Laws of the People's Republic of China

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange

Circular of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Some Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Market After Enterprises with Foreign Investment Implemented Banking Foreign Exchange Settlement and Sale

HuiGuoHanZi [1996] No.183

June 28, 1996

Branches of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) in all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, municipalities separately listed on the State plan and special economic zones, and the head offices of all designated Chinese-capital foreign exchange banks, and Foreign Exchange Transaction Center of China:

In order to ensure the smooth operation of the settlement and sale of foreign exchange of enterprises with foreign investment with the banks, we hereby make some rules concerning foreign exchange market as follows:

1.

The issues concerning the foreign exchange swap business:

(1)

Enterprises with foreign investment can buy or sell foreign exchange through the designated foreign exchange banks or through local foreign exchange swap centers. All levels of foreign exchange swap centers can continue to conduct foreign exchange transactions for the enterprises with foreign investment.

(2)

All levels of foreign exchange swap centers or the financial institutions as the members of China Foreign Exchange Trading System (including branches) that adopts membership system, must check the valid documents and commercial invoices in strict accordance with the Provisions on Administration of Settlement, Sale of and Payment in Foreign Exchange (Yinfa [1996] No.210 of the People's Bank of China) (hereinafter referred to as Provisions). The details are as follows:

a.

For the foreign exchange sale application, it should be differentiated between the foreign exchange settlement account and the foreign exchange special account first. As for the foreign exchange special account, it should be conducted with the approval of the SAFE.

b.

For the foreign exchange purchase application, it should be conducted according to the following rules:

For the current account foreign exchange demand, the enterprises should hold corresponding valid documents and commercial invoices respectively according to Article 13 , 14, 15, 16, 18, 21, and 22 of the Regulations. The foreign exchange swap centers or entrusted financial institutions shall transfer the foreign exchange to the enterprises' foreign exchange settlement account. But it should be conducted within 7 working days, and be subject to the foreign exchange settlement account balance limit.

For the capital account foreign exchange demand, the enterprises should hold corresponding documents and approval of the SAFE respectively according to Article 29 , 30, 31, of the Regulations. The foreign exchange swap centers or entrusted financial institutions shall transfer the foreign exchange to the enterprises' foreign exchange special account.

c.

When the swap centers or entrusted financial institutions conduct foreign exchange transactions, they should indicate the trade volume and date on the original valid documents submitted by the enterprises and stamp, and keep the copy of the valid documents and commercial invoices for further check. The original valid documents and commercial invoices should be kept by the financial institutions that conduct foreign exchange transactions for the enterprises.

2.

The settlement time of the foreign exchange market

The settlement time of foreign exchange transactions on the national inter-bank foreign exchange market adopts the T+1 matter. According to international standard, the settlement time of the settlement and sale of foreign exchange with the designated foreign exchange banks also adopts the T+1 matter, which is uniform with the inter-bank foreign exchange market.

3.

The band of the inter-bank foreign exchange market and the bank quoted rate

The People's Bank of China shall continue to announce the daily middle exchange rate for the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar, the Hong Kong Dollar, and the Japanese yen that is the trading currency on the inter-bank foreign exchange market.

(1)

The movement of the exchange rate of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar in the inter-bank foreign exchange market is limited to 0.3% on either side of the middle exchange rate as announced by the PBC. The buying and selling rates of the Renminbi against the Hong Kong dollar and the Japanese yen may not deviate more than 1% from the reference rate.

(2)

When the designated foreign exchange banks formulate the quoted exchange rate of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar, the buying and selling rates could not exceed 0.15% of the reference rate announced by the PBC. The deviation of their quoted buying and selling rate of Renminbi against the Hong Kong dollar and the Japanese yen must not exceed 1% of the reference rate. Otherwise, it must be reported to the SAFE timely for record. The margin between the buying and selling rate of other currencies may not exceed 0.5%. The selling price for cash transactions is the same as the spot selling rate for all quoted currencies, and the buying price for cash should not exceed 2.5% of its spot rate. All levels of SAFE must strengthen the supervision on the bank quoted rates according to the above band.

4.

The circular shall entr into force as of the issuing date.