After China's entry into the WTO, many Chinese authorities have taken measures to simplify the approval procedures to facilitate the establishment of Foreign Investment Enterprises (FIEs). Has the Beijing municipal government take any kind of action to minimize "red tape"?
So far, several Beijing municipal government authorities have taken action to simplify the FIE approval procedure. For example, Beijing City Planning Commission previously had the right to arbiter 23 key administrative matters, now it only has the right on 17 matters. The development and planning commission of Beijing Municipality previously needed to examine the Project Proposal (PP), the Feasibility Study (FS) and the Annual Investment Plan (AIP) when approving a FIE. Now, only the AIP approval is required. The Municipal Industry and Commerce Administration has pledged to complete the procedure of issuing business licenses in 5 days. The approval period for the Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau to process an environmental assessment report has been reduced from 60 days to 40 days. In addition, the processing of environmental condition reports has been cut from 30 to 20 days. The Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area (BETDA) had charged enterprises 98 different types of administrative fees. Now, it only charges 13 types fees.
All these changes will greatly accelerate the speed it takes to register a FIE and further reforms are underway.
Back
