Regulation on the Administration of the Confirmation and Recordation of Enterprise Investment Projects

• Document Number：Order No. 673 of the State Council
• Area of Law： Enterprises
• Level of Authority： Administrative Regulations
• Date issued：11-30-2016
• Effective Date：02-01-2017
• Status： Effective
• Issuing Authority： State Council

Order of the State Council
(No. 673)
The Regulation on the Administration of the Confirmation and Recordation of Enterprise Investment Projects, as adopted at the 149th executive meeting of the State Council on October 8, 2016, is hereby issued and shall come into force on February 1, 2017.
Premier: Li Keqiang
November 30, 2016
Regulation on the Administration of the Confirmation and Recordation of Enterprise Investment Projects
Article 1 This Regulation is developed for purposes of regulating the confirmation and recordation of enterprise investment projects, accelerating the transformation of government's investment management functions, and implementing enterprises' independent rights to make investment.
Article 2 For the purpose of this Regulation, “enterprise investment projects” (hereinafter referred to as the “projects”) means the fixed asset investment projects invested in and constructed by enterprises within the territory of China.
Article 3 Projects relating to state security, and involving allocation of major national productive forces, development of strategic resources, and major public interests, among others, shall be subject to confirmation administration. The specific scope of projects, the confirmation authority, and the confirmation power shall be governed by the catalogue of investment projects subject to government confirmation. The catalogue of investment projects subject to government confirmation shall be developed by the competent investment department under the State Council in conjunction with the relevant departments of the State Council, be implemented with the approval of the State Council, and be adjusted at appropriate time, except as otherwise prescribed by the State Council.
Projects other than those prescribed in the preceding paragraph shall be subject to recordation administration. Except as otherwise prescribed by the State Council, projects subject to recordation administration shall undergo recordation formalities under the territorial principle and the recordation authorities and their power shall be prescribed by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and cities under separate state planning.
Article 4 Except the projects involving state secrets, the confirmation and recordation of projects shall be handled on the online projects supervision platform (hereinafter referred to as the “online platform”) established by the state.
The confirmation authorities, the recordation authorities, and other relevant departments shall uniformly use the project codes generated on the online platform to handle the relevant formalities.
The competent investment department under the State Council shall, in conjunction with the relevant departments, develop measures for the administration of the online platform.
Article 5 The confirmation authorities and the recordation authorities shall, through the online platform, specify the relevant industrial policies for the projects, publish the handling process, handling time limit, and other information on the confirmation of the projects, and provide enterprises with relevant consulting services.
Article 6 To undergo the formalities of confirmation of a project, an enterprise shall submit a project application to the confirmation authority; and for a project subject to confirmation by the State Council, the project application shall be submitted to the competent investment department under the State Council. A project application shall include:
(1) the basic information on the enterprise;
(2) the project information, including the project name, construction site, construction scale, and construction content, among others;
(3) the analysis of the utilization of resources of the project and analysis of the impact on the ecological environment; and
(4) the analysis of the impact of the project on economy and society.
An enterprise shall be responsible for the authenticity of the content in a project application.
Where it is prescribed by laws and administrative regulations that undergoing relevant formalities is the prerequisite for the confirmation of a project, the enterprise shall submit supporting documents proving that relevant formalities have been undergone.
Article 7 A project application shall be independently developed by an enterprise. No entity or individual shall force any enterprise to authorize any intermediary service institution to prepare a project application.
The confirmation authority shall develop and publish the model text of a project application and specify the requirements for preparing a project application.
Article 8 For a project subject to confirmation by relevant department under the State Council, the enterprise may, through the relevant department under the people's government of the province, autonomous region, municipality directly under the Central Government, or city under separate state planning where the project is located (hereinafter referred to as the “relevant department under the people's government”), forward a project application, and the relevant department under the people's government shall, within five working days of receipt of the project application, forward it to the confirmation authority.
Where, for a project subject to confirmation by the State Council, the enterprise forwards a project application through the relevant department under the local people's government, the relevant department under the local people's government shall, within the time limit prescribed in the preceding paragraph, forward the project application to the competent investment department under the State Council, and the competent investment department under the State Council shall submit it to the State Council for confirmation upon examination.
Article 9 The confirmation authority shall examine a project from the following aspects:
(1) Whether it endangers economic security, social security, ecological security, and other state security.
(2) Whether it complies with the relevant development and construction plans, technical standards, and industrial policies.
(3) Whether the resources are rationally developed and effectively used in the project.
(4) Whether it has caused any adverse effect on the major public interests.
Where a project involves the functions of relevant departments or the local people's government in the place where the project is located, the confirmation authority shall solicit their opinions in writing and the entities from which opinions are solicited shall offer written replies in a timely manner.
The confirmation authority that authorizes an intermediary service institution to conduct assessment of a project shall specify the priorities of assessment; and except for projects under complex circumstances, the time limit for assessment shall not exceed 30 working days. The assessment expenses shall be assumed by the confirmation authority.
Article 10 The confirmation authority shall, within 20 working days of acceptance of an application, make a decision on whether to grant confirmation or not; and where the project is under complex circumstances or the opinions of relevant entities are required to be solicited, with the approval of the primary person in charge of the authority, the time limit for confirmation may be extended, but the extension shall not exceed 40 working days. Where the confirmation authority authorizes an intermediary service institution to conduct assessment of a project, the assessment time shall not be included in the time limit for confirmation.
The confirmation authority that confirms a project shall issue confirmation documents to the enterprise; and where the confirmation authority does not confirm a project, it shall notify the enterprise in writing and explain the reasons. For a project subject to confirmation by the State Council, the competent investment department under the State Council shall, according to the decision of the State Council, issue a confirmation document or a written notice of not granting confirmation to the enterprise.
Article 11 An enterprise that intends to change the construction site of a confirmed project or intends to make relatively major changes in construction scale, or construction content, among others, shall file a modification application with the confirmation authority. The confirmation authority shall, within 20 working days of acceptance of the application, make a written decision on whether or not to approve the change.
Article 12 Where a project fails to commence construction within two years from the date when the confirmation authority makes a decision of confirmation or makes a decision of approval of the change and the commencement of construction needs to be extended, the enterprise shall, within 30 working days of expiry of the two-year time limit, apply to the confirmation authority for extension of construction commencement. The confirmation authority shall, within 20 working days of acceptance of the application, make a decision on whether or not to approve the extension of construction commencement. Commencement of construction may only be extended once and the maximum period of extension shall not exceed one year, except as otherwise prescribed by the state on the extension of project construction commencement.
Article 13 For a project subject to recordation administration, the enterprise shall, before the commencement of construction, notify the recordation authority of the following information through the online platform:
(1) The basic information on the enterprise.
(2) The project name, construction site, construction scale, and construction content.
(3) The total investment amount of the project.
(4) A statement on the project's compliance with industrial policies.
An enterprise shall be responsible for the authenticity of the information on a project that has undergone recordation formalities.
It shall be deemed that recordation formalities has been undergone when the recordation authority receives the complete information as prescribed in paragraph 1 of this Article; and where the information provided by an enterprise is incomplete, the recordation authority shall provide guidance for the enterprise to make supplements and corrections.
An enterprise that needs a recordation certificate may request the recordation authority to issue it or print it through the online platform.
Article 14 Where there is relatively great change in the information on a project that has undergone the recordation formalities, the enterprise shall notify the recordation authority in a timely manner.
Article 15 The recordation authority finding that a project having undergone the recordation formalities falls into the scope of projects of which the investment and construction are prohibited by the industrial policies or is subject to confirmation administration shall inform the enterprise of making corrections in a timely manner or undergoing the formalities of confirmation according to the law, and notify relevant departments.
Article 16 The confirmation authorities, the recordation authorities, and other relevant departments that assume the supervision and administration functions for projects according to the law shall strengthen interim and ex post supervision, implement the supervision responsibilities under the principle of “whoever approves shall conduct supervision and whoever is in charge shall conduct supervision,” and strengthen the supervision and inspection of the implementation of projects by online monitoring, on-site inspection, and other methods.
An enterprise shall, through the online platform, faithfully submit the basic information of a project on the commencement of construction, construction progress, and completion.
Article 17 The confirmation authorities, the recordation authorities, and other relevant departments that assume the supervision and administration functions for projects according to the law shall establish project information sharing mechanisms and realize information sharing through the online platform.
The information on the violations of an enterprise in the confirmation and recordation of a project and the implementation of a project and its punishment shall be published through the social credit information platform of the state.
Article 18 An enterprise that commences the construction of a project subject to confirmation administration without undergoing the formalities of confirmation under the provisions of this Regulation or fails to conduct construction of such project according to the confirmed construction site, construction scale, or construction content, among others, shall be ordered by the confirmation authority to cease construction or cease production, and be fined not less than 1‰ but not more than 5‰ of the total investment amount of the project; and the directly responsible person in charge and other directly liable persons shall be fined not less than 20,000 yuan but not more than 50,000 yuan, and those who are state functionaries shall be given disciplinary actions according to the law.
Where a confirmation document for a project is obtained by such improper means as fraud and bribery, the confirmation document shall be revoked by the confirmation authority and a fine of not less than 1‰ but not more than 5‰ of the total investment amount of the project shall be imposed if the construction of the project has not been commenced; where the construction has been commenced, a fine shall be imposed under the provisions of the preceding paragraph; and where a crime is constituted, the violator shall be held criminally liable in accordance with the law.
Article 19 For a project subject to recordation administration, an enterprise that fails to, under the provisions of this Regulation, inform the recordation authority of the project information or the change in the information on the project having undergone the recordation formalities, or provides false information for the recordation authority shall be ordered by the recordation authority to take corrective action within a prescribed time limit; and where no corrective action has been taken within a prescribed time limit, a fine of not less than 20,000 yuan but not more than 50,000 yuan shall be imposed.
Article 20 An enterprise that invests in and constructs a project of which the investment and construction is prohibited by the industrial policies shall be ordered by the competent investment department under the people's government at or above the county level to cease construction or cease production and restore to the original state, and shall be fined not less than 5‰ but not more than 10‰ of the total investment amount of the project; and the directly responsible person in charge and other directly liable persons shall be fined not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 100,000 yuan, and those who are state functionaries shall be given disciplinary actions according to the law, except as otherwise prescribed in the laws and administrative regulations.
Article 21 Where confirmation authorities, recordation authorities, and their staff members abuse power, neglect duties, practice favoritism or make falsification in the confirmation or recordation of projects, the responsible persons in charge and the directly liable persons shall be given disciplinary actions in accordance with the law; and where a crime is constituted, the violator shall be held criminally liable in accordance with the law.
Article 22 Except the fixed asset investment projects arranged through budgets, fixed asset investment projects invested in and constructed by public institutions, social organizations, and other non-enterprise organizations within the territory of China shall be governed by this Regulation.
Article 23 The measures for the confirmation and recordation administration of fixed asset investment projects invested in and constructed by enterprises of science, technology and industry for national defense within the territory of China shall be separately developed by the administrative department of science, technology and industry for national defense under the State Council under the principles of this Regulation.
Article 24 This Regulation shall come into force on February 1, 2017.