Ministry of Construction and Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, Administration of Foreign-invested Construction Design Enterprises Provisions

Promulgated: September 27 2002
Effective: December 1 2002
Interpreting authority: State Council administrative departments in charge of construction and foreign trade and economic cooperation ex officio.
Applicability: The Provisions apply to the establishment of foreign-invested construction design enterprises, application for foreign-invested construction design enterprise qualifications and supervision and administration of foreign-invested construction design enterprises in the PRC (Article 2).
Foreign-invested construction design enterprises mean wholly foreign-owned, Sino-foreign equity joint venture or Sino-foreign cooperative joint venture construction design enterprises lawfully established in China (Article 2)
Except otherwise provided by law, regulations or the State Council, the Provisions shall be referred to for establishment of construction design enterprises or engaging in construction design activities in other areas of the PRC by Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan investors (Article 18).

Main contents: In respect of Grade A foreign-invested architecture design enterprises or Grade A or Grade B foreign-invested construction design enterprises of other construction design, establishment approval shall be obtained from the State Council administrative department in charge of foreign trade and economic cooperation and qualification approval shall be obtained from the State Council administrative department in charge of construction. In respect of lower grade foreign-invested architecture or other construction design enterprises, such approvals shall be obtained from corresponding provincial departments (Article 6). The foreign investor and foreign service provider to a foreign-invested construction design enterprise shall be enterprises engaged in construction design or registered architects or registered engineers in their home country (Article 13). In the case of a Sino-foreign equity or cooperative joint venture construction design enterprise, the capital contribution from the Chinese party shall not be less than 25% of the registered capital of the joint venture (Article 14). If a wholly foreign-owned construction design enterprise applies for construction design enterprise qualifications, it shall have such a number of registered professionals as required by the relevant qualification standard, and no less than one-fourth of such registered professionals shall be foreign service providers with the qualifications of a PRC registered architect or PRC registered engineer. In the case of a Sino-foreign equity or cooperative joint venture construction design enterprise, the required ratio is one-eighth (Article 15).
Related legislation: PRC Construction Law, Nov 1 1997, CLP 1998 No.1 p6; PRC Sino-foreign Equity Joint Venture Law (2nd Revision), Mar 15 2001, CLP 2001 No.3 p5; PRC Sino-foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Law (Revised), Oct 31 2000, CLP 2000 No.10 p4; PRC Wholly Foreign-owned Enterprise Law (Revised), Oct 31 2000, CLP 2000 No.10 p4; Administration of the Quality of Construction Works Regulations, Jan 30 2000, CLP 2000 No.2 p5; Administration of Construction Survey and Design Regulations, Sep 25 2000, CLP 2000 No.9 p5 and Administration of the Qualifications of Construction Surveying and Design Enterprises Provisions, Jul 25 2001, CLP 2001
Repealed legislation: Administration of the Examination and Approval of the Establishment of Sino-foreign Joint Venture Construction Design Institutions Provisions, 1992