Article 9 To establish a
resident representative office in the People's Republic of China , a
foreign enterprise must present a written application to the approving
department, which will do the checking and will decide its approval or
disapproval within 30 work days and notify the foreign enterprise in
time.
Article 10 In applying for
establishing a resident representative office, a foreign enterprise must
entrust a company, which has been approved by the authoritative department
of the People's Republic of China to have the right to do foreign economic
and trade businesses or a foreign economic and trade organization or
foreign affairs service unit which is approved by the approving
institutes, on behalf of the foreign enterprise. to present all the
necessary materials to the approving department concerned and go through
the formalities of application.
Article 11
When a company, or a foreign economic and
trade organization or a foreign affairs service unit directly under the
ministry or a commission of the People's Republic of China is entrusted
for the application, the application form should be sent to MOFTEC for
examination and approval ; when an entity concerned to a province, or an
autonomous region, or a municipality or a city enjoying the provincial
status in planning is entrusted for the application the application form
should be sent to the foreign economic and trade commission (department) of the province, or the autonomous region, or the
municipality or the city that enjoys the provincial status in planning,
for examination and approval .
Article 12
When applying for setting up a resident
representative office, a foreign enterprise must provide the approving
department with the following materials:
1. An application form
signed by the chairman or president of the enterprise to define the brief
introduction of the enterprise, the purpose of setting up such an office,
name of the office, resident personnel (chief representative,
representatives), business scope, term of residence and location of
office;
2. Legal business certificate issued by the relevant
authorities of the country concerned (carbon copy ); bank which has
business ties with the enterprise (original copy) ;
3. A
certificate of capital credibility issued by the bank which has business
ties with the enterprise (original copy);
4. A letter of
authorization of the chief representative and representatives of the
office appointed by the chairman or president of the enterprise, resumes
and IDs (duplicated copies) of the chief representative and
representatives. If the chief representative or a representative is the
chairman, the letter of authorization must be signed by more than two
board directors of the enterprise. The letter may be signed by the
executive director if the enterprise does not have a board of directors;
5. Fill in the "Form of the Establishment of Resident
Representative Office of Foreign Enterprise" and "Form of Personnel of
Resident Representative Office of Foreign Enterprise";
6. Other
materials deemed necessary by the approving departments.
Article 13 The name of the
resident representative office should include the following contents:
"country + enterprise name + city name + representative office"
.
Article 14 After the application
is approved, the chief representative of the resident representative
office should go to the approving department to get the letter of approval
and then go to the registration department to go through the formalities
of registration within 30 days beginning from the date of approval. The
letter of approval will automatically become invalid if no application is
submitted for extension upon the expiration of the term of residence and
the approving department will call in the letter of approval.
Article 15 Following the
approval of the application and the registration formalities, the resident
representative office of the foreign enterprise must go to the public
security, taxation, customs and banking institutions to go through
relevant formalities with the letter of approval, and the registration and
representative certificates.
Article 16 The longest term of
residence of the representative office approved at one time is three years
and the term is counted from the date of the letter of approval is issued.
If the term needs to be extended upon expiration, the foreign enterprise
may, through the entity it entrusts for application, apply to the
approving department for extension 60 days in advance .
Article 17 When applying for
extending the term of residence of the representative office, a foreign
enterprise must provide the approving department with the following
materials:
1. The letter of application for extension signed by the
chairman or president of the enterprise;
2. A report on the business activities in the first term of
residence of the resident representative office of the enterprise;
3. A certificate of its capital credibility ( original copy)
issued by the bank which has business ties with the enterprise.
4. A legal business certificate (carbon copy) issued by the
relevant authorities of the country concerned;
5. Duplicated copies of the approval and registration
certificates of the resident representative office of the enterprise;
6. Fill in a "Report on Extending Term of Residence of the
Resident Representative Office of the Foreign Enterprise".
Article 18 Alter the application
for extension of the term of residence is approved, the approving
department will issue the resident representative office of the foreign
enterprise a certificate of approval, and the resident representative
office is required to take the certificate of approval to the registration
department to go through the formalities of extension and formalities of
public security, taxation, customs and banking within 30 days.
Article 19 If a foreign
enterprise wants to change the name of its resident representative office,
change or add the chief representative or representatives, change the
business scope' term of residence and location of the resident
representative office, it must entrust the original entity for application
to present the original approving department a letter of application
signed by its chairman or president ( the application for changing the
location of the office may be signed by the chief representative} and
relevant materials concerning the changes and fill in a "Report of
Application for Changes of the Resident Representative Office of the
Foreign Enterprise''. When the application for a change is approved, the
representative office should take the certificate of approval to the
original registration department and go through the formalities of
registration for changes and formalities of public security, taxation,
customs and banking within 30 days.
Article 20 When the tem of
residence of the resident representative office expires or the office is
to terminate its business activities ahead of the expiration, or the
foreign enterprise decides to cancel the office, it should, through the
.original entity it entrusts for application, raise an application for
cancellation signed by its chairman or president 30 days in advance and
report to the original approving department for the record and settle its
liabilities, taxation and other relevant matters, and go through the
cancellation formalities of industrial and commercial registration , long
term residence and customs record.
Article 21 The certificates of
application for establishment, extension of term of residence, changes and
cancellation of the resident representative office of the foreign
enterprise, and the authorization certificates of the chief representative
and the representatives should be written in Chinese; if they are written
in other languages, there must be a Chinese version attached. Other
reporting materials must also have such versions if they are written in
other languages.
Article 22 The approving
departments have the right to demand, when necessary, that all or part of
the materials submitted for applying for the establishment of the resident
representative office be notarized by its own country's notarizing agency
and be attested by the embassy of the People's Republic of China in the
country.
Chapter III
Administration
Article 23 MOFTEC of the
People's Republic of China and its empowered foreign economic and trade
commissions ( departments ) of various provinces, autonomous regions,
cities under the direct jurisdiction of the State Council and cities
enjoying the provincial status in planning and together with other related
departments exercise administration , supervision and inspection of the
resident representative offices of the foreign enterprises in accordance
with the ``Interim Provisions on the Control of the Resident
Representative Offices of the Foreign Enterprises'' by the State Council
of the People's Republic of China on October 30, 1980 , and this set of
detailed rules and other relevant laws and regulations.
Article 24 The resident
representative offices of the foreign enterprises and their personnel
should undertake all their activities in relative to their entry and exit,
residence, industry and commerce, taxation, customs, foreign exchange
management, employee recruitment, housing lease, etc. in line with laws
and regulations of the People's Republic of China, and accept the
administration, supervision and inspection of the authoritative
departments of the Chinese government.
Article 25 When a resident
representative office of the foreign enterprise wants to import exhibits
to be displayed in its office, it should apply to the original approving
department with the list of the exhibits attached. After this is approved,
the representative office should take the document of approval and the
list of the exhibits to the local customs for the check of the specific
exhibits and their amount or number. The customs will charge a guarantee
fund equal to the amount of tax fee and then inspect and clear in line
with "Provisional Regulations of the Customs of the People's Republic of
China on the Supervision and Administration of the Temporary Imports" and
"Administrative Regulations of the Customs of the People's Republic of
China on Applying for Guarantee for Imports and Exports''. The exhibits
are supervised by the customs within the period of guarantee and are not
allowed to be sold, transferred or given away as gifts. The exhibits must
be re-shipped out of China within six months beginning from the date of
their entry and it the foreign enterprise concerned fails to do so, the
customs will handle them in line with relevant regulations.
Article 26 A foreign enterprise
bears all legal responsibilities for all the business activities of its
resident representative office in the People's Republic of China .
Article 27 The foreign trade
and economic cooperation commissions ( departments) of various provinces, antonymous
regions, cities under the direct jurisdiction of the State
Council and cities enjoying the provincial status should report the total
number of the resident representative offices of the foreign enterprises
they have improved to be established to MOFTEC for the record in January
and July every year .
Article 28 When resident
representative offices of the foreign enterprises violate the laws,
regulations of the People's Republic of China and this set of detailed
rules, MOFTEC and its empowered foreign trade and economic cooperation
commissions (departments) of various provinces, autonomous regions, cities
under the direct Jurisdiction of the State Council and cities enjoying the
provincial status in planning may give warning to or order their close or
even cancel the approvals of their establishment according to the
seriousness of the cases.
Chapter IV
Qualifications of Chief Representative and
Representatives
Article 29 The chief
representative and representatives of the resident representative offices
of the foreign enterprises must have following qualifications :
1. Foreign nationals who hold legal general passports (
excluding foreign students in China) ;
2. Chinese nationals who are qualified for long-term
residence in foreign countries;
3. Compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan who hold
valid certificates;
4.If the foreign enterprise appoints Chinese national to be
its chief representative or representatives (excluding the Chinese
nationals referred to in the second clause of this article) , it must
entrust local foreign affairs department or other departments concerned
designated by the Government of the People's Republic of China to go
through formalities of applying for the appointments in line with relevant
laws and regulations of the People's Republic of China.
