The General Office of the State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR"), National Bureau of Statistics and Ministry of Commerce have jointly issued the Circular on Carrying out Special Law Enforcement Inspection of Foreign-related Investigations (the "Circular").
The Circular requires a overall investigation on the institutions, whose the operation (business) scopes contain such expressions as "foreign-related investigations", "market investigations", and "social investigations", and institutions that have obtained qualifications for foreign-related investigations.
Meanwhile, the Circular clarifies that the emphasis shall be put on the investigation and punishment of institutions that conduct foreign-related investigations without approval. For relevant institutions that have not obtained the qualification certification for foreign-related investigations, they will be checked whether they illegally engage in foreign-related market investigations or social investigations. Institutions that illegally conduct foreign-related investigations shall be investigated and punished in accordance with the law.
In addition, the Circular specifies that these three departments shall focus on checking the implementation of special management measures for foreign investment access. They shall check whether foreign-invested enterprises engage in social investigations illegally. Where foreign-invested enterprises engage in market investigations, whether they adopt sino-foreign joint ventures or Sino-foreign cooperative operations shall be inspected. Among others, whether the controlling party of relevant foreign-invested enterprises involving in radio and television listening and audience rating investigations is the Chinese side shall be checked.
The work arrangement and investigation should be completed before the end of July; the inspection should be carried out before the end of August, and the illegal behaviors should be strictly investigated and punished; the work summary should be made before the end of October.
If you want to read the complete article, you can refer to the below link (in Chinese only): http://www1.shanghaiinvest.com/cn/viewfile.php?id=15126
If you have any question, please contact me.
Mr. Mike Chang
TEL: 0086-21-68868321 / FAX: 0086-21-68868021