Simplified Approval

China’s top economic planner has decided to streamline the rules for getting new Sino-foreign auto joint ventures approved.

The longstanding practice of checking and ratifying the administration of auto joint ventures will be changed into the management mode of filing records or registration only, according to a source from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The new rules, which will go into effect on January 10, 2019, also apply to the administration of new electric passenger cars and auto investment projects overseen by provincial governments, according to the NDRC source.

In recent years, China has reduced the number of restrictions on foreign investment by nearly two thirds and also significantly reformed the approval system for foreign investment.