The negative list for China’s foreign investment access has been further reduced
The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce issued the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2021 Edition) and the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access in Pilot Free Trade Zones (Negative List) (2021 Edition). The 2021 version of the negative list for foreign investment access in the whole country and the pilot free trade zone is further reduced to 31 and 27, with a reduction ratio of 6.1% and 10% respectively.
The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission introduced that in recent years, China has continued to relax foreign investment access. From 2017 to 2020, the negative lists of national and pilot free trade zones were revised for four consecutive years, and the special management measures for foreign investment access were reduced from 93 and 122 to 33 and 30, respectively, and a number of major openings were launched in the fields of finance and automobiles. The measures have provided a broader development space for foreign investment.
Compared with the 2020 version, the 2021 version of the negative list for foreign investment access has four major changes, including further deepening the opening up of the manufacturing industry, exploring the relaxation of service industry access in pilot free trade zones, improving the accuracy of the negative list for foreign investment access, and optimizing foreign investment access. Negative list management. For example, in the field of automobile manufacturing, the restriction on foreign shareholding ratio in passenger car manufacturing and the restriction on the same foreign company establishing two or less joint ventures in China to produce similar vehicle products have been removed. In the field of radio and television equipment manufacturing, the restrictions on foreign investment in satellite television broadcasting ground reception facilities and the production of key components shall be removed, and management shall be conducted in accordance with the principle of domestic and foreign investment. This revision has realized the clearing of manufacturing items in the negative list of the Pilot Free Trade Zone. The second is to explore the relaxation of service industry access in the Pilot Free Trade Zone. In the field of market research, except that radio and television listening and viewing surveys must be controlled by the Chinese party, restrictions on foreign investment access are removed. In the field of social surveys, foreign investors are allowed to invest in social surveys, but the Chinese party’s shareholding ratio is not less than 67%, and the legal representative should have Chinese nationality. The third is to improve the accuracy of the negative list for foreign investment access. The fourth is to optimize the management of the negative list for foreign investment access. In order to make the connection between the negative list for foreign investment access and the negative list for market access, the description of the negative list adds “domestic and foreign investors uniformly apply the relevant provisions of the “negative list for market access”.
The 2021 version of the negative list for foreign investment access will be implemented on January 1, 2022. If the current regulations need to be adjusted, the relevant departments shall complete the relevant adjustment within 2 years according to the procedures. For the fields outside the negative list, they are managed in accordance with the principle of internal and external consistency, and foreign-invested enterprises are given national treatment.
modify the content:
1. The “Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Negative List for Foreign Investment Access”) uniformly lists special management measures for foreign investment access such as equity requirements and executive requirements. Fields other than the “Negative List of Foreign Investment Access” shall be managed in accordance with the principle of consistency between domestic and foreign investment. Domestic and foreign investors shall uniformly apply the relevant provisions of the Negative List for Market Access.
2. Foreign investors shall not engage in investment and business activities as individual industrial and commercial households, investors in sole proprietorship enterprises, or members of farmers’ professional cooperatives.
3. Foreign-invested enterprises investing in China shall comply with the relevant provisions of the Negative List for Foreign Investment Access.
4. In the process of performing their duties according to the law, the relevant competent authorities shall not apply for license or enterprise registration for foreign investors who intend to invest in the fields within the “Negative List of Foreign Investment Access”, but do not meet the provisions of the “Negative List for Foreign Investment Access”. Registration and other related matters; if it involves the approval of fixed asset investment projects, relevant approval matters will not be handled. Investing in fields with equity requirements shall not establish a foreign-invested partnership enterprise.
5. Upon examination by the relevant competent departments of the State Council and approval by the State Council, specific foreign investment may not be subject to the provisions in the relevant fields in the Negative List for Foreign Investment Access.
6. Domestic enterprises engaged in businesses in areas prohibited by the “Negative List of Foreign Investment Access” that issue shares overseas and are listed and traded shall be reviewed and approved by the relevant competent authorities of the state. The relevant regulations on the management of domestic securities investment by foreign investors shall be implemented.
7. A domestic company, enterprise or natural person, with a company legally established or controlled overseas, acquires a domestic company that is related to it, in accordance with the relevant regulations on foreign investment, overseas investment, foreign exchange management, etc.
8. Cultural, financial and other fields not listed in the Negative List for Foreign Investment Access, as well as administrative approval, qualifications, national security and other related measures, shall be implemented in accordance with the current regulations.
9. “Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement” and its follow-up agreements, “Mainland and Macao Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement” and its follow-up agreements, “Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement” and its follow-up agreements . If the international treaties and agreements concluded or acceded by my country have more favorable provisions on the access treatment of foreign investors, they may be implemented in accordance with the relevant provisions. If more favorable opening-up measures are implemented for qualified investors in special economic zones such as pilot free trade zones, relevant regulations shall be followed.
10. The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce together with relevant departments are responsible for the interpretation of the Negative List for Foreign Investment Access.
11. The 2020 version of the Negative List for Foreign Investment Access issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce on June 23, 2020 will be repealed from January 1, 2022.