2017 Foreign Investment Catalogue to go into Effect at the End of July

On June 28, the revised version of the 2017 Foreign Investment Catalogue was released by NDRC and MOFCOM, and will officially go into effect on July 28, 2017, replacing the 2015 version of the catalog. 

The revised version reduced 30 restrictive measures compared to the previous version, leaving a total of 35 restricted items and 28 prohibited items. Overall, there is an increased level of openness in service, manufacturing and mining industries. Additionally, the 2017 catalogue adopted the negative list structure for foreign investment access, anything outside of the negative list should not be subject to additional restrictive measures in theory. Foreign invested project and foreign enterprise establishment will now go through the record-filling process. 

In December 2016, NDRC and MOFCOM released the revised Foreign Investment Catalogue for public comment. In December, there were 62 restricted areas of investment, and now in July there are 63. While we applauds the opening up of certain industries, the adoption of a negative list format, and transparency in equity caps and JV structure requirements, the Revised Catalogue has no major breakthroughs in telecoms.