People's Bank of China, Administration of Sale and Payment of Foreign Exchange for External Transfer of Personal Property Tentative Procedures

Promulgated: November 8 2004
Effective: December 1 2004
Interpreting authority: People's Bank of China
Applicability: "Migrant transfer" refers to an act whereby natural persons who migrate from Mainland China to reside in foreign countries, the Hong Kong or Macao Special Administrative Regions or the Taiwan region realize the property lawfully owned by them in China before obtaining their migrant status, and purchase and remit foreign exchange out of China through designated foreign exchange banks. "Inheritance transfer" refers to an act whereby foreign citizens or residents of the Hong Kong or Macao Special Administrative Region or the Taiwan region realize their lawfully inherited estate in China, and purchase and remit foreign exchange out of China through designated foreign exchange banks (Article 2).
The Procedures shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to the transfer of relevant property of natural persons who migrate from Mainland China to reside in the Taiwan region, or the external transfer of the property of residents of Taiwan inherited from the Mainland (Article 14).

Main contents: For migrant transfer, one-off application shall be made for the transfer of the total amount of property, and such amount shall be remitted out of China in batches. One-off application shall be made for property inherited from the same decedent after realization, but the amount may be remitted out of China in a lump sum or in batches (Article 6). Application for external transfer of property with an equivalent total amount of Rmb500,000 or less shall be subject to the examination and approval of the foreign exchange administration at the locality. In the case of an external transfer exceeding the aforementioned amount, preliminary examination shall be made by the foreign exchange administration at the locality, and the same shall be reported to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange for examination and approval (Article 10). Designated foreign exchange banks shall, after handling the sale of foreign exchange, directly remit the foreign exchange to the applicant's own account in the resident country or region of the migrant or successor, and withdrawal of foreign currency notes in China is not allowed (Article 11).
Related legislation: PRC Foreign Exchange Control Regulations (2nd Revision), Aug 5 2008, CLP 2008 No.8 p77 and State Council, Establishing Administrative Licensing for Administrative Examination and Approval Requirements That Truly Have to be Retained Decision, 2004