Ministry of Commerce, General Administration of Customs, State Administration of Taxation and State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Administration of the Establishment of Foreign-invested Export Procurement Centres Procedures

Promulgated: November 17 2003
Effective: 30 days after the date of promulgation
Interpreting authority: Ministry of Commerce, General Administration of Customs, State Administration of Taxation and State Administration of Foreign Exchange
Applicability: "Foreign-invested export procurement centres" is defined as foreign-invested enterprises engaged in export procurement business that are established in China by foreign investors in the form of wholly owned enterprises or equity joint ventures with Chinese investors (Article 2).

Main contents: The Procedures state that foreign-invested export procurement centres should be limited liability companies with a minimum registered capital of Rmb30 million (Articles 2 and 4). The foreign investors should have established an international sales network and have the capacity for export procurement (Article 3). They may invest to establish export procurement centres through their investment companies established in China (Article 5). In the case of an equity joint venture, the Chinese investor should be creditworthy and have the financial resources necessary for establishment of procurement centres (Article 3). Foreign-invested export procurement centres are allowed to engage in:
-  procurement of domestic goods for export as well as warehousing, information consultancy and technical services related to export;
-   import of raw and supplementary materials and entrusting other enterprises to process for export; and
-   import of samples needed for export procurement.