Company: DSWL
Filing Date: 2025-07-29
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001174947-25-001096
Chunk: 40

Company: DESWELL INDUSTRIES INC
Filing Date: 2025-07-29
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 3
Chunk 40
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 Hong Kong, formerly a British Crown Colony. Sovereignty over Macao and Hong Kong was transferred to China effective on December 20, 1999 and July 1, 1997, respectively. Since their transfers, Macao and Hong Kong have become Special Administrative Regions of China, enjoying a high degree of autonomy except for foreign and defense affairs. Moreover, China’s political system and policies are not practiced in Macao or Hong Kong. Under the principle of “one country, two systems,” Macao and Hong Kong maintain legal systems that are different from that of China. Macao’s legal system is based on the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region and, similarly, Hong Kong’s legal system is based on the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is generally acknowledged as an open question whether Hong Kong’s future prosperity in its role as a hub and gateway to China will be diminished. The continued stability of political, economic or commercial conditions in Macao and Hong Kong remain uncertain, and any instability could have an adverse impact on our business.

The PRC’s national labor law restricts our ability to reduce our workforce if we conclude that we need to make future reductions.

In June 2007, the National People’s Congress of the PRC enacted labor legislation, called the Labor Contract Law, and that law became effective on January 1, 2008. The law formalized workers’ rights concerning overtime hours, pensions, layoffs, employment contracts and the role of trade unions. Considered one of the strictest labor laws in the world, among other things, this law requires an employer to conclude an “open-endedemployment contract” with any employee who either has worked for the employer for 10 years or more or has had two consecutive fixed-termcontracts. An “open-endedemployment contract” is in effect a lifetime, permanent contract, which is terminable only in specified circumstances, such as a material breach of the employer’s rules and regulations, or for a serious dereliction of duty. Such employment contracts with qualifying workers would not be terminable if, for example, we determined to downsize our workforce in the event of an economic downturn. Under the 2007 law, downsizing by 20% or more may occur only under specified circumstances, such as a restructuring undertaken pursuant to China’s Enterprise Bankruptcy Law, or where a company suffers serious difficulties in production and/or business operations. Also, if we lay off more than 20 employees or 10% at one time, we have to