[ILR]Circular in Bonded Areas under the Customs' Supervision

The foreign exchange bureaus and foreign exchange administrative departments of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the foreign exchange bureaus of Shenzhen, Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen and Ningbo: For the purpose of meeting the demands of further expanding and transforming the functions of bonded areas under the customs' supervision and facilitating the trade and investment made by enterprises within such areas, after consulting with the State Administration of Taxation and the General Administration of Customs, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange has formulated the Measures for the Administration of Foreign Exchange in Bonded Areas under the Customs' Supervision (Please see Annex, hereinafter referred to as these measures). These measures integrate various foreign exchange administration policies applicable to different bonded areas under the customs' supervision, adjust the inconsistent policies governing foreign exchange purchase and settlement inside and outside such areas based on maintaining some preferential policies, and further simplify the examination and approval procedures for foreign payments. We hereby print and distribute these measures to you for your earnest implementation, and specify the issues concerning the foreign exchange accounts of enterprises in export processing zones as follows:

1.An enterprise in any export processing zone which has opened foreign exchange accounts shall, before these measures come into force, adjust the nature and number of such accounts pursuant to these measures upon the approval of the local bureau or sub-bureau of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (hereinafter referred to as foreign exchange bureau). Funds in the original foreign exchange accounts shall, upon the examination and approval by the foreign exchange bureau, be transferred to corresponding newly opened foreign exchange accounts based on the nature of such funds as declared by the enterprise. The foreign exchange bureau shall, when examining the nature of funds as declared by the enterprise, comprehensively take into consideration the enterprise's capital, foreign debts, domestic and overseas foreign exchange loans and other foreign exchange settlement information so as to accurately determine the nature of funds and avoid confusion.

2.All the local bureaus and foreign exchange administration bureaus shall, after receiving these measures, transmit it to the bureaus under its administration and various administration institutions with bonded areas under the customer's supervision as well as banks and enterprises in time.

Annex:

a.Measures for the Administration of Foreign Exchange in Bonded Areas under the Customs' Supervision

b.Name List of the annulled documents after the Effectiveness of the Measures for the Administration of Foreign Exchange in Bonded Areas under the Customs' Supervision State

Administration of Foreign Exchange August 15, 2007