In This Issue: Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau residents no longer need work permits to work in mainland China Local tax authorities will collect all social insurance contributions starting 1 January 2019 China signs social security treaty with Japan New local regulations promote sex-neutral hiring practices and workplace protections for female employees Guangdong Province provides guidance on labor disputes Tianjin issues implementing measures for Employment Contract Law Tianjin implements new alternative working hours regulations Highest court in Jiangsu Province rejects employee severance claim for failure to make social insurance contributions Highest court in Hunan Province sets model for calculating damages in criminal employee trade secret theft case Courts order significant amount of damages for breach of post- termination non-compete restrictions