CHINA: MOFCOM Issue Catalogue for Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries

Tuesday July 11 2017

The State Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) have issued the Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries.

The revision of the Catalogue was the seventh after the first one issued in 1995.

The Catalogues main aims are:

• To further improve opening level
• Maintain the overall stability for encouraging policies
• Modify and issue recording management methods of establishing and altering foreign-invested enterprises

The Catalogue further reduces the restrictive measures of foreign investments. The service industry cancels the foreign capital admittance restriction in road passenger transportation, ferry cargo handling, credit information and rating services, accounting, auditing, large-scale wholesale market construction of agricultural products, operation, construction and operation of hydro-junction.

The manufacturing industry cancels the foreign capital admittance restriction in many areas such as the rail transit and communication facilities, automotive electronic busbar network techniques, R&D and manufacturing of electric power steering system’s electronic controllers, energy power battery manufacturing of new-energy automobiles, rice, flour and raw sugar processing, maize refined processing, and biology liquid fuel (fuel ethanol and biodiesel).

It also cancels the limitation that the same foreign merchant can’t have more than two branches in blade electric vehicle manufacturers. The mining industry cancels the foreign capital admittance restriction in unconventional oil & gas exploration and development of oil shale, oil sand and shale gas, mine gas utilization, precious metal (gold, silver and platinum family) exploration, exploitation, lithium mineral exploitation, mineral separation, and rare metal smelting of molybdenum, tin (excluding tin compounds), antimony (including antimony oxide and antimony sulfide).

The important opening measure of the Catalogue means to further reduce the range for approving establishment and alternation of foreign-invested enterprises. The reform will simplify the procedures of foreign M&A enterprises, reduce institutional transaction costs, consolidate and reinforce reform effects and better develop the important roles of foreign investment enterprises in substantial economic development.

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