Laws of the People's Republic of China

The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, the State Administration of Radio Film and Television, the Ministry of Culture

Circular of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the Ministry of Culture on Strictly Implementing the Interim Provisions on Foreign-funded Cinemas

WaiJingMaoZiZi [2000] No.4

February 19, 2001

The commissions (departments, bureaus) of foreign trade and economic cooperation of all the provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and municipalities separately listed on the State plan:

The Interim Provisions on Foreign-funded Cinemas (hereinafter referred to as the Interim Provisions) jointly formulated by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) and the Ministry of Culture was promulgated and put into force on October 25, 2000.

The promulgation of the Interim Provisions is one of the important measures adopted by our country to promote the gradual opening of the service trade to the outside world, so all the localities and departments shall strictly carry the Interim Provisions out. The relevant issues are hereby further restated as follows:

1.

The establishment of foreign-funded cinemas shall strictly complying with the provisions of Article 6 of the Interim Provisions; they shall be submitted to the MOFTEC by the department in charge of foreign trade and economic cooperation at the provincial level with the consent of the administrative department of film at the provincial level, and go through the examination and approval according to the laws and regulations of the State on foreign investment after the MOFTEC gets the approval of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the Ministry of Culture, and the Certificate of Approval for Enterprise with Foreign Investment shall be issued to the enterprise with foreign investment of which the establishment has been approved.

2.

The establishment of foreign-funded cinema must meet the requirements for establishment prescribed by Article 4 of the Interim Provisions, and only the form of Chinese-foreign joint equity venture and Chinese-foreign contractual cooperative venture may be adopted.

3.

The administrative departments of industry and commerce shall handle the formalities of enterprise registration, relying on the Certificate of Approval for Enterprise with Foreign Investment issued by the MOFTEC and the relevant materials.

4.

With respect to any foreign-funded cinema established without authorization against the relevant requirements of the Interim Provisions after the promulgation thereof (October 25, 2000), the Certificate of Approval for Enterprise with Foreign Investment of that cinema shall be invalid, and the MOFTEC shall instruct the original examining and approving department to withdraw the Certificate of Approval for Enterprise with Foreign Investment within limited period, and shall, according to the seriousness of the circumstances, circulate a public notice of criticism, order the offender to make rectifications or even cancel the authorization to issue the Certificate of Approval for Enterprise with Foreign Investment of the examining and approving department that goes beyond the limit of authorization, the administrative department of film may not issue the License for Film Showing and the administrative department of industry and commerce shall revoke the business license of that cinema.

This is hereby notified.