Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce recently issued Opinions on Further Serving the Development of Foreign-invested Enterprises (hereinafter refers to as the Opinions), in which a total of 17 detailed measures has been proposed to assist and encourage the development of foreign-invested enterprises.
Below are the main areas of concern.
Market accession: investors are allowed to convert their creditors' rights into registered capital. For wholly foreign owned and foreign-holding enterprises, the word "China" will be allowed to be used in the enterprise name where the enterprise is engaged in modern service industry and high-tech industry and the registered capital is 30 million RMB.
Annual inspection: technologies such as digital certification and electronic seal are to be used to improve the efficiency and reduce the cost for foreign-invested enterprises. Special annual inspection route is to be established for multinational companies, group companies and companies with many branches. Other measures include on-line inspection, phone appointment, go-to-door service, internet search for inspection information,etc.
Investment environment: Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries, Catalogue of Restricted Foreign Investment Industries and Catalogue of Prohibited Foreign Investment Industries will be strictly followed. Financing channels will be further expanded and services such as equity pledges, pledges of movables as well as pledges of the trademark rights will continue to be used.
Trademark protection: Foreign enterprises will be guided to improve their capabilities in registering, using, protecting and managing the trademarks. Guidance will be given in seeking for famous marks in Beijing. Special campaigns will be carried against the free-riding acts for well-known marks. Efforts will be made in activities against unfair competition, trademark infringement, trade secret infringement, etc. Measures will also be made to protect the well-known trade names and well-known marks in order to create a favorable environment for competition in the market.
