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2011-05-11 | All chapters

Govt guidelines on foreign invested industries fall short of hopes
Global Times, 10th May,2011

The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China on Monday announced its comments on China's revised draft of the Catalogue of the Guiding Principles for Foreign Invested Industries, which sought public opinion last month and is expected to pass this summer.

"(The Chamber) welcomes public consultation, which reflects a positive step towards more transparency in the formulation of policy and legislation," reads the announcement.

The investment catalogue is always viewed as the country's official attitude toward foreign investment.

The Chamber, on Monday, also said they see many of these changes as positive. Among them, now allowing publication industries to accept foreign investment.
 
But, the Chamber also pointed out their consultation with Chamber members has indicated in some key areas where the draft Investment catalogue falls short of expectations set by China's 12th Five-Year (2011-2015) Plan.

The Chamber said the draft investment catalogue does not improve the business environment for foreign-invested companies in the service sector, the majority of which continues to be off-limits to European companies. For example, outbound travel services are still closed to foreign investment and foreign money can no longer be put into the domestic postal service. 

In January, Yu Jianhua, the assistant minister of China's Ministry of Commerce, said China encourages foreign capital to spread to several areas, including high-end manufacturing, high-tech industries, energy-saving and the environmental protection industry.

Official statistics showed last year China used $105.735 billion in foreign investment.