国家发展和改革委员会


发改产业［2006］1222号


国家发展改革委关于加强电石生产企业行业准入管理工作的通知



各省、自治区、直辖市、新疆建设兵团发展改革委、经贸委（经委、工业局）：
根据《国务院关于加快推进产能过剩行业结构调整的通知》（国发[2006]11号）和国家发展改革委等七部门联合下发的《关于加快电石行业结构调整有关意见的通知》（发改产业[2006]699号）要求，为贯彻落实电石行业结构调整工作，我委对现有电石生产企业实行行业准入公告管理制度，现将电石生产企业行业准入公告管理工作有关事项和要求通知如下：
一、制定电石行业结构调整规划和工作计划
为贯彻落实《国务院关于加快推进产能过剩行业结构调整的通知》精神，认真做好电石行业结构调整工作，各省、自治区、直辖市电石行业主管部门，要根据《关于加快电石行业结构调整有关意见的通知》提出的电石行业结构调整的目标，对本地区电石生产企业进行一次全面调查摸底，并针对本地电石行业的现状和存在问题，尽快制定本地区电石行业“十一五”结构调整规划和清理整顿工作年度计划。具体内容包括：现状与问题，原则和目标，发展规划，步骤和措施（总量控制、淘汰落后、节能环保、联合重组、公告管理等）。于2006年10月31日前报国家发展改革委产业政策司，材料一式三份，同时将电子版本发送 caoyf@ndrc.gov.cn；shuch@ndrc.gov.cn。
二、做好符合《电石行业准入条件》公告管理工作
为加快电石行业结构调整，促进产业结构升级，按照《关于加快电石行业结构调整的有关意见的通知》要求，对电石生产企业实行行业准入检查、复核和公告管理制度。各电石生产企业要对照《电石行业准入条件》（国家发展改革委公告2004年第76号）的各项要求，对本企业电石生产装置的工艺技术、能源及原材料消耗、污染排放、安全生产等各项技术指标进行自查，并按省级电石行业主管部门的要求，将自查情况报企业工商注册登记所在地的省级电石行业主管部门。各省、自治区、直辖市电石行业主管部门负责本地区电石生产企业执行准入条件情况的检查和复核工作。省级电石行业主管部门要组织力量，按照《电石生产企业公告管理暂行办法》（附件一）对照《电石行业准入条件》的各项技术指标，对当地所有电石生产企业（包括现有企业和在建企业）执行准入条件情况进行检查和复核，并做好情况汇总和复核材料报送工作。具体要求是：
（一）电石生产企业公告申请书
1、目前企业生产经营现状和规划发展的情况；
2、填写《电石生产企业公告管理暂行办法》中要求的相关表格（表一、表二、表三）。
（二）各省、自治区、直辖市电石行业主管部门报送文件要求
1、各电石生产企业的报送材料；
2、本省（区、市）电石生产企业基本情况汇总表（《电石生产企业公告管理暂行办法》附表五）和本地区申请符合《电石行业准入条件》的电石生产企业核实意见表（《电石生产企业公告管理暂行办法》附表四）。
（三）做好公告企业的监督检查工作
根据电石行业准入管理的各项要求，对照《电石行业准入条件》，各省、自治区、直辖市电石行业主管部门要会同环保、质量监督、安全监管等相关部门对已公告的企业定期进行监督检查。
各省、自治区、直辖市电石行业主管部门，于2006年10月31日前，将电石生产企业填报的材料、申请符合电石行业准入条件企业的核实意见和本省电石生产企业基本情况汇总表等相关材料，报送国家发展改革委产业政策司，材料一式三份，同时报送电子版本。
企业公告管理和监督检查工作为各地电石行业主管部门的日常工作，今后各地区按通知要求，每年定期报送。
三、联系方式
联系人：曹云峰、舒朝晖
联系电话：（010）68535591，68535592




附件：电石生产企业公告管理暂行办法


中华人民共和国国家发展和改革委员会

二○○六年六月二十八日



附件：

电石生产企业公告管理暂行办法

第一条　根据中华人民共和国国家发展和改革委员会（以下简称“国家发展改革委”）公告《电石行业准入条件》(2004年第76号)、《国务院关于加快推进产能过剩行业结构调整的通知》（国发［2006］11号）和《关于加快电石行业结构调整有关意见的通知》（发改产业［2006］699号）规定，制定本办法。
第二条　各省、自治区、直辖市发展和改革委或经委（经贸委）负责本地区电石行业生产企业公告核实管理和复核工作，并对准入条件的执行情况进行监督检查。
国家发展改革委负责组织行业协会等中介机构和有关专家对各地上报的电石生产企业进行抽查和复核，并以国家发展改革委公告（以下简称《公告》）形式公布符合“电石行业准入条件”的生产企业名单。
第三条 申请公告的电石生产企业，应当具备以下条件：
（一）具有独立法人资格（氯碱企业内部电石生产企业，可由具有独立法人资格的氯碱企业提出申请）；
（二）符合《电石行业准入条件》中工艺装备、环境保护、能源及资源消耗和资源综合利用等要求,企业无开放式电石炉；
（三）符合各省（自治区、直辖市、计划单列市）电石行业发展规划；
（四）企业电石建设项目立项申请、土地利用、环境影响评价、生产许可、安全生产等建设程序需符合国家有关审批、核准或备案程序要求；
（五）遵守国家有关法律法规，符合国家产业政策要求。
第四条　具备本办法第三条所列条件的现有电石生产企业，可提出公告申请，并如实填报相关报表（附表一、附表二、附表三）。
第五条 各省、自治区、直辖市发展改革委或经委（经贸委）负责受理本地区企业报送的公告申请，会同省级环保部门、质量监督、安全生产监督管理等部门，依照《电石行业准入条件》要求，负责对本地区申请公告企业的相关情况进行核实，将符合公告要求的企业核实意见和企业申请材料报国家发展改革委。
第六条　国家发展改革委组织中国石油和化工协会、中国电石工业协会等中介机构和有关专家对各地报送的企业填报材料和核实意见进行复核。必要时可对企业进行现场核实。
第七条 国家发展改革委自收到申请材料后，3个月内完成对申请企业是否符合“电石行业准入条件”的公告申请复核工作。对符合准入条件的企业，国家发展改革委以《公告》形式予以公布。
第八条 通过公告的企业（以下简称“公告企业”）应当保持生产准入条件。各省、自治区、直辖市发展改革委或经委（经贸委）要会同环保等有关部门，对公告企业保持“电石行业准入条件”情况进行定期监督检查（原则上每年一次），并将监督检查意见报国家发展改革委。国家发展改革委组织有关部门对公告企业进行抽查。
第九条　公告企业有下列情况，各省级发展改革委或经委（经贸委）责令其限期整改，直至报请国家发展改革委撤销其公告资格：
（一）不能保持生产准入条件；
（二）拒绝接受监督检查；
（三）填报相关资料有弄虚作假的行为；
（四）发生重大安全和污染事故；
（五）违反国家法律、法规和产业政策规定。
　　被撤销公告资格的企业，原则上在被撤销公告资格1年后方可重新提出公告复核申请。
第十条　本办法适用于中华人民共和国境内（台湾、香港、澳门特殊地区除外）所有类型的电石生产企业。
第十一条　本办法自2006年7月1日起施行。
附：
表一、电石生产企业基本情况表
表二、电石炉装备情况统计表（一台电石炉一张表）
表三、电石生产企业主要技术能耗指标
表四、省主管部门核实意见表
表五、省电石生产企业基本情况汇总表



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.