The State Administration of Industry and Commerce ("State AIC") and Ministry of Commerce ("MoC") jointly issued the Regulations on Foreign-invested Advertising Enterprises ("Advertising Regulations") which came into effect on 1 October 2008 and replace regulations issued in 2004.
The Advertising Regulations set forth a three-step procedure for establishing a foreign-invested advertising enterprise ("Advertising FIE"). The first step is submitting documents, such as a feasibility study and board resolution of the investor(s) regarding the establishment of the company, to the State AIC or its local branch for an initial examination opinion. The applicant should then submit the examination opinion and other required documents, such as the articles of association of the Advertising FIE, to MoC or its local branch to obtain the approval certificate. Registration of the FIE follows this step. Once registered, it may engage in designing, producing, releasing and acting as an agent for international and domestic advertisement activities.
The Advertising Regulations specify the conditions for the investor(s) of the Advertising FIE. The investor should, for example, have been involved in advertising for more than two or three years. If the Advertising FIE would like to set up a branch, its annual advertising business income should be no less than RMB 20 million.
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