Decree 2004 (14) of the Ministry of Commerce

Measures on Record Registration of Foreign Trade Dealers, adopted at the Ninth Ministerial Conference of Ministry of Commerce on June 19, 2004, are now published and shall come into effect as of July 1, 2004.

Minister: Bo Xilai

June 25, 2004

Measures on Record Registration of Foreign Trade Dealers

Article 1 With a view to promoting the development of foreign trade, these measures are formulated in accordance with related provisions of Article 9 of Foreign Trade Law of the People¡¯s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as ¡°Foreign Trade Law¡±).

Article 2 Foreign trade dealers engaged in import and export of commodities or techniques shall register for record in the Ministry of Commerce of People¡¯s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as ¡°the Ministry of Commerce¡±) or organs entrusted by the Ministry of Commerce, with an exception of those who are allowed not to register for record by the Ministry of Commerce, laws or administrative regulations.

Foreign trade dealers who do not register in accordance with these Measures shall not go through declaration and approval formalities with the customs.

Article 3 The Ministry of Commerce is a national governmental department responsible for record registration of foreign trade dealers.

Article 4 Record registration of foreign trade dealers can be dealt with through network with respect to territorial principles.

The Ministry of Commerce entrusts qualified local governmental departments responsible for foreign trade (hereinafter referred to as ¡°record registration organs¡±) to deal with record registration for local foreign trade dealers. The entrusted record registration organs shall not entrust other organs to deal with record registration.

Record registration organs shall have fixed offices, full-time personnel responsible for management, record, technique support and maintenance, and relevant equipment to connect the network system for record registration of foreign trade dealers of the Ministry of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as ¡°record registration network¡±).

The Ministry of Commerce may issue trust deeds, distribute record registration seals made under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce to the record registration organs that can meet the above requirements, and make known to the public. Record registration organs deal with record registration by the trust deed and record registration seal through the record registration network of the Ministry of Commerce. The Ministry of Commerce may withdraw its entrustment to the record registration organs that experience changes, do not meet the above requirements or do not go through record registration formalities in accordance with the provisions of Article 6 and 7 of these measures.

Article 5 The procedure of record registration of foreign trade dealers

Foreign trade dealers register for record in local record registration organs.

The procedure of record registration of foreign trade dealers are as follows:

(1) Claiming Record Registration Form of Foreign Trade Dealers (hereinafter referred to as ¡°Registration Form¡±). Foreign trade dealers may download the Registration Form from the official website of the Ministry of Commerce (http://www.mofcom.gov.cn), or claim it from local record registration organs.

(2) Filling in the Registration Form. Foreign trade dealers shall fill in the Registration Form carefully with all information required and assure all the contents are complete, accurate and true. They shall also read carefully the provisions on the back of the Registration Form. The Registration Form shall be signed and sealed by legal representative(s) of enterprises or person(s) in charge of individual industry and commerce entities.

(3) Submitting the following materials to record registration organs:

a. The Registration Form filled out in accordance with section (2) of Article 5,

b. Duplicate of business license,

c. Duplicate of code certificate of the organization,

d. duplicate of the approval certificate of foreign-invested enterprises for foreign trader dealers who are foreign-invested enterprises, and

e. Property notarization certificate issued by lawful notary organs for individual industry and commerce entities (dealers of exclusive ownership) that go through industrial and commercial registration in accordance with relevant laws and capital credit certificate issued by lawful notary organs for enterprises of foreign countries (regions) that have registered as foreign trade dealers in accordance with laws.

Article 6 Record registration organs shall handle record registration within 5 days upon receipt of the above materials submitted by foreign trade dealers and affix the seal of record registration.

Article 7 Record registration organs shall record and keep completely and correctly the information and materials of record registration of foreign trade dealers upon conclusion of record registration, and make archive documents of the record registration in accordance with laws.

Article 8 Foreign trade dealers shall go through relevant formalities of foreign trade business by the Registration Form with registration seal within 30 days with local customs, official departments involving inspection and quarantine, foreign exchange and taxation, otherwise the Registration Form shall lose efficacy automatically.

Article 9 Should there be changes of any item in the Registration Form, foreign trade dealers shall register the changes within 30 days according to the provisions of Article 5 and 8 of these measures, otherwise the Registration Form shall lose efficacy automatically. Record Registration organs shall handle the formalities of changes immediately upon receipt of written materials submitted by foreign trade dealers.

Article 10 If foreign trade dealers have withdrawn their business licenses or their business licenses have been revoked, the Registration Form shall lose efficacy automatically as of the date of withdrawal or revocation of the business licenses.

Record registration organs shall revoke the Registration Forms of the foreign trader leaders that have been forbidden by the Ministry of Commerce to be engaged in import-export activities of commodities or techniques from one year up to less than three years according to relevant provisions of Foreign Trade Law. These foreign trade dealers may register for record again in accordance with these measures after expiration of punishment.

Article 11 Record registration organs shall inform related information to the customs, administrations of inspection and quarantine, foreign exchange and taxation etc. upon withdrawal of registration by dealers of foreign trade.

Article 12 The Registration Form shall not be fabricated, forged, tampered, leased, lent, transferred or sold.

Article 13 Record registration organs shall not collect any extra fees in disguise while handling the formalities of record registration and record changes.

Article 14 Foreign trader dealers who have obtained qualification for import and export of commodities and techniques, and are engaged in import and export within the approved business scope, shall not register for record again. Foreign trade dealers who are engaged in import and export beyond the approved business scope shall register for record in accordance with these measures.

Article 15 The authority to interpret these Measures resides in the Ministry of Commerce.

Article 16 These Measures shall go into effect as of July 1, 2004. Provisions that are not in line with these Measures shall be nullified as of the date of publication of these Measures.