Beginning on March 12, 2009, foreigners' establishment of investment firms with a registered capital of 0.1 billion US dollars or below and the respective changing requests (except the circumstance where one time capital increase is more than 0.1 billion US dollars) must be examined and approved by the competent commercial authorities of the provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and vice-provincial cities where the investment firms are located.
Under the Circular on Delegating the Examination and Approval Authority for the Establishment of Investment Firms Funded by Foreigners (“Circular”) released by China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on March 12, the subsequent alternation issues of the investment firms which are established upon the MOFCOM's approval (except the circumstances where one time capital increase is over 0.1 billion US dollars or where the investors are changed) must also be examined and approved by the aforementioned competent commercial authorities. (Mar 28th 2009)