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Partnership - New option for foreign investment in China/李治国

作者:法律资料网 时间:2024-06-17 04:04:41  浏览:9423   来源:法律资料网
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Partnership - New option for foreign investment in China

Zhiguo Li


 A new door to partnership is opened by the Chinese government to the foreign investors under this post-financial turmoil era in order to attract more foreign investment and provide more employment. On November 25, 2009, the State Council of the PRC promulgated the Measures for the Administration on the Establishment of Partnership Business by Foreign Enterprises or Individuals in China adopted at the 77th executive meeting of the State Council on August 19, 2009, which shall come into effect as of March 1, 2010 (“the Foreign Partnership Measures”). The Foreign Partnership Measures is regarded as supplementary to the Partnership Business Law of the People's Republic of China (“the Partnership Law”), article 108 of which provides that the measures for the administration on the establishment of partnership business by foreign enterprises or individuals shall be formulated by the State Council. Therefore the Partnership Law is the basic law for foreign enterprises or individuals (collectively “foreign partners”) to establish the partnership business in China (“foreign partnership”).

 The initial effort to formulate this kind of measures with the authorization of the Partnership Law can be tracked to January 2007 when the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (MOC), as requested by the Legislative Affair Office of the State Council, promulgated a draft of the Measures for the Administration on the Foreign Funded Partnership Business (“the Draft”) for public consultation. The Draft mostly reflect the intention of the MOC to remain the approval authority for the foreign partnerships as it does in the setup of the other three types of FIEs, such as equity joint venture, contractual joint venture and wholly foreign owned enterprise (i.e., EJV, CJV and WFOE, collectively FIEs). But the final Foreign Partnership Measures kick the MOC and its local branches (“the MOC local branches”) out from the charging authority with the replacement by the local authorized branch of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC local branch), which is unexpected to but welcome by the professionals and entrepreneurs. This article will do analysis on the Foreign Partnership Measures from four perspectives: foreign partnership models, foreign partners’ qualification, thresholds and registration of the foreign partnership, in aiming to describe a clear foreign partnership roadmap for foreign partners.


Foreign Partnership Models

 Foreign partners can set up the foreign partnership in China in three models: a. with the other foreign partners; b. with the Chinese individuals, legal persons and the other organizations registered and located in Mainland China; c. through participating the existing domestic partnership.

 In the models above, the foreign partners have the option to take the form of general partnership, limited liability partnership or limited partnership stipulated by the Partnership Law, among which the limited liability partnership is only for the professional institutions such as law firms and accounting firms. Comparing with model a and b, model c seems more feasible and time-and-cost saving for the foreign partners. A complete due diligence will be conducted in order to minimize the risk from the operation of the domestic partnership before the participation date of the foreign partners. In consideration of the current administration and nature of the partnerships, lack of credibility and the other elements in China, it will be difficult to get a complete due diligence report satisfied with the foreign partners. Therefore, models a and b are highly recommended. Which model of a or b take needs the consideration and balance of the foreign partners based on their business plan, legal structuring, such as whether foreign partners themselves intend to do the business competing with the foreign partnership and how to exit by transferring the contribution in the partnership, ect., and the thresholds discussed below.

Foreign Partners’ Qualification

 The difference in the expression on the partners from overseas and China should be noted. Foreign partners only include foreign enterprises and individuals. The Chinese partners include Chinese individuals, legal persons and the other organizations. There is no unified legal interpretation on the “enterprise”, though mostly it refers to the profitable organizations. This uncertainty may come from the prudency of the legislator of China on the qualifications of foreign partners. Under article 184 of the Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues concerning the Implementation of the General Principles of the Civil Law of the People’s Republic of China for Trial (“the Opinions”), this expression of “enterprise” on the foreign partners allow the SAIC local branch more discretion to judge whether the foreign partner is a qualified “enterprise” or not in accordance with the relevant Chinese laws. In this scenario, the foreign partners need to note that they should not fall into the types of entities prescribed in article 3 of the Partnership Law if they aim to be a general partner, which says that wholly state-funded company, state-owned company, listed company, public-welfare-oriented institution or social organization may not become a general partner.

 Regarding the foreign individuals, they must have full capacity for civil conduct in accordance with article 14 of the Partnership Law. The international private law problem will also be involved here. Pursuant to article 180 of the Opinions, the foreign individuals who conduct civil activities in the territory of China, shall be regarded as having full capacity for civil conduct if they have that in accordance with China laws, no matter what their national laws requires for their capacity for civil conduct. Foreign individuals at or above the age of 18 years old are qualified to be the foreign partners if they are not mentally ill.

Thresholds for Foreign Partnership

 Some thresholds, such as the approval by the MOC, imposed on the FIEs are lifted for foreign partnership. This means that the foreign partnership and the domestic partnership will be treated with unified threshold in the aspect of approval, which will definitely reduce the criticism from the international community, but may cause more from the domestic public (including those FIEs). But it does not mean that there will be no thresholds review on foreign partnership.

 Article 3 of the Foreign Partnership Measures lists the general thresholds for the foreign partnerships. The establishment of foreign partnership shall abide by the Partnership Law and the other relevant laws, regulations and rules, and comply with the industrial policies for foreign investment. These general thresholds need to be analyzed together with the reference to the other relevant laws, regulations, rules and policies.

 First, the threshold provided by the Partnership Law is the pre-approval on the business scope. Where the business cope of a foreign partnership contains any item, for example oil distribution, that is subject to approval prior to registration according to laws or regulations, such approval shall be sought in advance and submitted at the time of registration with SAIC local branch. These pre-approvals involve , but not limited to, the Ministry of Land, the Ministry of Transport, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, etc., which depends on the business of the foreign partnership.

 Second, the Provisions on Guiding the Orientation of Foreign Investment (2002) and the Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries (revised in 2007) (collectively “foreign investment industrial policies”) set up the industrial threshold for the foreign partnerships, which are the industrial policy basis for the SAIC local branch to review registration application to establish foreign partnership in China. This will obviously increase the working load of the SAIC local branches since they are lack of the experience in this kind of foreign investment industrial policies review. We may also anticipate that there might be different explanation and implementations on the above two documents, which will be the problem faced by those foreign partners who submit the application in the first half year after the Foreign Partnership Measures comes into force on March 1, 2010.

 The third threshold is that the verification is required if the project invested by the foreign partners falls into the scope described in the Provisional Measures Governing Verification of Foreign Invested Projects. The charging authority is the National Development and Reform Commission and its local branches, which depending on the amount of the total investment and the nature of the project.

 It is necessary to note the forth threshold hidden in the important expression in article 3 of the Foreign Partnership Measures, which put the “rules” as the legal basis for the establishment of foreign partnerships. In the legal system of China, it indicates that the State Council authorizes the ministries or departments under the State Council (“the Ministries”) to issue necessary “rules” applicable to foreign partnerships. It also reflects that the existing valid “rules” issued by the Ministries, including those applicable to the representative offices opened by foreign law firms in China, are still the barrier for the foreign partners to access the local market in China.

 The final threshold comes from the commitment of China in its WTO accession. Although the State Council encourages those foreign partners who have advanced technology and management experience to establish foreign partnership in China with the purpose to facilitate the development of the modern service industry, at this stage, the services industries may only limited to those listed in the Schedule of Specific Commitments on Services (Annex 9 of the Protocol on the Accession of the People’s Republic of China) and the openness will not be wider than the commitments therein.

Registration of the Foreign Partnership

 In the FIEs regime, all investments by foreign investors need the pre-approvals of the MOC or MOC local branches. In the approval process, the MOC or MOC local branches will review, but not limited to, the content of the application, the article of associations of FIEs and contracts signed by the parties if any. Generally, this approval procedure will take 5 working days to 90 working days depending on the nature and total investment of the project. In this regard, the cancel of this approval for the foreign partnership will significantly escalate the speed of the establishment in the procedural stage and to a great extent reduce the uncertainty from the MOC or MOC local branches.

 The Foreign Partnership Measures stipulates that the representative or agent of all the partners shall submit the establishment application only to the SAIC local branch and not the SAIC. The submission shall include, besides the documents required by the Regulations on the Administration of Registration of Partnership Business (revised in 2007, “Partnership Registration Regulation”), the explanation on compliance of the foreign partnership with the foreign investment industrial policies, which will ease the review by the SAIC local branch. In this regard, the review may not be limited to the formality as provided in article 16 of Partnership Registration Regulation. It seems impossible for the SAIC local branch to issue the license to the foreign partnership on the spot. In this scenario, the SAIC local branch shall make a decision on whether to issue the license to the foreign partnership within 20 working days after the date it accepts the complete application.

 The Foreign Partnership Measures is the second case for MOC and MOC local branches to lose approval authority in the recent years. The first case is for the representative office opened by most of foreign enterprises in China since 2004. Although the loss of approval authority, the MOC local branches at the same level with the SAIC local branches accepting the application for establishment of foreign partnership shall be advised the registration information (including the establishment, alteration and cancel) of the foreign partnerships by the latter.

Conclusion

 For those foreign partners not interested in establishing professional foreign partnerships such as law firms in China, they are now can access the Chinese market with a presence in the option of partnership. The approval procedures involved with the MOC or its local branches as set up for FIEs has been removed. The minimum investment (registered capital) requirement for FIEs has been reduced to RMB30,000 (RMB100,000 for one-person limited liability company) by the Company Law of the People's Republic of China (revised in 2005), the Foreign Partnership Measures leave the minimum investment open to the partners. The foreign partners can contribute with the currency (freely exchanged foreign currency or legally earned RMB), in kind, IPR, land use right, the other properties or labor service (limited to general partners) to the foreign partnerships. All these will minimize the cost for foreign partners to achieve their goal of profit maximization in China. But those enterprises focusing on the investment business, such as the foreign-funded venture capital investment enterprises and foreign-funded investment companies, are excluded from the Foreign Partnership Measures due to lack of experience in administrating this kind of enterprises by the government.

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生产资料市场监督管理暂行办法

国家工商行政管理局


生产资料市场监督管理暂行办法

1996年7月18日,中华人民共和国国家工商行政管理局

第一条 为了规范生产资料市场交易行为,保护交易各方的合法权益,根据国家有关法律、法规和国务院的有关规定,制定本办法。
第二条 凡从事生产资料交易活动的单位和个人,均应当遵守本办法。
开办集中交易的生产资料市场,必须依照有关商品交易市场登记管理的规定办理市场登记,并遵守本办法。
第三条 经营者从事生产资料交易活动,应当遵循诚实信用、平等互利、公平竞争的原则,遵守国家有关法律、法规和本办法的规定,依法接受监督管理。
生产资料经营者的合法权益受国家法律保护。
第四条 各级工商行政管理机关是生产资料市场监督管理的主管机关和行政执法部门,在同级人民政府领导下,对生产资料市场进行监督管理。主要职责是:
(一)宣传和贯彻执行国家有关生产资料市场监督管理的法律、法规和政策;
(二)依法核准生产资料经营者的经营资格,颁发营业执照;
(三)对集中交易的生产资料市场的开业、变更、注销进行登记;
(四)对生产资料经营者的交易行为进行检查监督;
(五)监督管理经济合同;
(六)查处生产资料交易活动中的违法行为;
(七)国务院和地方各级人民政府确定的其他职责。
第五条 需要从事生产资料经营的单位和个人,必须到工商行政管理机关办理登记注册,取得营业执照,按照核准的经营范围从事经营活动。
需要经营国家限制经营的生产资料的,应当先取得法律、法规规定的国家有关部门的批准后,再到工商行政管理机关办理登记注册手续。
需要进行生产资料一次性经营的企业和个体工商户,应当向其登记注册的工商行政管理机关申请一次性经营许可;经营品种属于国家限制经营的,应当按规定程序办理审批手续。
第六条 需要从事生产资料经纪业务的单位和个人,必须向工商行政管理机关申请经纪人资格认定,办理登记注册,取得营业执照,在核准的经营范围内从事经纪活动。
第七条 非国家禁止流通的生产资料,均可进行交易。进行交易的生产资料,必须是合格产品,符合《产品质量法》等法律、法规的规定。
国家限制流通的生产资料,其交易活动必须遵守国家的限制性规定。国家指令性计划产品和国家实行统一收购的产品,其交易必须遵守国家指令性计划和统一收购的规定。
第八条 下列生产资料禁止进行交易:
(一)走私物资;
(二)救灾物资;
(三)国家规定应当作报废处理的产品或者明令淘汰的产品;
(四)国家法律、法规禁止交易的其他物资。
第九条 生产企业的超储积压物资、闲置设备以及以物抵债物资,可以上市销售;按照规定须经国家有关部门批准的,必须取得有关部门的批准。
第十条 生产资料的交易方式应当符合国家规定。未经国家有关部门批准实行期货交易的品种和进行期货交易的生产资料市场,不得开展期货交易。
第十一条 生产资料交易除即时清结者外,交易双方应当签订书面经济合同,并本着自愿的原则到工商行政管理机关办理合同鉴证手续。
第十二条 生产资料市场价格实行随行就市,由供需双方协商确定。国家有限制性规定的应当执行国家规定。国家有指令性价格的,必须执行指令性价格。
第十三条 生产资料经营者应当配置和使用符合国家法定计量要求的计量器具,接受计量管理部门的检测。
第十四条 生产资料经营者不得从事下列行为:
(一)销售不合格商品;
(二)在商品中掺杂使假,以次充好;
(三)在商品上伪造或者冒用认证标志、名优标志等质量标志,伪造产地,对商品质量作引人误解的虚假表示;
(四)签订虚假合同;
(五)串通订价,损害购买者或者其它经营者的利益;
(六)擅自使用他人的企业名称;
(七)假冒他人的注册商标;
(八)捏造、散布虚假信息,损害其他经营者的商业信誉、商品声誉;
(九)发布虚假广告、信息,欺骗和误导购买者;
(十)以贿赂手段销售或者购买商品;
(十一)法律、法规禁止的其它行为。
第十五条 生产资料经营者应当依法交纳税费。
第十六条 工商行政管理机关有权对生产资料市场进行检查。被检查的经营者和有关单位、个人应当如实提供情况,不得拒绝。
第十七条 工商行政管理机关查处生产资料市场中的违法行为时,可以行使下列职权:
(一)询问违法行为人、嫌疑人和证人,要求其如实提供证明材料或其它有关材料;
(二)查询、复制与违法行为有关的协议、证照、帐册、单据、发票、文件、记录、业务函电和其它资料;
(三)检查与违法行为有关的财物,责令被检查的经营者说明物品的来源和数量,必要时,可以责令其暂停销售,听候检查或处理,不得转移、隐匿、销毁该物品。
第十八条 对违反本办法有关规定的,工商行政管理机关可以依照《反不正当竞争法》、《消费者权益保护法》、《商标法》、《广告法》、《经济合同法》、《公司登记管理条例》、《企业法人登记管理条例》和《投机倒把行政处罚暂行条例》等法律、法规、规章的规定进行处罚。
情节严重构成犯罪的,移交司法机关处理。
第十九条 各级工商行政管理机关工作人员必须依法履行职责、秉公办事。对玩忽职守、滥用职权、徇私舞弊的,由其所在机关给予行政处分;触犯刑律的,由司法机关依法追究刑事责任。
第二十条 各省、自治区、直辖市工商行政管理局可以依据本办法制定实施办法。
第二十一条 本办法自发布之日起施行。



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