China’s Latest Laws and Regulations in November of 2012, II

V. The Ministry of Commerce Released the Report on Chinese Foreign Trade Development (Autumn 2012)

On October 26, 2012, the Ministry of Commerce released the Report on Chinese Foreign Trade Development (Autumn 2012) (“Report”), which reviews the performance of China’s foreign trade in the first three quarters, forecasts on the full year’s foreign trade situation, and makes projections for development trends in foreign trade in 2013.

According to the report, since 2012, China’s foreign trade development has faced a complex and challenging environment both at home and abroad, imports and exports slipped to single digit growth, and import and export enterprises confronted increased difficulties. But, due to the implementation of a series of measures to promote foreign trade, there is optimism that imports and exports will maintain the upward trend seen in September and that China’s share of total global trade for the year will remain stable or rise slightly.

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China’s Latest Laws and Regulations in November of 2012, I

I. The Ministry of Commerce has Issued the Interim Provisions of the Ministry of Commerce on Equity Contributions Involving Foreign-funded Enterprises

On October 24, 2012, the Ministry of Commerce published the Interim Provisions of the Ministry of Commerce on Equity Contributions Involving Foreign-funded Enterprises (“Interim Provisions”), which came into effect on October 22, 2012. The Interim Provisions apply to the formation and modification of foreign-funded enterprises by domestic and foreign investors that hold equity in domestic enterprises as capital contributions. The conditions for equity contributions, procedures for application for approval, and so forth are explicitly defined in the Interim Provisions.

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The Latest Laws and Regulations of July, I

I.  From 1st of August, 2012, Export Enterprises won’t be Required to Go through the Formalities of Collection, Verification, Writing-off of Export Proceeds in Foreign Exchange

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the General Administration of Customs and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued the Announcement on Reform concerning to Foreign Exchange Administration System of Goods Trade, and the reform will be implemented nationally on 1st of August, 2012. Reportedly, from 1st of December, 2012, the reform has been piloted in 7 provinces such as Jiangsu, Shandong, etc.. The reform covers the administration method including the cancellation of paper of collection, verification and writing-off of export proceeds, no need to go through the formalities of collection, verification and writing-off of export proceeds; implementation of dynamic sort management referring to classifying the enterprises into 3 sorts according to the compliance and the consistency of export and import of goods; and adjustment to declaration process for export, etc.. Meanwhile, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange has delivered new laws and regulations for administration of foreign exchange of goods trade to the local departments of foreign exchange and banks authorized to deal with foreign exchanges, accordingly the old documents are abolished.

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New Chinese Laws & Regulations of October, 2011 (1)

From this month, Bridge IPR Commentary will update the latest laws and regulations promulgated in China.

1. The Ministry of Commerce issued the Notice of the Problems regarding Cross- border Direct Investment Denominated in RMB (hereinafter referred to the Notice)

On 14th October, 2011, the Ministry of Commerce released the Notice, which regulates that the overseas investors (including the Hong Kong and Macau investors) can directly invest the RMB gained legally from overseas on business. The Notice defines the concept of “the RMB circulating outside China”, and regulates the investment scope, review and approval procedures and so on. By the Notice, the cross-border direct investment in RMB cannot be made in securities or derivatives (except otherwise specified), either be used for the entrusted loans. Regarding the administrative procedure of review and approval, there will be no alternation on the current review and approval power, which provides that the cross-border direct investment in RMB shall be approved by the local administrative departments of commerce according to the effective administrative regulations of the review and approval of foreign investment. For those investment projects and financial warrant of 300 million or more, foreign invested companies, macro control industry and other projects, the agreement from the Ministry of Commerce is demanded before the approval of the provincial commerce administration. And the procedure related will be simplified the Ministry of Commerce basing the practices of the cross-border direct investment in RMB.

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