Issued by the State Council in December, 2007, the Enterprise Income Tax Law clarifies the detailed conditions for qualifying as a high-tech enterprise that, by law, may enjoy a preferential tax rate of 15 percent. These conditions include: independent ownership of the company’s core intellectuals property rights; its products or services are included in the catalogue of “Areas of High and New Technology Encouraged by the State”, as issued by the State Council; its expenses for research and development exceed a certain percentage of annual sales revenue; its income from high-tech products or services exceeds a certain percentage of total revenue; and the number of R&D personnel exceeds a certain percentage of all employees. It is expected that the detailed percentages and other additional conditions will be clarified in the near future.