State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and Ministry of Culture, Foreign Investment in Cinemas Tentative Provisions

Promulgated: October 25 2000
Effective: as of date of promulgation.
Applicability: The Provisions are applicable to any equity or cooperative joint venture between Chinese and foreign investors established to construct or renovate cinemas used to show films in China (Article 2). For the purposes of the Provisions, foreign investors include investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan (Article 10).

Main contents: The Provisions prohibit foreign investors from being sole owners of cinemas in China (Article 3). In any joint venture cinema, the Chinese party must own no less than 51% of the registered capital; the joint venture term shall not be longer than 30 years; and no joint venture cinema shall use the names of foreign film or television (media) entities (Article 4). Application for the establishment of joint venture cinemas shall be made to a provincial level foreign trade authority, which will verify the application with reference to the opinion of the provincial film administration. A verified and approved application will then be submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation for examination and approval with reference to the opinions of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the Ministry of Culture (Article 6). An approved joint venture cinema shall apply for and obtain a Film Showing Business Licence before it can show any film (Article 6).
Related legislation: PRC, Sino-foreign Equity Joint Venture Law (Revised), Apr 4 1990, CLP 1990 No.4 p36; PRC, Sino-foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Law (Revised), Oct 31 2000, CLP 2000 No.10 p4 and Film Administration Regulations, Jun 19 1996, CLP 1996 No.7 p8