MOC to Further Delegate Approval Authority to Provincial Counterpart

On December 12, 2008, the Ministry of Commerce (the "MOC") posted on its official site the Notice on Further Simplifying and Standardizing Administrative Approving Procedures for Foreign Investment (the "Notice"), effective August 26, 2008. Under the Notice, approval of a non-material change of a foreign-invested enterprise ("FIE") such as changes in the company name, investors, registered address (within the same city), number of directors, business term and other matters, is delegated to the MOC's provincial counterparts, although these were originally approved by the MOC. Furthermore, approval of the changes of FIEs (except for holding companies and those FIEs subject to special regulation or industry policy), where establishment was originally approved by the MOC, despite their total amount of investment being lower than the statutory limits (i.e. USD100 million for FIEs within the encouraged and permitted categories, and USD50 million for FIEs within the restricted category) is delegated to the MOC's provincial counterparts as well. The Notice may increase efficacy for firms that wish to make minor adjustments to their operations.


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