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LEGAL: Reduction of Regulating Measures Reveals the Opening-Up Determination of China
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Reduction of Regulating Measures Reveals the
Opening-Up Determination of China

BT 201808 Legal 012018年4月10日,习近平主席在博鳌亚洲论坛开幕式上宣布中国将采取包括大幅度放宽市场准入等多项扩大开放的重大举措,受到国内外广泛关注。为落实这一重要讲话精神,国家发展改革委、商务部于2018年6月28日发布了《外商投资准入特别管理措施(负面清单)(2018年版),推出了涉及制造、金融、交通运输、基础设施、农业、能源和资源等领域共22项开放措施,对2017版《外商投资产业指导目录》中的负面清单进行大幅精简,其中还对部分领域的开放列出了具体时间表。2018版全国负面清单自2018年7月28日起施行,2017版全国负面清单同时废止。


2018版全国负面清单首次单独发布的外商投资准入负面清单采用了表格形式,与2017版相比,2018版负面清单减少了15条,保留48条特别管理措施,外商投资审批范围进一步缩小,大幅放宽市场准入,具体表现在:一、2018版全国负面清单不同程度的取消或者放开了对汽车船舶飞机行业的外资限制。对汽车领域对外开放时间表还作出了安排。二、在金融领域,取消了对中资银行的外资单一持股不超过20%,合计持股不超过25%的持股比例限制;将证券公司,证券投资基金管理公司,期货公司和寿险公司的外资股比放宽至51%。此外,2018负面清单还给予了金融行业过渡期的规定。即在2021年取消金融领域所有外资股比限制,加大了开放的力度。三、在文教体和娱乐领域,全国负面清单取消了禁止外商投资互联网上网服务营业场所的规定,但新增对电影引进业务、国有文物博物馆和文艺表演团体外商投资的禁止性规定,在教育领域新增对外资投资宗教机构的禁止性规定。虽然2018版全国负面清单的基本定位是全方位推进开放,但对上述领域新增的禁止性规定,体现了国家在文化宣传领域对外资政策的收紧。四、在能源和资源等领域方面,取消铁路干线路网、电网建设需由中方控股的限制,在交通运输领域取消铁路旅客运输公司、国际海上运输国际船舶代理的外资限制,在商贸流通领域取消加油站粮食收购批发的外资限制,与此同时还放宽了农业能源和资源领域的准入,包括取消小麦玉米之外农作物种子生产,特殊稀缺煤类和石墨开采,稀土冶炼分离和钨冶炼的外资限制。


综上可以看出,2018版全国负面清单和2018版自贸试验区负面清单的出台,落实的19号文的工作部署,显示了中国吸引外资的积极态度,体现了中国外资管理体制更加开放、灵活和高效的改革方向。


Respectively on June 28th, 2018 and June 30th, 2018, the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the Special Administration Measures on Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2018 Edition) (hereinafter referred to as the “2018 Negative List”) and the Special Administrative Measures on Foreign Investment Access to Pilot Free Trade Zones (Negative List) (2018 Edition) (hereinafter referred to as the “2018 Negative List of FTZ”), to be implemented respectively on July 28th, 2018, and July 30th, 2018.

Retaining 48 special administrative measures, the 2018 Negative List supersedes the 2017 Foreign Investment Industry Guidance Catalog, which involved 63 special administrative measures, comparatively 15 more than the current 2018 Negative List. Similarly, the 2018 Negative List of FTZ consists of 45 regulating measures, comparatively 50 less than the 2017 version.
 

With the reduction of regulating measures, the 2018 Negative List and 2018 Negative List of FTZ are characterized by significant opening up of market access in manufacturing industry, service industry and agriculture and energy resources. For industries such as shipbuilding and aircraft manufacture, changes can found as follows:
 

Relevant Changes in 2018 Negative List

Aircraft manufacture: Restrictions that the design, manufacture and repair of trunk airliners and regional aircrafts, design and manufacture of helicopters (3 tons and above), manufacture of ground-effect vehicles and water-effect vehicles, design and manufacture of unmanned aerial vehicles and aerostats be controlled by the Chinese party are cancelled. Also, the restriction that design, manufacture and repair of general-purpose aircrafts should be limited to equity joint ventures or contractual joint ventures is cancelled.

BT 201808 Legal 02Shipbuilding: Restriction that the design, manufacture and repair of vessels (including segmentation) be controlled by the Chinese party is cancelled.
 

Relevant Changes in 2018 Negative List of FTZ

Aircraft manufacture: Restrictions that the design, manufacture and repair of trunk airliners and regional aircrafts be controlled by the Chinese party; the design, manufacture and repair of general-purpose aircraft (6 tons, 9 seats and above) be limited to equity joint ventures and contractual joint ventures; manufacture of ground-effect vehicles and water-effect vehicles, design and manufacture of unmanned aerial vehicles, aerostats be controlled by the Chinese party are cancelled.
 

Shipbuilding: Restriction that repair, design and manufacture of vessels (including segmentation) be controlled by the Chinese party is cancelled.

BT 201808 Legal 03Regarding the industries of shipbuilding and aircraft manufacture, the 2018 Negative List and the 2018 Negative List of FTZ abolish all related restrictions and prohibitions, which mark both an unlimited business scope for wholly foreign-owned enterprises (WFOE) and a possibility of growing equity portion of foreign equity in joint ventures (JV) in these areas. From legal perspective, such changes may impact foreign investors and capital in following aspects:
 

For foreign investors who have the intention to invest in such shipbuilding and aircraft manufacture industries but haven’t established a company yet, all the company forms, including WFOE and JV with Chinese partners are accessible. In case of the latter, the foreign party will be entitled to a majority or controlling portion of JV’s equity.
 

For foreign investors who have already set up a WFOE in China, they will be able to engage themselves in an enlarged scope of business, to almost all areas of shipbuilding and aircraft manufacture. Manufacture of general-purpose aircrafts, for instance, which used to be limited to JV, will be accessible to WFOEs after the effectiveness of the 2018 Negative List of FTZ.
 

Additionally, in case of the intention to engage Chinese capital to WFOEs, foreign investors might change the WFOEs into JVs through involvement of Chinese party and withhold the controlling equity of the company.
 

For foreign investors who have already set up the JV with the Chinese party in China, removal of shareholding restrictions, for instance in the area of shipbuilding, will provide them with an opportunity to increase their influence on the operation and management of the JV through increasing their portion of JV’s equity, which might be implemented through renegotiation with the Chinese party about the equity structure.
 

Moreover, in case of reluctance that the Chinese party might have to the enhancement of foreign investors’ influence on the operation of the company due to the increasing equity portion, the foreign investors will have an alternative to establish a WFOE that is totally under its control and separate the foreign capital from the JV, which can be significant to the Chinese party’s concern. In other words, foreign investors might obtain a greater say and growing advantages in the JV.

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