China’s Ministry of Commerce

China’s Ministry of Commerce announced on Tuesday to further reduce market access restrictions for foreign capital by invalidating a set of long-existing rules meant to regulate foreign enterprises seeking to establish resident representative offices in China.

The move is an effort to simplify administrative procedures and optimize services and is aimed at improving the domestic business environment with more foreign investment, the ministry said.

According to statistics, China has attracted 547.94 billion yuan ($82.65 billion) in the first eight months of the year, down 0.2 percent year on year.

The Central Government has repeatedly urged governments and departments at all levels to build a legal, international, and convenient environment for foreign businesses.

According to the Detailed Rules of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation on the Approval and Control of Resident Representative Offices of Foreign Enterprises enacted in 1995, a foreign enterprise must present a written application to the approving department, and after the application is approved, the chief representative of the resident representative office should go to the approving department to get the letter of approval and then go to the registration department to go through the formalities of registration within 30 days.