Ministry of Commerce Circular on Entrusting Provincial Level Authorities of Commerce to Examine and Administer Foreign-Invested Non-Vessel-Operating C

To: Commercial authorities of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities, cities directly under central planning and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps
In order to simplify the procedures for examination of contracts and articles of association of foreign-invested enterprises, enhance efficiency and speed up the work of foreign capital introduction in service trade fields, the related issues on entrusting the authorities of commerce of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities, cities directly under central planning and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corp (hereinafter referred to as "provincial level authorities of commerce") and the administrative commissions of state-class economic and technology development zones to examine and administer foreign-invested non-vessel-operating carriers are notified hereby as follows pursuant to the requirements of the State Council on simplifying the administrative examination and approval system:

Entrusting the provincial level authorities of commerce and the administrative commissions of state-class economic and technology development zones with the work to examine and administer foreign-invested non-vessel-operating carriers.

All trustees shall, pursuant to the Regulations on the Administration of Foreign Investment in the International Marine Shipping Industry (Decree No.1, 2004 of the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Commerce) and other laws and regulations concerning foreign investment, strictly perform their duties in examination and approval of the applications for establishment or alteration of foreign-invested non-vessel operating carriers, and handle them after the applicants have obtained the approval from the authority of communications according to the procedures and conditions in the aforesaid stipulations. The trustees shall report the problems found in the course of examination to the Ministry of Commerce without delay. Where there is any act of examination and approval in violation of the stipulations during the period of trust, the Ministry of Commerce may rescind the authorisation according to conditions.

Every trustee must prepare the conditions for granting the certificate for approval of foreign-invested enterprise and make the annual joint examination through a computer network connected with the Ministry of Commerce, and also make use of the connected certificate granting system for foreign-invested enterprises to achieve good results with approval recording and statistical work. Related statistics shall comply with the requirements and enable the Ministry of Commerce to learn the circumstances and strengthen supervision. The Ministry of Commerce will in the near future arrange a training course for local authorities of commerce and the administrative commissions of state-class economic and technology development zones to make clear the specific matters in the course of examination.

The administrative commissions of state-class economic and technology development zones entrusted must implement a concise and efficient administrative system pursuant to the Circular of the State Council's General Office on On-issuing the Opinions of the Ministry of Commerce and other Departments on Promoting State-class Economic and Technology Development Zones to Further Raise Development Level (General Office of State Council, Document No.15, 2005). The Ministry of Commerce will handle the trust procedures with the state-class economic and technology development zones separately and batch by batch after they undergo management system recording, personnel training and pass the appraisal for networking.

The trust shall take effect as of March 31, 2006

Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China
January 22, 2006