audit

Build node-by-node importer evidence.

Open specialist route →04 · Governance

Steering Committee Decision Checklist

Record approval conditions and re-review triggers.

Open specialist route →05 · Destination

Vietnam vs Mexico vs India

Compare corridors only after product and market triage.

Open specialist route →06 · Contracting

Contract Manufacturer Evidence Controls

Control BOM, supplier, audit and change evidence.

Open specialist route →

Counsel handoff

Hold the commitment when a controlling fact or authority is unresolved

Route China-side questions to qualified PRC counsel and destination conclusions to the relevant market specialist.

An origin or commercial claim is plannedThe product, processing, rule and evidence need specialist confirmation.

Supplier evidence is incompleteTreat the gap as a remediation condition, not implied clearance.

Assets, technology, data or capital will moveSeparate ownership, customs, controls, data and funding analyses.

A material fact changesReopen the affected specialist record before implementation continues.

Request coordinated counselSend the five-field intake and specialist records.

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Find trade and customs counselCompare relevant specialist profiles.

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General information only, subject to refreshed legal review. This gateway does not determine origin, admissibility, licence status, preferential treatment, supplier compliance or destination suitability. Helen Yao reviewed a preceding version; no approval of this expanded version is claimed.