Partnership - New option for foreign investment in China

Zhiguo Li


　A new door to partnership is opened by the Chinese government to the foreign investors under this post-financial turmoil era in order to attract more foreign investment and provide more employment. On November 25, 2009, the State Council of the PRC promulgated the Measures for the Administration on the Establishment of Partnership Business by Foreign Enterprises or Individuals in China adopted at the 77th executive meeting of the State Council on August 19, 2009, which shall come into effect as of March 1, 2010 (“the Foreign Partnership Measures”). The Foreign Partnership Measures is regarded as supplementary to the Partnership Business Law of the People's Republic of China (“the Partnership Law”), article 108 of which provides that the measures for the administration on the establishment of partnership business by foreign enterprises or individuals shall be formulated by the State Council. Therefore the Partnership Law is the basic law for foreign enterprises or individuals (collectively “foreign partners”) to establish the partnership business in China (“foreign partnership”).

　The initial effort to formulate this kind of measures with the authorization of the Partnership Law can be tracked to January 2007 when the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (MOC), as requested by the Legislative Affair Office of the State Council, promulgated a draft of the Measures for the Administration on the Foreign Funded Partnership Business (“the Draft”) for public consultation. The Draft mostly reflect the intention of the MOC to remain the approval authority for the foreign partnerships as it does in the setup of the other three types of FIEs, such as equity joint venture, contractual joint venture and wholly foreign owned enterprise (i.e., EJV, CJV and WFOE, collectively FIEs). But the final Foreign Partnership Measures kick the MOC and its local branches (“the MOC local branches”) out from the charging authority with the replacement by the local authorized branch of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC local branch), which is unexpected to but welcome by the professionals and entrepreneurs. This article will do analysis on the Foreign Partnership Measures from four perspectives: foreign partnership models, foreign partners’ qualification, thresholds and registration of the foreign partnership, in aiming to describe a clear foreign partnership roadmap for foreign partners.


Foreign Partnership Models

　Foreign partners can set up the foreign partnership in China in three models: a. with the other foreign partners; b. with the Chinese individuals, legal persons and the other organizations registered and located in Mainland China; c. through participating the existing domestic partnership.

　In the models above, the foreign partners have the option to take the form of general partnership, limited liability partnership or limited partnership stipulated by the Partnership Law, among which the limited liability partnership is only for the professional institutions such as law firms and accounting firms. Comparing with model a and b, model c seems more feasible and time-and-cost saving for the foreign partners. A complete due diligence will be conducted in order to minimize the risk from the operation of the domestic partnership before the participation date of the foreign partners. In consideration of the current administration and nature of the partnerships, lack of credibility and the other elements in China, it will be difficult to get a complete due diligence report satisfied with the foreign partners. Therefore, models a and b are highly recommended. Which model of a or b take needs the consideration and balance of the foreign partners based on their business plan, legal structuring, such as whether foreign partners themselves intend to do the business competing with the foreign partnership and how to exit by transferring the contribution in the partnership, ect., and the thresholds discussed below.

Foreign Partners’ Qualification

　The difference in the expression on the partners from overseas and China should be noted. Foreign partners only include foreign enterprises and individuals. The Chinese partners include Chinese individuals, legal persons and the other organizations. There is no unified legal interpretation on the “enterprise”, though mostly it refers to the profitable organizations. This uncertainty may come from the prudency of the legislator of China on the qualifications of foreign partners. Under article 184 of the Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues concerning the Implementation of the General Principles of the Civil Law of the People’s Republic of China for Trial (“the Opinions”), this expression of “enterprise” on the foreign partners allow the SAIC local branch more discretion to judge whether the foreign partner is a qualified “enterprise” or not in accordance with the relevant Chinese laws. In this scenario, the foreign partners need to note that they should not fall into the types of entities prescribed in article 3 of the Partnership Law if they aim to be a general partner, which says that wholly state-funded company, state-owned company, listed company, public-welfare-oriented institution or social organization may not become a general partner.

　Regarding the foreign individuals, they must have full capacity for civil conduct in accordance with article 14 of the Partnership Law. The international private law problem will also be involved here. Pursuant to article 180 of the Opinions, the foreign individuals who conduct civil activities in the territory of China, shall be regarded as having full capacity for civil conduct if they have that in accordance with China laws, no matter what their national laws requires for their capacity for civil conduct. Foreign individuals at or above the age of 18 years old are qualified to be the foreign partners if they are not mentally ill.

Thresholds for Foreign Partnership

　Some thresholds, such as the approval by the MOC, imposed on the FIEs are lifted for foreign partnership. This means that the foreign partnership and the domestic partnership will be treated with unified threshold in the aspect of approval, which will definitely reduce the criticism from the international community, but may cause more from the domestic public (including those FIEs). But it does not mean that there will be no thresholds review on foreign partnership.

　Article 3 of the Foreign Partnership Measures lists the general thresholds for the foreign partnerships. The establishment of foreign partnership shall abide by the Partnership Law and the other relevant laws, regulations and rules, and comply with the industrial policies for foreign investment. These general thresholds need to be analyzed together with the reference to the other relevant laws, regulations, rules and policies.

　First, the threshold provided by the Partnership Law is the pre-approval on the business scope. Where the business cope of a foreign partnership contains any item, for example oil distribution, that is subject to approval prior to registration according to laws or regulations, such approval shall be sought in advance and submitted at the time of registration with SAIC local branch. These pre-approvals involve , but not limited to, the Ministry of Land, the Ministry of Transport, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, etc., which depends on the business of the foreign partnership.

　Second, the Provisions on Guiding the Orientation of Foreign Investment (2002) and the Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries (revised in 2007) (collectively “foreign investment industrial policies”) set up the industrial threshold for the foreign partnerships, which are the industrial policy basis for the SAIC local branch to review registration application to establish foreign partnership in China. This will obviously increase the working load of the SAIC local branches since they are lack of the experience in this kind of foreign investment industrial policies review. We may also anticipate that there might be different explanation and implementations on the above two documents, which will be the problem faced by those foreign partners who submit the application in the first half year after the Foreign Partnership Measures comes into force on March 1, 2010.

　The third threshold is that the verification is required if the project invested by the foreign partners falls into the scope described in the Provisional Measures Governing Verification of Foreign Invested Projects. The charging authority is the National Development and Reform Commission and its local branches, which depending on the amount of the total investment and the nature of the project.

　It is necessary to note the forth threshold hidden in the important expression in article 3 of the Foreign Partnership Measures, which put the “rules” as the legal basis for the establishment of foreign partnerships. In the legal system of China, it indicates that the State Council authorizes the ministries or departments under the State Council (“the Ministries”) to issue necessary “rules” applicable to foreign partnerships. It also reflects that the existing valid “rules” issued by the Ministries, including those applicable to the representative offices opened by foreign law firms in China, are still the barrier for the foreign partners to access the local market in China.

　The final threshold comes from the commitment of China in its WTO accession. Although the State Council encourages those foreign partners who have advanced technology and management experience to establish foreign partnership in China with the purpose to facilitate the development of the modern service industry, at this stage, the services industries may only limited to those listed in the Schedule of Specific Commitments on Services (Annex 9 of the Protocol on the Accession of the People’s Republic of China) and the openness will not be wider than the commitments therein.

Registration of the Foreign Partnership

　In the FIEs regime, all investments by foreign investors need the pre-approvals of the MOC or MOC local branches. In the approval process, the MOC or MOC local branches will review, but not limited to, the content of the application, the article of associations of FIEs and contracts signed by the parties if any. Generally, this approval procedure will take 5 working days to 90 working days depending on the nature and total investment of the project. In this regard, the cancel of this approval for the foreign partnership will significantly escalate the speed of the establishment in the procedural stage and to a great extent reduce the uncertainty from the MOC or MOC local branches.

　The Foreign Partnership Measures stipulates that the representative or agent of all the partners shall submit the establishment application only to the SAIC local branch and not the SAIC. The submission shall include, besides the documents required by the Regulations on the Administration of Registration of Partnership Business (revised in 2007, “Partnership Registration Regulation”), the explanation on compliance of the foreign partnership with the foreign investment industrial policies, which will ease the review by the SAIC local branch. In this regard, the review may not be limited to the formality as provided in article 16 of Partnership Registration Regulation. It seems impossible for the SAIC local branch to issue the license to the foreign partnership on the spot. In this scenario, the SAIC local branch shall make a decision on whether to issue the license to the foreign partnership within 20 working days after the date it accepts the complete application.

　The Foreign Partnership Measures is the second case for MOC and MOC local branches to lose approval authority in the recent years. The first case is for the representative office opened by most of foreign enterprises in China since 2004. Although the loss of approval authority, the MOC local branches at the same level with the SAIC local branches accepting the application for establishment of foreign partnership shall be advised the registration information (including the establishment, alteration and cancel) of the foreign partnerships by the latter.

Conclusion

　For those foreign partners not interested in establishing professional foreign partnerships such as law firms in China, they are now can access the Chinese market with a presence in the option of partnership. The approval procedures involved with the MOC or its local branches as set up for FIEs has been removed. The minimum investment (registered capital) requirement for FIEs has been reduced to RMB30,000 (RMB100,000 for one-person limited liability company) by the Company Law of the People's Republic of China (revised in 2005), the Foreign Partnership Measures leave the minimum investment open to the partners. The foreign partners can contribute with the currency (freely exchanged foreign currency or legally earned RMB), in kind, IPR, land use right, the other properties or labor service (limited to general partners) to the foreign partnerships. All these will minimize the cost for foreign partners to achieve their goal of profit maximization in China. But those enterprises focusing on the investment business, such as the foreign-funded venture capital investment enterprises and foreign-funded investment companies, are excluded from the Foreign Partnership Measures due to lack of experience in administrating this kind of enterprises by the government.

河南省濮阳市人民政府办公室


濮阳市人民政府办公室关于印发濮阳市行政执法投诉暂行规定的通知

濮政办〔2010〕106号


各县（区）人民政府，高新区、工业园区管委会，市人民政府各部门：

《濮阳市行政执法投诉暂行规定》已经市人民政府同意，现印发给你们，请认真贯彻执行。

二○一○年十月十一日


濮阳市行政执法投诉暂行规定


第一条 为保护公民、法人和其他组织的合法权益，加强对全市行政执法活动的监督，根据《河南省行政机关执法条例》及其实施办法和《濮阳市行政执法监督办法》，结合我市实际，制定本暂行规定。

第二条 公民、法人或其他组织认为行政执法机关和行政执法人员在实施行政执法活动中侵犯其合法权益的行为，均可依照本暂行规定向具有管辖权的县级以上政府及有关部门的法制机构投诉。法律、法规另有规定的除外。

第三条 市、县（区）人民政府和所属行政执法部门的法制机构（以下简称法制机构）负责受理和处理公民、法人或其他组织的行政执法投诉案件。

第四条 受理和处理行政执法投诉案件应当坚持便民、高效和有错必纠的原则。

第五条 公民、法人或其他组织对行政执法部门或行政执法人员有下列行为之一的，可以通过来电、来信、来访、传真、互联网等方式向有管辖权的法制机构投诉：

（一）发布的规范性文件违法不当的；

（二）不依法履行法定职责的；

（三）违法实施行政强制措施的；

（四）违法实施行政许可的；

（五）违法实施行政收费的；

（六）违法实施行政处罚的；

（七）违法实施行政裁决的；

（八）违法实施的其他行政行为。

第六条 公民、法人或其他组织认为县（区）人民政府或市政府行政执法部门有本暂行规定第五条所列行为的，向市人民政府法制机构投诉。

第七条 对不属于本暂行规定范围的投诉，接到投诉的法制机构应当告知投诉人其他救济途径。

第八条公民、法人或其他组织向法制机构进行投诉，应当符合下列条件：
（一）有明确的被投诉行政执法机关；
（二）有具体的投诉请求事项和事实依据；
（三）属于可以投诉的范围。

第九条 公民、法人或其他组织认为市人民政府所属行政执法部门的直属单位或派出机构有本暂行规定第五条行为的，向其主管部门的法制机构投诉，也可以向市人民政府法制机构投诉。

第十条 公民、法人或其他组织认为县（区）人民政府所属行政执法部门有本暂行规定第五条所列行为的，可向县（区）人民政府法制机构投诉，也可向上级主管部门的法制机构投诉。

第十一条 公民、法人或其他组织认为乡（镇）人民政府或街道办事处有本暂行规定第五条行为的，向县（区）人民政府法制机构投诉。

第十二条 县（区）人民政府和市政府所属部门法制机构无正当理由不受理投诉人投诉的，市人民政府法制机构可以直接受理。

第十三条 接到投诉的法制机构应当予以立案受理，对于不属于本级办理的投诉案件应及时移送给有管辖权的法制机构处理。

第十四条 公民、法人或其他组织的投诉属于行政复议或行政诉讼受理范围的，按下列规定办理：

（一）尚在行政复议或行政诉讼期限内的，应当告知投诉人按行政复议或行政诉讼程序解决。投诉人表示放弃行政复议或行政诉讼权利坚持投诉的，可予受理。

（二）已进入行政复议或行政诉讼程序，当事人又投诉的，不予受理，可向当事人说明情况。

（三）当事人对行政诉讼的处理结果不服进行投诉的，不予受理。

第十五条 行政执法投诉按以下程序办理：

（一）立案。法制机构对属于本机关受理的行政执法投诉，应当立案。市、县（区）政府法制机构受理投诉后根据不同情况，可以直接办理，也可以转有关部门限期办理。受转办部门应当认真调查，依法处理，不得再转办，并且应当在限期内将处理结果书面报告转办的政府法制机构。

（二）调查取证。法制机构立案后直接办理的，应当及时组织行政执法监督人员对案件进行调查，可向有关机关、组织、人员调查取证，查阅有关案卷、文件及资料。行政执法监督人员执行公务时不得少于二人，并出示《河南省行政执法监督证》。

（三）处理。投诉案件经调查，确有违法或者不当行政执法行为的，法制机构应当作出《行政执法监督检查处理通知书》责令立即纠正或限期改正；也可以提出处理意见，经本级政府或本部门负责人批准，作出《行政执法监督决定书》，依法撤销、变更违法不当的行政决定。需要追究执法主体行政执法责任的，按照《河南省行政执法责任追究试行办法》的规定依法追究相关责任人员的责任。

投诉案件经调查不属实，法制机构应如实回复投诉人，说明情况，做好解释工作，并告知被投诉行政执法机关。

（四）送达。作出《行政执法监督检查处理通知书》或《行政执法监督决定书》后，法制机构应当在5日内送达行政执法机关，并将处理结果回复投诉人。

第十六条 法制机构办理行政执法投诉案件的期限为30天。情况复杂需要延长时间的，经法制机构负责人批准可适当延长，但最长不超过50天。

第十七条 法制机构应当建立健全行政执法投诉的各项工作制度。

各县（区）人民政府和市政府行政执法部门每年底向市政府法制办公室报告一次行政执法投诉案件的受理和处理情况。

第十八条 行政执法机关和行政执法人员干扰或阻碍办理行政执法投诉案件的，由市、县（区）人民政府依法追究行政执法机关负责人及有关人员的责任。

第十九条 法制机构及其工作人员对投诉工作疏于职守，造成严重后果的，依法追究其行政责任。

第二十条 行政执法机关或行政执法人员对投诉人进行打击报复的，由市、县（区）人民政府依法追究直接负责的主管人员和其他责任人员的责任。

第二十一条 本暂行规定自发布之日起施行。