Establishing FICEs

Since April 2004, the Chinese Government has taken a major step in opening up the distribution and retail sectors to foreign investors and on setting up foreign investment commercial enterprises (FICEs), namely foreign investment trade companies. Yet, in the course of setting up a FICE, one must go through complicated and time-consuming procedures. Our experienced professionals and good government connections enable us to speed up the application process.

The new regulation makes setting up a FICE a very attractive option for foreign investors to enter the commercial sector of China. Prominent features of a FICE include the following:

The new regulation allows a FICE to engage in wholesaling, retailing and for the first time in commissioning and franchising.

Under the new regulation, a FICE can be organized either in the mode of a Sino-foreign equity joint-venture, a Sino-foreign cooperative joint-venture or in the mode of a wholly foreign owned enterprise (WFOE). However, a commercial WFOE was possible only in specific free trade zones under the old rules.

The new regulations permit FICEs, both wholesale and retail, to be established anywhere in China whereas the old rules confined their locations to provincial capitals.

The minimum registered capital of RMB 80 million and RMB 50 million previously required for setting up a wholesale or retail enterprise respectively has been slashed to a symbolic amount of RMB 500,000 and RMB 300,000.

HW Intertrust (Shanghai)

HW Intertrust (Beijing)

HW Intertrust(Shanghai)