Laws of the People's Republic of China

No. 16

The Interim Measures concerning the Oversea Commercial Complaint Services for Chinese Enterprises, which has been deliberated and adopted at the 7th executive meeting of the Ministry of Commerce on July 13, 2006, is hereby promulgated and shall come into force as of the day of its promulgation. Bo Xilai, the Minister of the Ministry of Commerce

August 16, 2006

Interim Measures concerning the Oversea Commercial Complaint Services for Chinese Enterprises Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1

With a view to safeguarding and promoting the fair and justifiable oversea commercial activities of Chinese enterprises and maintaining the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, the present Measures are formulated according to the Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China, the relevant laws, administrative regulations and provisions.

Article 2

The Oversea Commercial Complaint Service Center for Chinese Enterprises of the Ministry of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the Complaint Service Center) shall, in accordance with the present Measures, be responsible for freely providing oversea commercial complaint services for Chinese enterprises, and shall be funded by the government.

The Complaint Service Center shall be provided with a legal person qualification, and assume independent liabilities for its acts.

Article 3

The "oversea commercial complaint services for Chinese enterprises" as mentioned in the present Measures refer to the services, under which any service claimant in line with the present Measures reflects relevant information, requests for providing policy information services or legal consulting services, or requests for coordination and resolution when it considers that its legitimate rights and interests are damaged or illegally infringed on or may be damaged or illegally infringed on, and the Complaint Service Center coordinates, resolves and gives a reply.

Article 4

The service claimant shall, following the principles of faithfulness, free will and legality and in accordance with the present Measures, faithfully provide relevant information according to the facts and provide active assistance to the relevant work of the Complaint Service Center.

Chapter II Service Claimants and Service Items

Article 5

The "service claimants" as mentioned in the present Measures shall include:

(1)

legal persons, other organizations or individuals that engage in foreign trade in accordance with the Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China; and

(2)

Chinese investors engaging in oversea investment according to law.

Article 6

The scope of oversea commercial complaint services to Chinese enterprises shall include:

(1)

import and export of goods;

(2)

import and export of technologies;

(3)

international service trade;

(4)

intellectual property related to foreign trade;

(5)

foreign labor cooperation;

(6)

foreign project contracting;

(7)

oversea investment; and

(8)

other oversea commercial activities.

The oversea commercial complaint services to Chinese enterprises may not include the matters under the jurisdiction of diplomatic and consular personnel.

Chapter III Complaint Service Center

Article 7

The service items and main responsibilities of the Complaint Service Center shall include:

(1)

providing policy information services within its power so as to reduce the risks that legitimate rights and interests of domestic enterprises or individuals may be damaged or illegally infringed upon in the oversea commercial activities;

(2)

providing consulting services aiming at common civil and commercial legal disputes;

(3)

accepting the complaints aiming at unfair policies, measures or market barriers of foreign governments or organizations, and then requesting the relevant departments of the government for intervention and consultation by way of bilateral and multilateral mechanisms, or resorting to the relevant dispute resolution mechanisms and promoting the solution of problems;

(4)

examining, registering, sorting out, preliminarily analyzing and processing the service requests that meet the prescribed procedures and conditions according to the present Measures;

(5)

submitting the service requests it has accepted to the relevant party for verification and processing, and conducting follow-up inquiry, coordination and urgency according to the present Measures;

(6)

feeding back the relevant proceeds or results to the service claimants within the time limit as prescribed in the present Measures;

(7)

analyzing and sorting out the conditions on service requests, and regularly promulgating the analysis reports;

(8)

reporting important sensitive cases or general problems to the relevant departments of the government, and bringing forward suggestions;

(9)

providing legal assistance to the relevant departments of the government;

(10)

establishing and administrating the database of specially invited experts and legal consultants;

(11)

transacting other matters related to the oversea commercial complaint services to Chinese enterprises upon the authorization of the Ministry of Commerce; and

(12)

undertaking other work directly related to the disposal of service requests.

Article 8

The Complaint Service Center shall establish an emergency treatment mechanism for important events, and incorporate it into the emergency treatment management system of the Ministry of Commerce.

The "emergency" as mentioned in the present Measures refers to the events that have incurred serious damages and are of broad coverage or widely concerned about by the general public.

Article 9

The functionaries of the Complaint Service Center shall be familiar with the legal system on foreign economy and trade and the rules for international economy and trade, keep diligent and faithful, and timely and properly coordinate and transact the service items.

Article 10

The Complaint Service Center and its functionaries shall keep confidential of the business secrets of the service claimants they have had access to in their work, except the special circumstances as prescribed in the laws or administrative regulations.

Chapter IV Submission of Service Requests

Article 11

The service claimant may forward relevant service requests to the Complaint Service Center through the following means:

(1)

entering the website of 12335.mofcom.gov.cn;

(2)

dialing the hot line of the Complaint Service Center by 12335;

(3)

sending faxes by 12335;

(4)

mailing letters; and

(5)

visits and talks face to face.

Article 12

To request for providing policy information services, a service claimant shall submit the following materials:

(1)

Materials explaining the basic information on the service claimant

If the service claimant is an individual, the name, the name and number of identification certificate, domicile, zip code, contact phone number of the service claimant as well as the relevant documents proving that the service claimant complies with Article 5 of the present Measures shall be provided;

If the service claimant is a legal person or an organization, the name, code, domicile, zip code, legal representative (or main principal), contact phone of the service claimant as well as the relevant documents proving that the service claimant complies with Article 5 of the present Measures shall be provided.

(2)

The policy information items that are clearly requested to be submitted; and

(3)

Other materials as required by the Complaint Service Center for providing policy information services.

Article 13

To request for providing consulting services for common civil and commercial legal disputes, a service claimant shall submit the following materials:

(1)

Materials explaining the basic information on the service claimant

If the service claimant is an individual, the name, the name and number of identification certificate, domicile, zip code, and contact phone number of the service claimant as well as the relevant documents proving that the service claimant complies with Article 5 of the present Measures shall be provided;

If the service claimant is a legal person or an organization, the name, code, domicile, zip code, legal representative (or main principal), and contact phone of the service claimant as well as the relevant documents proving that the service claimant complies with Article 5 of the present Measures shall be provided.

(2)

Case summary, including the brief information on all the parties concerned, the country (or region), cause of action, subject of dispute, and proceeding of the case, etc.;

(3)

Relevant certification materials;

(4)

Matters for which consultancy is clearly requested; and

(5)

Other materials as required by the Complaint Service Center for providing consulting services.

Article 14

To complain about the unfair policies, measures or market barriers of any foreign government or organization, a service claimant shall submit the following materials:

(1)

Materials explaining the basic information on the service claimant

If the service claimant is an individual, the name, the name and number of identification certificate, domicile, zip code, and contact phone number of the service claimant as well as the relevant documents proving that the service claimant complies with Article 5 of the present Measures shall be provided;

If the service claimant is a legal person or an organization, the name, code, domicile, zip code, legal representative (or main principal), and contact phone of the service claimant as well as the relevant documents proving that the service claimant complies with Article 5 of the present Measures shall be provided.

(2)

Basic information on the party against whom the complaint is made, as well as the name, domicile, zip code, contact person and contact phone and etc. of the oversea government or organization being complained about;

(3)

Policies, measures or market barriers being complained and relevant certification materials;

(4)

Facts (time, place, course, degree, etc.) that the legitimate rights and interests of the complainant are damaged or illegally infringed upon by the policies, measures or market barriers being complained about, or the possibility analysis that the legitimate rights and interests of the complainant may be damaged or illegally infringed upon;

(5)

Clear and concrete claims; and

(6)

Other materials as required by the Complaint Service Center for providing consulting services.

The service claimant shall indicate whether or not it allows the department of the government to use its true name or the relevant materials it provides during the course of negotiation with foreign parties.

Article 15

The materials a service claimant submits shall be written in Chinese.

Chapter V Disposal of Service Requests

Article 16

After the Complaint Service Center receives a service request, it shall examine it within 10 working days, and respectively process it in light of the following conditions:

(1)

If the service request meets the conditions for acceptance, the Complaint Service Center shall accept it and send out a notice on acceptance to the service claimant;

(2)

If the service request does not meet the conditions for acceptance, the Complaint Service Center shall send out a notice on refusal of acceptance, and explain the reasons for the refusal; and

(3)

If the materials need to be supplemented or improved, the Complaint Service Center shall inform the service claimant to do that.

Article 17

The requests that the Complaint Service Center may not accept shall include:

(1)

where the subject qualification of the service claimant does not meet Article 5 of the present Measures;

(2)

where the request is not within the scope of complaint services as prescribed in Article 6 of the present Measures;

(3)

where there is no clear service request item;

(4)

where the service claimant can not provide the materials as prescribed in Items (2) and (3) of Article 13 or Items (3) and (4) of Article 14 ;

(5)

where the service request is brought forward anonymously;

(6)

where the service request has been or is being accepted by the Complaint Service Center;

(7)

where the service claimant does not provide any new material, but brings forward another request for the matter that has been disposed by the Complaint Service Center;

(8)

where the service request shall be accepted by the Complaint Center for Foreign-funded Enterprises;

(9)

where the service request shall be accepted by the Complaint Center for Laborers Assigned by China to oversea;

(10)

where the court or arbitral institution within the territory of China has accepted the service request or has rendered a ruling on it; and

(11)

other service requests that do not comply with the relevant laws or administrative regulations.

Article 18

As to a request for providing policy information services, the Complaint Service Center shall give a reply within 10 working days upon acceptance.

Article 19

As to a request for providing consulting services for common civil and commercial legal disputes, the Complaint Service Center shall give a reply within 20 working days upon acceptance.

Article 20

As to a complaint on unfair policies, measures or market barriers of any foreign government or organization, the Complaint Service Center shall forward it to the Ministry of Commerce for disposal within 3 working days as of acceptance, and notify the conditions of forwarding the complaint to the service claimant.

Article 21

After the Complaint Service Center solicits the consent of the service claimant, it may forward the complaint consulting contents to the relevant trade committee or association for reference.

Article 22

Under any of the following circumstances, the service request shall be regarded as having been terminated:

(1)

It has been disposed according to Articles 18, 19 and 20;

(2)

It is found upon verification that the service request does not comply with the facts;

(3)

The service claimant does not offer coordination and refuses to provide authentic information;

(4)

The service claimant applies for revoking the request; and

(5)

Other circumstances under which the request shall be regarded as having been terminated.

After a complaint is terminated, the Complaint Service Center shall timely make registration of the settlement.

Chapter VI Information Management, Statistic Submission and Issuance

Article 23

The Complaint Service Center shall analyze and sort out the data on service requests, and issue analysis reports on the website or prints every quarter.

Article 24

The Complaint Service Center shall make registration in light of the prescribed format, try to use formatted documents for accepting and forwarding complaints, notices, replies and etc, and attach the seal of the Complaint Service Center or the special complaint seal.

Article 25

The relevant materials on service requests as accepted by the Complaint Service Center shall be classified and numbered by schedule, be bound and put on archives, be kept by special persons and be recorded into the electronic processing system for service requests of the Complaint Service Center. Without the approval of the relevant person-in-charge, and the foresaid materials may not be lent out to any other person or be consulted, and shall be kept generally for 3 years. The archival filing period for important archives shall be properly prolonged.

Chapter VII Supplementary Provisions

Article 26

The power to interpret the present Measures shall remain with the Ministry of Commerce.

Article 27

The present Measures shall come into force as of the day of its promulgation.