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Measures for the Registration of Resident Lawyers of the Chinese Representative Offices of Foreign Law Firms

　　Adopted by the Fourth Standing Executive Council of the Fourth All-China Lawyers’ Association on September 18, 1999

　　Article 1 These measures are formulated in light of strengthening the administration of the resident lawyers of the Chinese representative offices of foreign law firms in accordance with the relevant spirit of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Lawyers and the Statute of All-China Lawyers’ Association.

　　Article 2 These measures shall apply to the resident lawyers of the Chinese offices of the foreign law firms that have obtained approval of the Ministry of Justice of the People’s Republic of China for establishment.

　 　The resident lawyers of the law firms of Hong Kong and Macao that have obtained approval for establishing representative offices in the mainland shall refer to these measures for application.

　　Article 3 The resident lawyers of the Chinese offices of the foreign law firms shall be the chief representatives, representatives and foreign lawyers who stay in China for more than 90 days consecutively handling the work of the Chinese representative offices of the foreign law firms that have obtained approval of the Ministry of Justice and have been registered with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

　　Article 4 The resident lawyers of the Chinese offices of the foreign law firms shall be registered.

　　Article 5 The All-China Lawyers’ Association shall be responsible for the registration of the resident lawyers of the Chinese offices of the foreign law firms.

　　Article 6 The resident lawyers of the Chinese offices of foreign law firms shall apply to the All-China Lawyers’ Association for registration for the next year from November 20 to December 20 of each year, subject to submitting the following materials:

　 　1. registration form (in Chinese, duplicate);

　　2. credentials made by a chief partner of the foreign law firms attesting the good qualities of the applicant (original in both Chinese and English);

　 　3. written pledge of the applicant to observe the laws and pertinent regulations of People’s Republic of China.

　　Article 7 The foreign law firms that have obtained approval of the Ministry of Justice of the People’s Republic of China for the establishment of representative offices in China shall, within 30 days after the registration with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, apply to the All-China Lawyers’ Association for the registration of resident lawyers, subject to submitting the following materials:

　 　1. certificate of approval for establishment of representative office (replica in duplicate);

　　 2. credential of representative;

　　 3. credentials made by a chief partner of the foreign law firms attesting the good qualities of the applicant (original in both Chinese and English);

　　4. resume of the resident representative;

　　 5. written pledge of the resident representative to observe the laws and pertinent regulations of the People’s Republic of China (original in Chinese).

　　Article 8 In case of any change or addition of resident representatives, the Chinese offices of the foreign law firms shall, within 30 days after obtaining the aforesaid approval and registration, apply to the All-China Lawyers Association for registration, subject to submitting the certificate of representative.

　　Article 9 The resident lawyers of the Chinese offices of the foreign law firms shall, when apply to the All-China Lawyers’ Association for registration, pay a registration fee in accordance with the relevant provisions of China.

　　Article 10 In case the resident lawyers violating Articles 4 and 9 of these measures, the All-China Lawyers’ Association shall apply to the Ministry of Justice for disqualification or punishment in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Regulations for the Administration of the Chinese Branches of Foreign Law Firms.

　　Article 11 These measures shall enter into force as of December 1, 1999.

　　Article 12 The right of interpretation of these measures shall remain with the Ministry of Justice of the People’s Republic of China

By Vincent Cheung from www.pathtochina.com

Last night, I was on MSN chatting with my client, whose trading WFOE( Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise) incorporation is being proceed by me currently . He hired a 21 year old assistant to assist him in daily affairs. My client sacked her a couple of days early, for her irresponsibility and laziness, and is seeking another assistant, so he asked me if I happened to know anybody. I introduced a girl who’s intending to quit her present job, and they seemed to have a good conversation on MSN later.

The girl was concern with the mandatory social insurance thing. The problem is, since the trading WFOE is still under incorporation, she wants to know whether she can still get the five social insurances during the first several months before the trading WFOE is legally established. Well, I think it’s an issue between the employer and the employee, and I literally cannot help. So I just reminded my client about the different social insurance treatment against the local Shanghai people ( who have Shanghai Hukou) and those non-local staff.

I was so astonishingly surprised that when my client told me that, now the insurance policy towards both local and non-local employees were unified now. It feels awkward when your client tells you something that you are supposed to tell them. I googled it, but got nothing. I called the Shanghai Labor and Social Insurance Bureau to consult the policy this morning ;what a load off, there is no change of policy recently at all. My client was just misinformed.

Anyhow, I think it’s very important for me help my client get a profound and clear knowledge about the social insurance thing in Shanghai.

1. Mandatory Social For Local Shanghai Employees and Holders of “Introduced Talent Residence Certificate”

There are two types of mandatory social insurance in Shanghai, “city insurance” and “rural area insurance”. For both of the domestic and foreign invested companies in urban area, it’s mandatory for them to pay the “city insurance” for local Shanghai staff. The “five insurances” cover pension, medical, unemployment, industrial injury and maternity. Beware of that, you should even pay maternity insurance for male employees. The company is supposed to pay the insurance equal to 37% of the employee’s fist month salary (it’s the payment base of first year). As a rule, the employee’s salary will rise year by year, then every year the payment base is going higher, and usually you should pay senior employees more, nevertheless, the payment base cannot exceed 7394 Yuan. Besides, even a desperate graduate is willing to accept a 1,000 Yuan salary in the first month of trial period, it doesn’t mean you can merely pay him 370, cause the lowest “payment base” you can go is 1437. For “city insurance”, the employees are also required to pay the insurance equal to 11% of the payment base.

Please take a look at below table for the five city insurances payment.
Types Company Percentage Employee Percentage
Pension 22% 8%
Medical 12% 2%
Unemployment 2% 1%
Industrial 0.5% 0%
Maternity 0.5% 0%

Usually, the company will deduct the money that’s supposed to be paid by the employees from the basic salary, and pay it to the social insurance center.

Some of the non-local employees who are holding “Shanghai Introduced Talent Residence Certificate” issued by Shanghai Human Resources Bureau. can also enjoy Shanghai’s “city insurance”. however, it’s a bit complicated. There are a few regulation governing this, and those out-of-town employees should meet following requirements.

Take myself as an example. I’m from Zhejiang province, and how do I get one such certificate?

Firstly, graduated from “Benke” (本科) university. I’m not sure I can deliver “Benke” to you very clearly . there are five levels of high education schools, the top three levels are “Benke” university or colleges, which are regard to be better than the rest two types of schools offering professional and technical training courses.

I’m graduate from the Benke university, so I’m qualified in this regard.

Secondly, being hired by a company whose registered capital is equal to or over 1 Millions RMB (around 135,000 USD). Poor me! There is no possibility of me getting that certificate. I’m just working for a business consultancy. It’s insane to inject to 1 Million Yuan to set up a Chinese-owned consultancy company.

Suppose I could meet the second requirement, and I’m applying for the certificate now. There are two types of certificates: 1-year and 3-year. If I can get the 3-year one, then I don’t have to bother myself with renewing it every year. It depends on the points I have. How do they “grade” me then? It’s based on following factors: the qualification of the employer, the time I’ve stayed in Shanghai, whether I have my own house in Shanghai, whether I’m local spouse, etc.

Suppose I’m the 1-year certificate-holder now, and my certificate will be good for 3 months. If I’m hired by you, and your company’s registered capital is less than 135,000 USD, I can only enjoy the insurance for another three months, cause I am currently unqualified to extend it.

I guess now you’ve got the idea about the certificate. I hope it help you make the right decision with you are making the payment for the five mandatory insurance.

2. Comprehensive Insurance for Non-local Employees who don’t hold a “Introduced Talent Residence Certificate”

It’s very simple. Please pay 204 Yuan to those people on a monthly basis. Employees don’t have to pay a penny.

As detailed in MOFTEC’s Circular Concerning the Establishment of Foreign Funded R & D Centers (2008, no. 218), and the Shanghai Municipal Government’s Provisional Regulations  of Shanghai Municipality on Encouraging Overseas Investment in the Establishment of Research and Development Institutions, companies establishing R&D centers in Shanghai enjoy following privileges: Research equipment for company use is exempt from customs duties and accompanying value added taxes; (2) Software purchased from abroad is exempt from custom duties and value added tax; (3) Income from technology transfer, technology development, technical consulting, and technical services is exempt from business tax; (4) companies with R&D expenses increasing at over 10% annually, will receive a 50% reduction of tax rates. Independently owned foreign funded companies can deduct R&D costs from pre tax income.

By Vincent Cheung from www.pathtochina.com

According to the law on foreign invested enterprises’ corporate income tax, foreign investors  who increase the registered capital by directly investing their companies’ profits in their companies, or set up other foreign invested companies with the profits,  can apply to the tax bureau for tax refund of 40% of the part of corporate income tax they’ve paid equal to the reinvested capital. A total tax refund will be offered to those foreign investors which are reinvesting their profits in extending their goods export enterprises or high-tech enterprises. Starting from the re-injection of the registered capital, their companies should at least be on operation for more than 5 years, or the tax bureau will ask you to return all of the tax refund. If the profits reinvested have been repatriated out of china , deposited in foreign banks, or used as trading capital, this tax refund policy is not applicable.  

Provided by www.pathtochina.com

 “Path To China “ is an International Business Consulting Firm that provides foreign investors with business registration service in China. For business registration service , please contact Vincent by vincent@pathtochina.com.

   

In accordance with Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Controlling the Importand Export of Commodities, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste and Circular on Several Issues Concerning the Seventh Type of Waste 。　　

Chapter I General Provisions　　

Catalogue of Commodities Forbidden to Import (the Forth Batch)　　

No. Commodity Code Commodity Name Notes　

1. 0501.0000 unprocessed human hair, no matter washed or not; wasted human hair　　

2. 0502.1030 bristles and wasted bristles　　

3. 0502.9020 badger hair and other wasted animal hair used for making brushes　　

4. 0 503.0090.10 wasted horse hair　　 (more…)

The local taxation bureaus of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and cities as specifically designated in the state plan With a view to intensifying and regulating the collection and administration of individual income tax on foreigners (including people from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan as well as overseas Chinese, hereinafter the same), you are hereby notified of the relevant requirements for the administration of archival materials concerning the individual income tax on foreigners as follows: I. Establishing an Account for Foreigners by

Enterprise as the Basic Unit With regard to those enterprises that employ foreigners within jurisdiction, the tax authority at the grass-root level shall (more…)

Contents provide by www.china.org.cn  

According to the Administrative Rules of the People’s Republic of China on Cross-Border Transportation of National Currency issued by China’s central bank in December 2004, travelers are allowed to take up to US$5,000 equivalent of foreign currency and 20,000 yuan of local currency (US$1=7.7 yuan) into or out of the country. There is no need to declare this to customs if the currency you carry is less than the limit. Amounts up to US$10,000 will require a Permit for Taking Foreign Currency Out of the

Customs

Territory issued by a bank. Anyone who takes more foreign currency than US$10,000 is required to show a legal warrant issued by agencies of the State Administration of  Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

For travelers who leave the country a second time within 15 days, the limit of foreign currency is US$1,000. If you leave the (more…)

 
Decree [2002] No.346 of the State CouncilPremier of the State Council: Zhu Rongji
February 11, 2002

Article 1 In order to guide the orientation of foreign investment, to keep the orientation of foreign investment in line with the national economy and social development planning of China, and to protect of the lawful rights and interests of investors, these Provisions have been formulated according to the laws and provision on foreign investment and the requirements of industrial policies of the State.

 Article 2 These Provisions shall be applicable to the projects of investment and establishment of Chinese-foreign equity joint ventures, Chinese-foreign contractual joint ventures and foreign-capital enterprises (hereinafter referred to all as enterprises with foreign investment), and projects with foreign investment in other forms (hereinafter referred to as projects with foreign investment) within the territory of China.

 Article 3 The Guidance Catalog of Industry with Foreign Investment and the Catalog of Dominant Industries with Foreign Investment of the Mid-west Region shall be formulated by the State Development Planning Commission, the State Economic and Trade Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation jointly with other relevant departments under the State Council, and shall be promulgated upon the approval of the State Council; when it is needed to partly adjust the Guidance Catalog of Industry with Foreign Investment and the Catalog of Dominant Industries with Foreign Investment of the Mid-west Region in light of the actual situation, the State Economic and Trade Commission, the State Development Planning

(more…)

Branches and foreign exchange administration departments under the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and branch administrations of Shenzhen, Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen, Ningbo; and headquarters of Chinese-capital designated banks of foreign exchange:
In order to adapt to the new international investment trend, introduce overseas investments through multiple channels, continuously perfect the administration on foreign exchanges in foreign investments and further improve the environment for foreign investments, some issues concerning the administration of foreign exchange in foreign direct investments is hereby circularized:
 I. Administration of the Accounts of and Capital Contributions by Foreign Investors
 1. A foreign investor who makes direct investment or engages in activities relevant to direct investment in China without establishing enterprise with foreign investment in China may apply to the administration of foreign exchange in the locality of the project to open a special foreign investor’s foreign exchange account in the name of the investor. A foreign investor is (more…)

Contents Provided by China Embassy  

Business license authentication, also called business license certification or legalization sometimes, .is handled by the Chinese embassy and consulates. It’s executed in the United States and will be used in China.  

Procedures for Application: 

  1.        Signed before a notary public.

2.        Certified by the clerk of Court of the County in which the business license is commissioned if              applicable. It may be omitted if the authority in item 3 will certify directly to the notary.

3.        Certified  by the Secretary of the State in which the business license is executed.

4.        Certified by the relevant Consulate - General. You must apply to the correct Consulate - General  which holds consular jurisdiction over your area of residence.  For applicants who live in the consular jurisdiction of the Embassy, documents after being certified by the authority in item 3 shall be certified by the U. S. Departments of State Authentication Office, and then by the Embassy. (more…)