The Chinese central government has announced that foreign-invested enterprises will be able to access “one window processing” for both commercial filing and industrial and commercial registration throughout the country starting from 30 June.
According to Xinhua the simplification of registration procedures is expected to reduce the time and human resource costs for the establishment of new foreign-invested enterprises by at least half.
Official data indicates that over 30,000 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in China in 2017.
“When this many enterprises perform filing, they must first proceed to the commerce department to conduct foreign investment filing, then proceed to the industrial and commercial department to perform enterprise registration,” said Wang Shouwen (王受文), vice-head of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
“This forces enterprises to make extra trips and submit a large number of forms, as well as expend a large amount of time.”
With “one window processing” China’s local commerce departments and industrial and commercial departments will connect their information systems and share data, while foreign-invested enterprises will only need to fill in a single form at a single online portal, thus performing commercial filing and industrial and commercial registration simultaneously.
The entire process does not involve any fees or paper work, and removes the need for travel between the two apartments, as well as the re-entering of the same information.
The move is part of efforts to simplify and delegate the administration of foreign investment, following the launch of the “Notice Concerning Several Measures for Expediting Foreign Investment Growth” (关于促进外资增长若干措施的通知) by the State Council in 2017.
The Ministry of Commerce has reportedly delegated information system standards and web portals to various local government levels, guiding them in the creation and improvement of information systems and connecting them to a shared platform, in order to provide technical support for achieving “one window processing.”
