On March 16th, 2009, Ministry of Commerce of P.R.C. issued the Measures for Administrating the Overseas Investment (hereinafter “Measures”) which will take effect on May 1st, 2009.
Under the Measures, an approval procedure for China enterprise to set up or acquire non-financial enterprise abroad will be amended and simplified. MOFCOM will reserve authorities for approving few major overseas investment issues and authorize provincial commercial authorities to approve such issues. According to the estimating, about 85% of the overseas investment approval issues will be handed over to the competent provincial commercial authorities. After the implementation of the Measures, most overseas investment enterprises are eligible to obtain the Enterprise Overseas Investment Certificate within 3 working days since the receipt of an application. (Mar 29th 2009)