State Administration for Industry and Commerce and Ministry of Public Security, Circular on Further Strengthening Administration of the Registration of Resident Representative Offices of Foreign Enterprises

Issued: January 4 2010

Main contents: This Circular was issued to address the issues arising from a few resident representative offices of foreign enterprises (Representative Offices) in recent years such as changing registration particulars without authorisation, obtaining registration by fraudulent means such as submitting false certification documents and engaging in business activities in violation of regulations.

Where a Representative Office applies for establishment or a change in its name, it shall submit the proof of at least two years' lawful operations of the enterprise to which it is subordinate and proof of capital creditworthiness issued by the financial institutions that have business dealings with the enterprise. Such proofs shall be notarised and certified by the notarial authority of the enterprise's residing country or region and by the Chinese embassy/consulate in its residing country or region. When the Representative Office applies to extend its registration certificate, it shall submit the proof of the existence of the enterprise to which it is subordinate issued by the relevant authority of the enterprise's residing country or region (Article 1). Representative Offices that apply for establishment or extension of registration shall be uniformly issued with a registration certificate that is valid for one year (Article 2).