By Salina Leong 

The Industrial and Commercial Bureau recently announced new registration guidelines. Companies in the process of registering their business in China are asked to conform to the following new administrative changes:

1) Foreign companies are now asked to provide all application documents, certificates or copies printed on A4 paper. Prior to the new regulations, it was quite common for foreign companies to provide certificates and documents of different formats. The Industrial and Commercial Bureau no longer accepts documents falling outside the specified paper format.

2) Handwriting shall be clear, neat, discernible and not be altered. Any alterations visible on the application documents shall be subject to rejection. For any altered documents, the companies shall be asked to provide new documents, which may prolong the registration process significantly.

3) The signature by the responsible person of the company must be with the printed name and duty next to it. All signatures shall be in blue-black or black ink and shall not be subject to change. The Industrial and Commercial Bureau will refuse to accept documents with signatures that are not in line with that provided in the person’s identity card or passport.

Salina Leong, The JLJ Group