· Document Number：Letter No. 455 [2017] of the General Office of the Ministry of Commerce

· Area of Law： Belt & Road Initiative Trade & Commerce

· Level of Authority： Departmental Rules

· Date issued：11-13-2017

· Effective Date：12-01-2017

· Issuing Authority： Ministry of Commerce

· Status： Effective

Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Commerce on Effectively Conducting the Recordation of Foreign Contracted Projects
(Letter No. 455 [2017] of the General Office of the Ministry of Commerce)
The competent departments of commerce of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, cities under separate state planning, and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps; and all relevant central enterprises:
In accordance with the Decision of the State Council on Canceling a Group of Administrative Licensing Items (No. 46 [2017], State Council), the confirmation of bidding (bid negotiation) for foreign contracted projects is cancelled. To implement the decision of the State Council, and effectively conduct the recordation reporting and interim and ex-post regulation after the cancellation of the confirmation, you are hereby notified of the relevant matters as follows:
I. After the cancellation of the confirmation of bidding (bid negotiation) for foreign contracted projects, the competent departments of commerce shall conduct recordation of general projects, and administer the projects contracted in the countries (regions) that have no diplomatic relationship with China and the projects involving the interests of multiple countries and major regional security risks according to the provisions on specific projects.
II. The recordation of projects shall be subject to graded and categorized administration, and the Ministry of Commerce shall take charge of the recordation of overseas projects of headquarters of central enterprises; and provincial competent departments of commerce at the places where enterprises are registered shall take charge of the recordation of overseas projects of local enterprises and subordinate enterprises of central enterprises. The Ministry of Commerce shall take charge of the handling of specific projects in a unified manner.
III. Enterprises shall, after deciding to participate in overseas projects and before bidding (bid negotiation), undergo the project recordation formalities. An enterprise shall log onto the“Unified Platform of the Business System of the Ministry of Commerce—Foreign Investment Cooperation Information Services—Foreign Contracted Project Database System (hereinafter referred to as the “System”)” to fill out online a Recordation Form for a Foreign Contracted Project (hereinafter referred to as the “Recordation Form”), which shall, after being printed and affixed with its seal, be scanned as a PDF or picture file and then be submitted to the System. Enterprises shall be responsible for the authenticity, accuracy and completeness of recordation information. The enterprises engaging in foreign project contracting for the first time or with updated enterprise information shall enter or update the enterprise information in the System first, and then fill out the Recordation Form according to the aforesaid requirements.
IV. After an enterprise submits its Recordation Form online, the recordation authority shall determine whether the project falls within the scope of administration of specific projects. If the project falls within the scope of recordation administration, and the information filled in the Recordation Form is complete and accurate, the recordation authority shall complete recordation within three working days; or if the project falls within the scope of administration of specific projects, the recordation authority shall notify online the enterprise to undergo relevant formalities according to the relevant provisions within three working days. Where the recordation authority finds the information filled in a Recordation Form is incomplete and inaccurate, it shall notify online the enterprise to submit the supplemented Recordation Form within three working days.
V. After the recordation is completed, the recordation authority shall issue to the applicant enterprise a Recordation Receipt fora Foreign Contracted Project (hereinafter referred to as the “Recordation Receipt”) which shall be numbered by the System in a unified manner. The numbering rule is zone-location code + year + 6-digit sequential number.
VI. The enterprises that conduct the foreign project contracting shall, in accordance with the requirements of the Decision of the Ministry of Commerce on Repealing and Amending Some Rules (Order No. 3 [2017], Ministry of Commerce) and the Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Commerce, the General Office of the General Administration of Customs, and the General Office of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine on Effectively Connecting Policies after Cancellation of the Approval of Qualifications for Contracting Overseas Projects (Letter No. 390 [2017], General Office of the Ministry of Commerce), deposit reserve funds in full amount in a timely manner.
VII. Enterprises shall fill in the System the progresses in terms of the follow-up bid winning, contract signing, implementation, and completion of construction of the recorded projects, among others; and, after the contracts take effect, submit statistical data in accordance with the requirements of the Statistical System for Foreign Project Contracting.
VIII. An enterprise shall, after concluding a contract with the contract-issuing party of an overseas project, report to the economic and commercial institution of the Chinese embassy (consulate) in the country (region) where the project is located in a timely manner, and the relevant economic and commercial institution stationed abroad shall register in the System the information on the enterprise's project report.
IX. Under the principle that “whoever conducts the recordation of a project shall take charge of the regulation thereof,” the competent department of commerce shall conduct the random inspections of the project information the recordation of which shall be conducted by the competent department of commerce under the mode of “inspection of randomly selected project information by randomly selected inspectors and the public release of inspection results,” or conduct investigation according to tip-offs, and conduct special inspections of the projects with great influence on an irregular basis. Where any violation of laws or regulations is found, it shall be dealt with in accordance with the Regulation on the Administration of Foreign Contracted Projects, and be included in the bad credit records in terms of foreign investment cooperation in conjunction with the relevant departments.
X. Where an enterprise fails to undergo the recordation formalities in a timely manner, or fails to provide accurate recordation information or to support supervision and inspection, the competent department of commerce may interview orcirculate a notice of criticism on the enterprise, order it to make rectification during a specified period, or otherwise dispose of the enterprise; and where the enterprise fails to make rectification during the specified period or the circumstances are serious, it shall be severely disposed of in accordance with laws and regulations.
This Notice shall come into force on December 1, 2017.
Annexes:
1. Recordation Form for A Foreign Contracted Project
2. Recordation Receipt forA Foreign Contracted Project
General Office of the Ministry of Commerce
November 13, 2017