Ministry of Commerce, Administration of Auctions Procedures

Promulgated: December 2 2004
Effective: January 1 2005
Interpreting authority: Ministry of Commerce
Applicability: "Auction houses" refers to limited liability companies or companies limited by shares established in China in accordance with the law that carry out commercial auction activities (Article 3).

Main contents: The Procedures apply to auction activities carried out by auction houses within the PRC. Various kinds of commercial auction activities should be carried out by auction houses established in accordance with the law (Article 2). The establishment of an auction house requires at least Rmb1 million of registered capital (Article 7). An auction house applying for the establishment of a branch should have fully paid-up registered capital of not less than Rmb5 million, and should allocate not less than Rmb1 million in capital or in kind to each branch (Article 11). The establishment of foreign-invested auction houses should comply with relevant provisions concerning registered capital and total investment amount of foreign-invested enterprises; and the term of operation of such auction houses shall in general not exceed 30 years (Article 19). Part Four concerns auction business personnel and auction activities and Part Five regulation.
Related legislation: PRC Auctions Law (Revised), Aug 28 2004