On January 17^th, the State Council released the Circular on Several Measures Concerning the Active Use of Foreign Capital in Opening Up to the Outside World (the “Circular”), which specifies:

1. Liberalizing access by foreign investment organizations

（1）Service sectors: Liberalization will be focused on banking and financial institutions, securities companies, securities investment and fund management companies, futures companies, insurance institutions and insurance intermediary organizations. Restrictions on the admission of foreign investment will be relaxed for auditing and accounting, construction design and ratings services. Industries such as telecommunications, the Internet, culture entertainment, education and transportation will be gradually liberalized.

（2）Manufacturing sector: Restrictions on foreign investment access will be removed in equipment manufacturing for rail transportation, motorcycle manufacturing, the production of fuel ethyl alcohol and lipid processing. Restrictions on foreign investment in the mining industry will be eased for oil shale, oil sand, shale gas and other unconventional oil, gas and mineral resources. The approval system will be replaced by the filing system for international cooperation projects in oil and natural gas projects.

   2.Encouragement of foreign investment in high-end manufacturing, intelligent manufacturing and green manufacturing.

   3.Supporting the participation of foreign investment in infrastructure construction (including energy, transportation, water conservation, environmental protection and municipal utilities engineering) through franchising.

   4.Supporting foreign investment enterprises in the construction of R&D centers and corporate technical centers, and applying for the establishment of post-doctoral research centers.

The Circular also permits local governments to develop their own preferential policies to attract foreign business and investment within the scope of their legal authority.

Via LexisNexis