Questions about establishment of foreign branch in China

Firstly, an application for establishment signed by a legal representative of the foreign company shall be submitted with a nationality certificate and power of attorney.

Secondly, the application shall be completed as follows: 1) foreign company profile including company name, nationality, legal address, legal representative and names and addresses of other leading persons, date of setting up, operation scope, total assets, registered capital, etc; 2) basic conditions to establish Chinese branch, including branch name, legal address, investment total, operation scope, operation period, etc. 3) pledge to abide by Chinese laws and regulations.

Finally, all formalities must be handled by the appropriate ratification offices. The authorities in charge of setting up a branch in China are the departments of foreign trade and economic cooperation under the State Council and provincial governments. If the business is about foreign banking or foreign insurance, ratification is the responsibility of the People’s Bank of China; while foreign oil company branches will be under the supervision of China Petro or China Ocean Petro and must be ratified by the authority for foreign trade and economic cooperation.