Sinobravo and Wolters Kluwer Jointly Hosted Webinar on Business Compliance and FDI Handbook 2023 for Foreign-Invested Enterprises in China

Sinobravo, in collaboration with Wolters Kluwer, successfully held the "Key Points of Business Compliance for Foreign-Invested Enterprises in China and the Release of the FDI Handbook 2023" webinar.

On March 28th, Sinobravo, in collaboration with Wolters Kluwer, successfully held the "Key Points of Business Compliance for Foreign-Invested Enterprises in China and the Release of the FDI Handbook 2023" webinar. This webinar attracted thousands of virtual attendees, demonstrating the post-pandemic enthusiasm for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in China.

Before the official release of the "FDI Handbook 2023," Ms. Chang Yue, the product editor at Wolters Kluwer, introduced the functionalities, content, and advantages of Wolters Kluwer's financial, tax, and accounting databases.

Following the introduction of Wolters Kluwer's financial and tax database, Ms. Yao Chengyu, Senior Manager of Legal Investment Consulting at Sinobravo, and Ms. Zhang Qian, Senior Manager of Financial and Tax Consulting, provided detailed insights into the FDI Handbook from different perspectives. This included changes in the business environment for foreign-invested enterprises in China, comprehensive considerations before investment implementation, post-establishment maintenance, exit strategies for foreign-invested enterprises, compliance with forex, financial and tax regulations, human resources, as well as crucial concerns such as intellectual property protection, data compliance, and data cross-border issues.

Ms. Yao Chengyu specifically addressed the application process for Value-Added Telecommunications Business Licenses (ICP licenses) for foreign-invested enterprises. Although the ICP license application procedure is complex and challenging, she mentioned that foreign-invested enterprises meeting certain conditions can choose to apply for the license using domestic approval procedures. Therefore, when introducing foreign investment, some companies may adopt alternative approaches, such as controlling the percentage of foreign investors to no more than 1%, replacing investors with associated parties without foreign investment in China, issuing convertible bonds to foreign investors, or establishing a Variable Interest Entity (VIE) structure.

On the other hand, Ms. Zhang Qian provided professional reminders regarding potential "oversights" in foreign-invested enterprises' forex operations. For instance, she advised against realizing that the overseas parent company lacks a bank account just before the capital injection deadline, avoiding discrepancies between fund channels or amounts and contractual obligations or invoices in day-to-day trade transactions, and reminding foreign-invested enterprises about the annual FDI inspection even when there are no personnel or ongoing operations during the exit phase. These seemingly trivial matters can pose significant obstacles to the smooth progress of FDI.

Lastly, Ms. Zhang Qian and Ms. Yao Chengyu individually addressed the questions raised by the audience, which were representative of topics such as establishing different entities for foreign-invested enterprises in China, the tax types involved in equity transfer of foreign-invested enterprises, the alignment of transitional period Three Capital enterprises with the new Company Law, and data cross-border compliance.

The webinar, "Key Points of Business Compliance for Foreign-Invested Enterprises in China and the Release of the FDI Handbook 2023," concluded successfully after an hour and a half. For those who missed the webinar, you can obtain the complete version of the "FDI Handbook 2023" through the following channels:

The handbook has been included in the Wolters Kluwer financial and tax database. If you have a Wolters Kluwer financial and tax database account, you can search for the title in the search bar to access and read the handbook online.

If you have any inquiries related to investing in China, please feel free to contact our professionals.

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