Corporate establishment process
The establishment process varies based on one’s chosen investment structure and planned business scope. For example, setting up a manufacturing FIE requires an environmental evaluation be completed, setting up a trading FIE must comply with the customs/commodity inspection requirements, and setting up a simple services FIE may require neither.
Establishing a foreign investment structure in China generally takes between three and six months and involves the following government authorities:
- Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and its local branches;
- State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) and its local branches;
- State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and its local branches;
- State Taxation Administration (STA) and its local branches;
- General Administration of Customs (GAC) and its local branches; and
- National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and its local
Below we take WFOE as an example to demonstrate the setup procedure.
