Foreign Investment Projects: Getting Started

Attracted by the continual improvements in China's socio-economic development, particularly

its strong economic performance, more foreign investors are looking toward China, and

particularly Beijing, to target their investments.

Still, foreign investors can easily get confused and frustrated while adapting to Beijing's foreign

investment policies, rules and regulations, so Business Beijing, in cooperation with the Beijing Municipal

Development and Reform Commission, is beginning this Q&A column to serve foreign investors.

If you have any questions about investing in Beijing please write us via e-mail at: invest@btmbeijing.

com in English; for questions in Chinese, please visit the official Web site of the Beijing Municipal

Commission of Development and Reform at: http://www.bjpc.gov.cn/gwzjly/. Either wayl, we will find

someone authoritative to provide you with the best and latest information available. Please remember:

only e-mails and faxes are acceptable.

 

Q: How many rules and regulations

apply to foreign investment in China?

A: The rules and regulations adopted

by Beijing Municipal Development and

Reform Commission for the examination

and approval of foreign-funded projects are

mainly included in the Provisions on Guiding

Foreign Investment Direction (Order of the

State Council, No. 346), the Catalogue

for the Guidance of Foreign Investment

Industries (Revised 2004), and the Interim

Measures for the Administration of Examining

and Approving Foreign Investment Projects

(Order of the National Development and

Reform Commission, No. 22).

 

Q: I'm a United States-based enterprise.

If I planned to establish an enterprise

in Beijing's Tongzhou District, I wonder

which office of the Beijing Municipal

Development and Reform Commission

I should go to so I can begin the

examination and approval process?

A: Your question doesn't refer to your

project investment, the source of the capital

and the type of the enterprise, so it's hard for

us to give you a direct answer. According to

the Interim Measures for the Administration

of Examining and Approving Foreign

Investment Projects, the limit of authority for

examination and approval should be divided

in the following ways:

"Encouraged and allowable" enterprises

with total investments (including added

capital, as with projects listed below)

exceeding US$100 million as well as

"restricted enterprises" with total investments

above US$50 million shall be audited by the

Beijing Municipal Development and Reform

Commission and submitted to the National

Development and Reform Commission of the

People's Republic of China for final approval.

Restricted enterprise projects with

a total investment of less than US$50

million as well as encouraged and allowable

projects with total investments of US$30

million-$100 million shall be approved by

the Beijing Municipal Development and

Reform Commission.

Encouraged and allowable projects

with total investments of less than US$30

million, including the projects listed in the

Catalogue for Examining and Approving

Foreign Investment Projects and approved

by the Beijing Municipal Development and

Reform Commission, shall be approved by

the development and reform department of

each relevant district and county.

The classification of encouraged

projects, allowable projects and restricted

projects is based on the Catalogue for the

Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries

(Revised 2004).

 

Q: I'm a foreign-funded enterprise. I

have established a company in Shunyi

District, and I have decided to add more

investment and registered capital. What

kind of document should I provide to

begin the examination and approval

process for increasing capital?

A: The documents for capital increases

you should provide are:

1. The application for capital increase.

2. Project application report (write

according to the document requirement).

3. Business License and Business

Registration certificates and the latest

audited financial statements (including

the Assets Liability Form, Profit and

Lose Account, Statement of Cash Flow)

and a capital credit certificate proved by

the account bank.

4. The decision of the chairman of the

board about the capital increase.

5. An examination and approval statement

on a project's environmental impact

issued by the relevant environmental

protection administrative department,

according to their limit of authority,

should be provided. (The examining and

approving statement should be issued

by the provincial-level or national-level

environmental protection administrative

department, according to the limits of

their authority).

6. Any project involving the city layout

should provide a planning statement

issued by the relevant planning

administrative department, according

the limits of their authority.

7. Any project involving land use should

provide a project land-use pre-check

statement issued by the land and

resource administrative department,

according to the limits of their authority

(The examining and approving statement

should be issued by the provinciallevel

or national-level land and resource

administrative department, according to

the limits of their authority).

8. A statement on the project's expected

influence on transportation, based

Investment Q&A

on national and city rules, should be

provided by a relevant transportation

administrative department, according to

the limits of its authority.

9. Any project relying upon nationally

owned assets or State-owned landuse

rights should be confirmed in

a document issued by the relevant

administrative department.

10. The preliminary registration document

of the industry and commerce

administrative department should be

provided.

11. However, be advised that other marketaccess

documents not listed above may

be required in particular cases.